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The English version of this specification is the only normative version. Non-normative translations may also be available.
Copyright © 2006 W3C ® ( MIT , ERCIM , Keio ), All Rights Reserved. W3C liability , trademark and document use rules apply.
The XHTML Role Attribute defined in this specification allows the author to annotate XML Languages with machine-extractable semantic information about the purpose of an element. Use cases include accessibility, device adaptation, server-side processing, and complex data description. This attribute can be integrated into any markup language based upon XHTML Modularization [ XHTMLMOD ].
This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. A list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in the W3C technical reports index at http://www.w3.org/TR/.
This document is the second Public Working Draft, and is nearly complete. It is based upon comments received against the previous draft, and also upon work done in the definition of [ XHTML2 ], and is therefore relatively mature.
This document has been produced by the W3C HTML Working Group ( Members only ) as part of the HTML Activity . The goals of the HTML Working Group are discussed in the HTML Working Group charter .
This document is governed by the 24 January 2002 CPP as amended by the W3C Patent Policy Transition Procedure . W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the group; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a patent. An individual who has actual knowledge of a patent which the individual believes contains Essential Claim(s) must disclose the information in accordance with section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy .
Publication as a Working Draft does not imply endorsement by the W3C Membership. This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other than work in progress.
Please report errors in this specification to www-html-editor@w3.org ( archive ). It is inappropriate to send discussion email to this address. Public discussion may take place on www-html@w3.org ( archive ).
This section is informative.
This document is a module designed to be used to help extend the scope of XHTML-family markup languages into new environments. It has been developed in conjunction with the accessibility community and other groups to make it easier to describe the semantic meaning of XHTML-family document content.
This section is normative .
The keywords "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [ RFC2119 ].
Note that all examples in this document are informative, and are not meant to be interpreted as normative requirements.
XHTML Role Attribute Module is not a stand-alone document type. It is intended to be integrated into other host languages such as XHTML. A conforming XHTML Role Attribute Module document is a document that requires only the facilities described as mandatory in this specification and the facilities described as mandatory in its host language. Such a document must meet all the following criteria:
The document MUST conform to the constraints expressed in Appendix A - DTD Implementation , combined with the constraints expressed in its host language implementation.
If
the
host
language
is
not
in
the
XHTML
namespace,
then
elements
that
use
this
attribute
MUST
does
not
incorporate
the
XHTML
Role
Attribute
Module
attribute
into
its
own
namespace,
the
document
MUST
contain
an
xmlns
declaration
for
the
XHTML
Role
Attribute
Module
namespace
[
XMLNAMES
]
.
The
namespace
for
XHTML
Role
Attribute
Module
is
defined
to
be
http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml
.
An
example
start
tag
of
a
root
element
might
look
like:
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" >
When the XHTML Role Attribute Module is included in a host language, all of the facilities required in this specification MUST be included in the host language. In addition, the attribute defined in this specification MUST be included in the content model of the host language. Finally, the attribute MUST be referenced using its namespace-qualified form (e.g., <myml:myelement xhtml:role='definition'>a term</myml:myelement>).
A conforming user agent MUST support all of the features required in this specification.
This section is normative.
The role attribute takes as its value one or more white-space separated QName s. Any non-qualified value MUST be interpreted in the XHTML namespace, and MUST be taken from the list defined in this section.
The attribute describes the role(s) the current element plays in the context of the document. This can be used, for example, by applications and assistive technologies to determine the purpose of an element. This could allow a user to make informed decisions on which actions may be taken on an element and activate the selected action in a device independent way. It could also be used as a mechanism for annotating portions of a document in a domain specific way (e.g., a legal term taxonomy).
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Authors may use the following standard oles, listed here with f their conventional interpretations. They are intended to define regions of the document to help orient the user.
dfn
element
within
the
contents
(as
defined
in
[
XHTMLMOD
]),
then
that
represents
the
term
being
defined.
It is possible to define additional role values. Such values MUST be defined in their own namespace. Note that current best practice is that the URI associated with that namespace resolve to a resource that allows for the discovery of the definition of the roles in the namespace. Example definitions include the RDF Schema for the XHTML role attribute values in Appendix B , and the Web Accessibility Initiative's work on an RDF Taxonomy [ WAIRDF ].
This appendix is normative .
The DTD implementation of XHTML Role Attribute Module conforms to the requirements defined in [ XHTMLMOD ]. Consequently, it provides a Qualified Names sub-module, and a module file for the XHTML Role Attribute Module module defined in this Proposed Recommendation.
