For some while the HTML WG has been troubled by requests for semantic-based
elements, like <number> or <person>, or <bibliographicreference>, etc.

The problem hasn't been with the idea, but with what criteria to use to
decide whether an element should be included or not, and where to draw the
line.

On the other hand there have been requests for facilities to include RDF,
the semantic web markup, into XHTML.

These are clearly related, since the aim of more semantic markup is to
create a more semantic web.

At http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/2004/02/xhtml-rdf.html  is a discussion document
about XHTML and RDF. It is intended to generate discussion about the role of
semantic markup in XHTML, and how to allow the maximum of flexibility, while
still allowing XHTML to be validated.

Comments welcome.

Steven Pemberton
For the W3C HTML Working Group.