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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Why do we need <STRONG>em</STRONG> and
<STRONG>strong</STRONG>? I would say, an <STRONG>author</STRONG> element
would be equally useful as <STRONG>em</STRONG> and <STRONG>strong</STRONG>. So
if the author element isn't included, then why do we have <STRONG>em</STRONG>
and <STRONG>strong</STRONG>?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><FONT size=2
face=Arial></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>The <STRONG>author</STRONG> element would mainly be
useful for screen readers, other apps could easily be configured to detect a
paragraph with its id set to something like "author", but i still
think that it has its use.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>The <STRONG>author</STRONG> element could work by
defining the authorship of the parant block, it being either
<STRONG>div</STRONG> (as a division), containing paragraphs of text headings and
so on. This would be a useful way for screen readers, to easily read "the
author of this is x".</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>It may also have other uses, but thats the only one
i can think of currently. You should however note, that it likely would have
more uses in the future, as people get better educated as of why and how to
correctly markup their pages.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>But for search engines? No, not with the current
problems, because there's no way to tell if the author specified, actually is
the real author. Designers could abuse this. But i see no reason why they would,
unless it would effect their rankings, or allow them to get their content listed
under the wrong author name, a more recognised author perhaps?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Then again, i see no reason why search engines
would use the element, it could be useful to enable "search by author", but it
would require to much to get around current problems. I.e. How do we actually
know that the author specified is the author?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Google currently has the ability to "search by
author", this is done by quoteing the search string, or putting a plus in front
of it. Sometimes it work, sometimes you get wrong results. For instance, i
got an account on Yahoo Answers with the name "BlueBoden", if you search for
that name on Google, then you get all sorts of duplicated results, mainly sites
ripping my answers from Yahoo, some even mess with my original answers. That
should show you just how useful the <STRONG>author</STRONG> element is for
search engines.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>The only way to get around that, would be to hold
some kind of database with hashes generated from the content of the author. This
would again create smaller problems, such as, should we generate the hash just
from the content, or should we include markup?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Finally what do we really gain from all this: The
ability to determine authorship for content written by authors who use the
database.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Or in the case where the element is used without
the database, and used correctly: The ability for screen readers to tell who was
the author of a division, section, or whatever..</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><STRONG>My conclusion: </STRONG>It currently isn't
worth the effort..</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>But feel free to setup the Database, i'd might even
check it out if search engines start to use it to avoid indexing stolen
content.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=samerziadeh@gmail.com href="mailto:samerziadeh@gmail.com">Samer
Ziadeh</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=ian@hixie.ch
href="mailto:ian@hixie.ch">Ian Hickson</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=help@lists.whatwg.org
href="mailto:help@lists.whatwg.org">help@lists.whatwg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, August 13, 2009 12:05
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [html5] Author of a quote -
how to mark up?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Can't we just suggest new elements to be added to the
specifications to handle such issues. Something like an 'author' tag.<BR>We
need to think past what programmes and search engines are capable of now, and
have something for when they implement such features.<BR>Having web authors
still implement micro formats after the release of the latest version would
make it useless, and would not be helpful to search engines either as they
would need to keep up with the inconsistent techniques used by different
authors to implement such a solution. <BR clear=all><BR>-- <BR>Samer
Ziadeh<BR><A
href="http://www.samerziadeh.com">www.samerziadeh.com</A><BR><BR><BR>"Let It
Be"<BR>
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