(2003-05-22) Simpler Rdf Xml

Tim Bray takes the fall for the ugliness of RDF-XML. Speaking only for myself, I have never actually managed to write down a chunk of RDF/XML correctly, even when I had the triples laid out quite clearly in my head. Furthermore - once again speaking for myself - I find most existing RDF/XML entirely unreadable. And I think I understand the theory reasonably well. At this point, the RDF evangelists pipe up and say "Well, Ordinary People (tm) don't have to look at the source, there will be tools to sort all that out." Sorry, I just don't believe that. If, in 1994, you'd needed Dream Weaver or equivalent to write for the Web, there wouldn't be a Web today.

As penance, he offers a new RPV syntax which is still XML but much simpler.

Separately, Sjoerd Visscher offers XR.