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      Design Issues for the World Wide Web
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      <a href="../TheProject.html"><img alt="W3c" src=
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    <h1>
      Design Issues
    </h1>
    <h2>
      Architectural and philosophical points
    </h2>
    <p>
      These statements of architectural principle explain the
      thinking behind the specifications. These are personal notes
      by Tim Berners-Lee: they are not endorsed by W3C. They are
      aimed at the technical community, to explain reasons, provide
      a framework to provide consistency for for future
      developments, and avoid repetition of discussions once
      resolved.
    </p>
    <table bgcolor="#DDFFDD" cellpadding="4" width="100%">
      <tbody>
        <tr>
          <td>
            <p align="left">

            </p>
            <ul>
              <li rel="sioc:container_of" resource="Preface.html" >
                   <a href="Preface.html">
                      <span property="dc:title">Preface</span>
                   </a>
                   (<span property="dc:date">1998-10-01</span>)
              </li>

              <li rel="sioc:container_of" resource="Stack.html" >
                   <a href="Stack.html">
                      <span property="dc:title">The Stack of Specifications</span>
                   </a>
                   (<span property="dc:date">2002-07-29</span>)
              </li>


              <li rel="sioc:container_of" resource="Abstractions.html" >
                   <a href="Abstractions.html">
                      <span property="dc:title">Levels of Abstraction: Net, Web, Graph </span>
                   </a>
                   (<span property="dc:date">2007-10-23</span>)
              </li>

              <li rel="sioc:container_of" resource="Architecture.html" >
                   <a href="Architecture.html">
                      <strong property="dc:title">Web Architecture from 50,000 feet</strong>**
                   </a>
                   (<span property="dc:date">1998-09-04</span>)
                <ul>
                  <li>
                    <a href="Principles.html"  rel=
                     "sioc:container_of" >
                    <span about="Principles.html"
                    property="dc:title">Principles of Design</span></a>
                    (<span about="Principles.html" property="dc:date">1998-9</span>)
                  </li>

                  <li rel="sioc:container_of" resource="Model.html" >
                       <a href="Model.html">
                          <span property="dc:title">The Web Model: Information
                    hiding and URI syntax</span>
                       </a>
                       (<span property="dc:date">19998-01-29</span>)
                  </li>

                </ul>
              </li>


            <li>
                <div rel="sioc:container_of" resource="Axioms.html">
                    <a href="Axioms.html">
                      <span property="dc:title">Axioms of Web architecture: URIs</span>
                           </a>
                           (<span property="dc:date">1996-12-19</span>)
                </div>

                <ul>
                  <li>
                    <a href="Fragment.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">Fragment
                    identifiers</a>
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="Webize.html" rel=
                     "sioc:container_of"><em>Webizing an existing
                    application</em></a> (2000/09)
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="Xlink.html">When to use XLink</a>
                    (2002/06)
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="HTTP-URI.html">What do HTTP URIs
                    identify?</a> (2002/09)
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="HTTP-URI2.html">What HTTP URIs
                    identify</a> (2005/6)
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="TermResource.html"><i>A Short History
                    of the term "Resource"</i></a> (2009/8)
                  </li>
                </ul>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="LinkLaw.html" rel= "sioc:container_of"><em>Links and
                laws</em></a> - what does a hypertext link imply?
                (April 1997)
                <ul>
                  <li>
                    <a href="LinkMyths.html" rel=
                     "sioc:container_of"><em>Myths about Links</em></a> (April
                    97)
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="PersistentDomains"><em>Persistent
                    Domains</em></a>- an idea for persistence of
                    URIs(2000/10)
                  </li>
                </ul>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="NameMyth.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">The Myth of
                Names and Addresses</a>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="Generic.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">Generic
                resources 3-96</a>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="Metadata.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">Metadata
                Architecture</a> (6 Jan 1997)
                <ul>
                  <li>
                    <em><a href=
                    "NamespacesAreResources.html">Dictionaries in
                    the Library?</a></em> On the two-level system
                    design error (2000)
                  </li>
                </ul>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="Meaning.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">The meaning of
                a document</a> - grounding in a global namespace
                (1999 - in progress)
                <ul>
                  <li>
                    <a href="XML">The Interpretation of an XML
                    document</a> <a>(2002)</a>
                  </li>
                </ul>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="Mandatory.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">Mandatory
                extensions: A fundamental design need</a>(1999? in
                progress)
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="Extensible.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">Extensible
                languages and web
                evolution</a>(Feb
                1998)
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="Evolution.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">Evolvability
                (April 1998)</a>
                <ul>
                  <li>
                    <a href="Mandatory.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">Mandtory
                    extensions</a> (2000/1)
                  </li>
                </ul>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="Semantic.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">A roadmap to
                the Semantic Web (Sept 98)</a>
                <ul>
                  <li>
                    <a href="RDFnot.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">What the
                    semantic Web isn't but can represent</a> (1998)
                  </li>
                  <li>

