RFC 2731 (rfc2731) - Page 2 of 23
Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 2731 Encoding Dublin Core Metadata in HTML December 1999
This document explains how to encode metadata using HTML 4.0
[HTML4.0]. It is not concerned with element semantics, which are
defined elsewhere. For illustrative purposes, some element semantics
are alluded to, but in no way should semantics appearing here be
considered definitive.
The HTML encoding allows elements of DC metadata to be interspersed
with non-DC elements (provided such mixing is consistent with rules
governing use of those non-DC elements). A DC element is indicated
by the prefix "DC", and a non-DC element by another prefix; for
example, the prefix "AC" is used with elements from the A-Core [AC].
3. The META Tag
The META tag of HTML is designed to encode a named metadata element.
Each element describes a given aspect of a document or other
information resource. For example, this tagged metadata element,
says that Homer Simpson is the Creator, where the element named
Creator is defined in the DC element set. In the more general form,
the capitalized words are meant to be replaced in actual
descriptions; thus in the example,
ELEMENT_NAME was: Creator
ELEMENT_VALUE was: Simpson, Homer
and PREFIX was: DC
Within a META tag the first letter of a Dublin Core element name is
capitalized. DC places no restriction on alphabetic case in an
element value and any number of META tagged elements may appear
together, in any order. More than one DC element with the same name
may appear, and each DC element is optional. The next example is a
book description with two authors, two titles, and no other metadata.
Kunze Informational