[whatwg] RDFa is to structured data, like canvas is to bitmap and SVG is to vector

[Ian Hickson]

On Sat, 17 Jan 2009, Sam Ruby wrote:
> 
> But back to expectations.  I've seen references elsewhere to Ian being 
> booked through the end of this quarter.  I may have misheard, but in any 
> case, my point is the same: if this is awaiting something from Ian, it 
> will be prioritized and dealt with accordingly.

For what it's worth, my current plan running up to last call in October 
includes an item in April for me to go through all the use cases that have 
by that point been put forward in the data markup space, and to work out 
for each use case and on the aggregate:

1. Whether there is compelling evidence that users want that use case 
   addressed (e.g. whether there are successful companies addressing that 
   use case using proprietary solutions or ad-hoc extensions to HTML, or
   whether there are usability studies or some independent market research 
   showing demand from users, or whether it can be demonstrated that users 
   are avoiding the Web because it doesn't address this problem).

2. Whether the use case is being addressed well enough already (e.g. if 
   there are companies addressing this use case adequately, or whether the 
   current solutions really are just hacks with numerous problems).

3. What the requirements are for each use case.

4. What solutions are available to address these use cases.

5. For each solution, whether it addresses the requirements.

6. Whether the relevant implementors are interested in implementing 
   solutions for these use cases (e.g. whether authoring tools are willing 
   to expose the feature, whether validator writers want to check for the 
   correctness, whether browser vendors are willing to expose the relevant 
   UI, whether search engine companies are willing to use the data, or 
   whatever else might be appropriate).

The more use cases there are, the better informed the results will be.

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'