[whatwg] microformats, microdata, and custom data attributes

[Tab Atkins Jr.]

On Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 6:29 PM, Justin Karneges <justin at affinix.com> wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> I'm desiring a way to markup "mentions of a person" semantically within HTML,
> for use in an open standard.  Think of a more rich form of the @person
> convention used on Twitter and elsewhere:
>
> <p>@justin I totally agree</p>
>
> My first thought was to use a data-* attribute.  For example:
>
> <p><a href="http://example.org/justin/" data-mention-
> id="acct:justin at example.org" data-mention-context="reply">justin</a> I totally
> agree.</p>
>
> However, the HTML specification says custom data attributes are only to be used
> privately.  So, I am not sure if it is appropriate to create a public standard
> whereby independent developers are encouraged to utilize a common data-*
> attribute.
>
> Another way is to use Microdata, though I seem to have to hack it a bit to
> have hidden values:
>
> <p><a href="http://example.org/justin/" itemscope
> itemtype="http://example.org/itemtypes/mention"
> itemid="acct:justin at example.org"><span itemprop="context:reply"/><span
> itemprop="name">justin</span></a> I totally agree.</p>

If necessary, representing hidden data can be done via <meta itemprop
content> in Microdata.

It might be useful to understand a little more about your goal in
marking this up, though, so the most appropriate way to do so can be
determined.  Is this meant to be processed by machines?  If so, what
use will it be put to?

~TJ