Note
that
this
module
defines
the
parameter
entity
%xhtml-role-attrs.qname;
.
This
entity
is
intended
to
be
used
in
the
attribute
lists
of
elements
in
any
host
language
that
permits
the
use
of
the
role
attribute
on
elements
in
its
own
namespace.
In
this
case
the
Host
Language
driver
should
set
a
parameter
entity
%XHTML-ROLE.prefixed;
to
INCLUDE
and
a
parameter
entity
%XHTML-ROLE.prefix;
to
a
value
that
is
the
prefix
for
the
XHTML
Role
Attribute
Module
attributes.
<!-- ....................................................................... --> <!-- XHTML Role Qname Module ............................................ --> <!-- file: xhtml-role-qname-1.mod This is XHTML Role - the Role Attribute Module for XHTML. Copyright 2006 W3C (MIT, ERCIM, Keio), All Rights Reserved. This DTD module is identified by the PUBLIC and SYSTEM identifiers: PUBLIC "-//W3C//ENTITIES XHTML Role Attribute Qnames 1.0//EN" SYSTEM "http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/DTD/xhtml-role-qname-1.mod" Revisions: (none) ....................................................................... --> <!-- XHTML Role Attribute Qname (Qualified Name) Module This module is contained in two parts, labeled Section 'A' and 'B': Section A declares parameter entities to support namespace- qualified names, namespace declarations, and name prefixing for XHTML Role and extensions. Section B declares parameter entities used to provide namespace-qualified names for the XHTML role attribute: %role.qname; the xmlns-qualified name for @role ... XHTML Role extensions would create a module similar to this one. --> <!-- Section A: XHTML Role Attribute XML Namespace Framework ::::::::::::::: --> <!-- 1. Declare a %XHTML-ROLE.prefixed; conditional section keyword, used to activate namespace prefixing. The default value should inherit '%NS.prefixed;' from the DTD driver, so that unless overridden, the default behavior follows the overall DTD prefixing scheme. --> <!ENTITY % NS.prefixed "IGNORE" > <!ENTITY % XHTML-ROLE.prefixed "%NS.prefixed;" > <!-- 2. Declare a parameter entity (eg., %XHTML-ROLE.xmlns;) containing the URI reference used to identify the XHTML Role Attribute namespace --> <!ENTITY % XHTML-ROLE.xmlns "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" > <!-- 3. Declare parameter entities (eg., %XML.prefix;) containing the default namespace prefix string(s) to use when prefixing is enabled. This may be overridden in the DTD driver or the internal subset of an document instance. If no default prefix is desired, this may be declared as an empty string. NOTE: As specified in [XMLNAMES], the namespace prefix serves as a proxy for the URI reference, and is not in itself significant. --> <!ENTITY % XHTML-ROLE.prefix "" > <!-- 4. Declare parameter entities (eg., %XHTML-ROLE.pfx;) containing the colonized prefix(es) (eg., '%XHTML-ROLE.prefix;:') used when prefixing is active, an empty string when it is not. --> <![%XHTML-ROLE.prefixed;[ <!ENTITY % XHTML-ROLE.pfx "%XHTML-ROLE.prefix;:" > ]]> <!ENTITY % XHTML-ROLE.pfx "" > <!-- declare qualified name extensions here ............ --> <!ENTITY % xhtml-role-qname-extra.mod "" > %xhtml-role-qname-extra.mod; <!-- 5. The parameter entity %XHTML-ROLE.xmlns.extra.attrib; may be redeclared to contain any non-XHTML Role Attribute namespace declaration attributes for namespaces embedded in XML. The default is an empty string. XLink should be included here if used in the DTD. --> <!ENTITY % XHTML-ROLE.xmlns.extra.attrib "" > <!-- Section B: XML Qualified Names ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: --> <!-- 6. This section declares parameter entities used to provide namespace-qualified names for the XHTML role attribute. --> <!ENTITY % xhtml-role.role.qname "%XHTML-ROLE.pfx;role" > <!-- The following defines a PE for use in the attribute sets of elements in other namespaces that want to incorporate the XML Event attributes. Note that in this case the XHTML-ROLE.pfx should always be defined. --> <!ENTITY % xhtml-role.attrs.qname "%XHTML-ROLE.pfx;role CDATA #IMPLIED" > <!-- end of xhtml-role-qname-1.mod -->
<!-- ...................................................................... --> <!-- XHTML Role Module .................................................... --> <!-- file: xhtml-role-1.mod This is XHTML Role - the Role Attribute Module for XHTML. Copyright 2006 W3C (MIT, ERCIM, Keio), All Rights Reserved. This DTD module is identified by the PUBLIC and SYSTEM identifiers: PUBLIC "-//W3C//ENTITIES XHTML Role Attribute 1.0//EN" SYSTEM "http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/DTD/xhtml-role-1.mod" Revisions: (none) ....................................................................... --> <!-- XHTML Role Attribute Module does nothing, since role is not incorporated in any elements content model as part of this module. --> <!-- end of xhtml-role-1.mod -->
