[XML-SIG] Content Syndication

[Mark Nottingham]

> So I'm not understanding something here.  Is there supposed to be other
text
> besides the link?  Otherwise, you just end up with a bunch of links and no
plain
> text.  Or are you saying that link should be allowed as sub-elements of
title
> and description?  It seems like this may be  harder to parse, and it
potentially
> makes it less useful as metadata.

#2ish - inline elements. For instance,

<item>
<title><link url="http://foo.com/frobnob.html">New widget frobnob
released</link></title>
<description>The <link url="http://foo.com/">Foo corporation</link> released
their new Frobnob widget set today at a press conference in Wagga
Wagga.</description>
</item>

However, I'm not particularly tied to this. Inline tags seemed natural and
more specific if you want the possibility of multiple and content-sensitive
links in each item. ScriptingNews does the whole

<text>..</text>
<link><linetext>..</linetext><url>..</url></link>

thing, but this seems a horrible hack to me. What if the linetext shows up
more than once in the text? Is it really that hard to parse inline tags?

<description> probably isn't appropriate... perhaps <text>...

One other thing. How do people feel about disallowing embedded HTML in the
items?


> This brings up the issue of what the purpose of the format is.  RSS was
> originally intended to be a metadata format.  ie: Information about other
> sites.  ScriptingNews (and the above description) tend to indicate a
desire for
> more of a publishing/syndication approach, where the format *is* the
content,
> not just a description of it.  It's a fine line, and I'm not sure what the
right
> answer is.

This is probably the first (and most important) thing to decide. SN itself
uses the format to publish its entire content, but it's child channels
don't; I think that's the problem.

> > * expiration date - so that content providers can limit how long an item
> > shows for
>
> per channel, or per item?

I'm thinking both pub and expiration date are per item.


> > I think it would be a good idea to set up a syndication mailing list (on
> > findmail or whatever), so that everyone can meet on neutral ground, and
set
> > some goals, work out the issues and define deliverables in public.
Anybody
> > else thing this is a good idea?
>
> I think it is a fine idea.

Cool. Will announce under separate cover.