RE: [syndication] Progress with Scripting News in OPML

[dave.cantrell@gunter.af.mil]

Hi Dave,

I have a technical/design question regarding your OPML format. Since I've
never really looked into OPML other than a quick look when you first created
it a while back, maybe there is an obvious answer to this -- if so please
educate me.

Why do you escape elements and stuff them into attributes, rather than nest
them as standard XML/XHTML elements inside of the OPML outline element? I
can see the argument of allowing for those who write vanilla HTML without
proper nesting, but it really takes minimal effort for someone to switch
from plain HTML to properly-nested HTML. You could even make this an option
in Manila to impose strict element nesting on all inputs (and therefore
return an error if someone attempts to create/edit an item without proper
nesting) or use standard HTML. By imposing this small restriction, it allows
aggregators to access the full document in all it's semantic richness.

Of course you already have products developed around this spec and design so
I don't expect you to change it. I'm just trying to "get my head around it"
and understand the thoughts that went into this particular design approach.

Thanks,
-dave