This section is informative
This section will contain an example RDF specification for the roles that are defined in this document.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE rdf:RDF [
<!ENTITY xsd "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#">
<!ENTITY dc "http://dublincore.org/2003/03/24/dces#">
<!ENTITY owl "http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#">
<!ENTITY rdfs "http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#">
<!ENTITY rdf "http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
<!ENTITY states "http://www.w3.org/2005/07/aaa#">
<!ENTITY skos "http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#">
<!ENTITY wairole "http://www.w3.org/2005/01/wai-rdf/GUIRoleTaxonomy#">
]>
<rdf:RDF xml:base="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/#" xmlns:owl="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#" xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:rdfs="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#" xmlns:skos="http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#" xmlns:states="http://www.w3.org/2005/07/aaa#" xmlns:wairole="http://www.w3.org/2005/01/wai-rdf/GUIRoleTaxonomy#" xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml#">
<owl:Class rdf:ID="banner">
<rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="wairole:region"/>
<wairole:scope rdf:resource="wairole:document"/>
<dc:description xml:lang="en">A banner is usually defined as the
advertisement at the top of a web page. The banner content typically
contains the site or company logo and other key advertisements for the site.
</dc:description>
</owl:Class>
<owl:Class rdf:ID="contentinfo">
<rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="wairole:region"/>
<wairole:scope rdf:resource="wairole:document"/>
<dc:description xml:lang="en">This is information about
the content on the page. For example, footnotes, copyrights, links to privacy
statements, etc. would belong here.
</dc:description>
</owl:Class>
<owl:Class rdf:ID="definition">
<rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="wairole:section"/>
<wairole:scope rdf:resource="wairole:document"/>
<dc:description xml:lang="en">The contents of the
associated element represent a definition (e.g., of a term or concept).
If there is a dfn element within the contents (as defined in [XHTMLMOD]),
then that represents the term being defined.
</dc:description>
</owl:Class>
<owl:Class rdf:ID="main">
<rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="wairole:region"/>
<wairole:scope rdf:resource="wairole:document"/>
<dc:description xml:lang="en">This defines the main
content of a document.
</dc:description>
</owl:Class>
<owl:Class rdf:ID="navigation">
<rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="wairole:region"/>
<wairole:scope rdf:resource="wairole:document"/>
<wairole:relatedConcept rdf:resource="wairole:menu"/>
<dc:description xml:lang="en">This is the navigation bar
on a web document. This is typically a list of links to other pages on the
site or other areas of the same document.
</dc:description>
</owl:Class>
<owl:Class rdf:ID="note">
<rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="wairole:section"/>
<wairole:scope rdf:resource="wairole:document"/>
<dc:description xml:lang="en">The content is parenthetic
or ancillary to the main content of the resource.
</dc:description>
</owl:Class>
<owl:Class rdf:ID="search">
<rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="wairole:region"/>
<wairole:scope rdf:resource="wairole:document"/>
<dc:description xml:lang="en">This is the search section of
a web document. This is typically a form used to submit search
requests about the site or a more general Internet wide search service.
</dc:description>
</owl:Class>
<owl:Class rdf:ID="secondary">
<rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="wairole:region"/>
<dc:description xml:lang="en">This is any unique section
of the document. In the case of a portal, this may include but not be
limited to: show times; current weather; or stocks to watch.
</dc:description>
</owl:Class>
<owl:Class rdf:ID="seealso">
<rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="wairole:section"/>
<dc:description xml:lang="en">Indicates that the element
contains content that is related to the main content of the page.
</dc:description>
<wairole:relatedConcept rdf:resource="#main"/>
</owl:Class>
</rdf:RDF>
This appendix is normative .
This section is informative.
At the time of publication, the participants in the W3C HTML Working Group were: