[thelist] What markup allowed in db?

[Hassan Schroeder]

Nate Koechley wrote:

> ...content that gets variously re-purposed... 

> ...use semantic markup to
> it's greatest ability. 

> On the other hand, even some semantic markup probably shouldn't be
> there, because the database metadata is more sound. For example, while
> each piece of content may have a title/Header (Hn tag), it doesn't
> make sense to put Hn tags around the title field in the db because the
> hierarchy of headers is unknown to the piece of content, and probably
> SHOULD be programmatically applied afterwards.

> I hope that helps clarify my question. To sum it up again, I'm looking
> for advice on how to support Semantic Markup (aka Web Standards),
> while making my content the most portable and longest-lasting.

I'd suggest you use your own XML vocabulary, *not* HTML for this. A
project I've been working on recently has very similar requirements
(the Hn hierarchy issue, for instance).

Giving the content creators semantically meaningful -- within their
realm of expertise -- tags to work with, like <para>, <image/>, or
<title> (applicable to any block of text) and then turning that into
XHTML for rendering with an XSL transform has worked really well.

What's easier, cleaner, more meaningful --

   <div class="faq">
	<p class="question"></p>
	<p class="answer"></p>
   </div>

   <faq>
	<question></question>
	<answer></answer>
   </faq>

And you can always rewrite the transform, as required...

FWIW!
-- 
Hassan Schroeder ----------------------------- hassan at webtuitive.com
Webtuitive Design ===  (+1) 408-938-0567   === http://webtuitive.com

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