Use of <link> in documents

Chuck Foster ([email protected])
Wed, 11 Oct 1995 00:34:41 +0000


Hi,

I keep on confusing myself over the meaning of the REL and REV parts
of the LINK element. I have been using the following form for a
while, which I worked out from the specs some time earlier in the
year, before HTML3:

<link href="mailto:[email protected]" rev=owns,made>

which I assumed means that the href quoted is for the URL of who
"owns" and "made" the document, this being a REV as the URL is
related to this document, not this document relating to that.

Reference: http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/MarkUp/html3/dochead.html

REL
This defines the relationship defined by the link.
REV
This defines a reverse relationship. A link from document A to document B with
REV=relation expresses the same relationship as a link from B to A with
REL=relation. REV=made is sometimes used to identify the document author,
either the author's email address with a mailto URI, or a link to the author's
home page.

Now it then follows on with examples such as

REL=Home
The link references a home page or the top of some hierarchy.

My interpretation of the above rules makes me read this as meaning
that *this* document is the Home for the one pointed to by the URL,
not the way the example says (I would have used REV to indicate that
the URL is the home page to this document).

Could someone please explain is I am just misunderstanding the
relationships, or if the spec is ambiguous or just plain wrong!!!

I want to get it right in my own head before passing it onto others
and leading them astray if I am wrong here.

Thanks
Chuck