                      <div rel="sioc:container_of" resource="LinkedData.html" >
                           <a href="LinkedData.html">
                              <strong property="dc:title">Linked Data</strong>
                           </a>
                           (<span property="dc:date">2006-07-27</span>)
                      </div>

                      <ul>
                          <li rel="sioc:container_of" resource="ReadWriteLinkedData.html" >
                               <a href="ReadWriteLinkedData.html">
                                  <span property="dc:title">Read-Write Linked Data</span>
                               </a>
                               (<span property="dc:date">2009-10-11</span>)
                                <span class="new">new</span>

                          </li>
                          <li rel="sioc:container_of" resource="CloudStorage.html" >
                               <a href="CloudStorage.html">
                                  <span property="dc:title">Socially Aware Cloud Storage</span>
                               </a>
                               (<span property="dc:date">2009-08-17</span>)
                                <span class="new">new</span>
                          </li>
                      </ul>
                  </li>

                  <li>
                    <a href="GovData.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">Putting
                    Government Data on the Web</a> (2009/6)
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="RDB-RDF.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">RDF and
                    Relational databases</a> (1998) (link added
                    2001)
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="CG.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">Conceptual
                    Graphs and the semantic Web</a> (2001)
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="RDF-XML.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">Why RDF
                    model is not exactly the XML model</a> (1999)
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="Identity.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">Identity:
                    how to identify what in RDF</a> (2000/02)
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="TagLabel.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">Using
                    labels to give semantics to tags.</a> (2006/11)
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="InterpretationProperties.html" rel=
                     "sioc:container_of">Interpretation expressed as RDF
                    property</a> (language, etc)(2000/03)
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="Toolbox.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">Semantic
                    Web Toolbox: Logic and trust in
                    XML-RDF?</a>(1999)
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="Interpretation.html" rel=
                     "sioc:container_of">Semantics and Interpretation</a> (and
                    dig.sig.) (1999/12/1) Philosophical bits
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="Logic.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">Logic and
                    the semantic web</a> (1999)
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="Diff">The RDF-diff problem</a> -
                    transmitting changes to graphs (2001, 2004)
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="Rules.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">Rules and
                    facts: Inference engines and the Semantic Web
                    (2000/1)</a>
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="Inconsistent.html" rel=
                     "sioc:container_of">Limiting the damage of an
                    inconsistency</a> (2000/1)
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="Notation3.html">Notation3</a>: Logic
                    and Rules on RDF - showing it is possible
                    (2000/10)
                    <ul>
                      <li>
                        <em><a href="N3Alternatives">Design
                        alternatives considered in
                        Notation3</a></em> (2002/03)
                        <p>
                          <a href="Reify.html">Reification of RDF
                          and N3</a> (2004/12)
                        </p>
                      </li>
                    </ul>
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="SemanticClipboard">The Semantic
                    Clipboard</a> (2004/1)
                  </li>
                </ul>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="WebServices.html">Roadmap for Web
                Services</a> (see WS arch WG)
                <ul>
                  <li>
                    <a href="PaperTrail.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">Paper
                    Trail</a>- read/write state derived from r/o
                    documents in real life: which came first, the
                    journal or the database?
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="Conversations">Conversations and
                    State</a> - linking the two models (2000/11)
                  </li>
                </ul>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="Filtering.html" rel=
                 "sioc:container_of"><em>Filtering and censorship</em></a> -
                more philosophical than technical: is metadata a good
                thing? (December 1997)
              </li>


              <li rel="sioc:container_of" resource="NoSnooping.html" >
                   <a href="NoSnooping.html">
                      <strong property="dc:title">No Snooping</strong> on the Internet
                   </a>
                   (<span property="dc:date">2009-03-09</span>)
              </li>


              <li>
                <a href="Fractal.html" rel= "sioc:container_of"><em>Fractal
                web, fractal society</em></a> (1999)
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="UI.html" rel= "sioc:container_of"><em>User Interface
                in a consistent world</em></a>(6 Feb 97)
                <ul>
                  <li>
                    <a href="UserAgent.html" rel= "sioc:container_of"><em>User
                    agent watch points</em></a> -interpreting
                    HTTP(1999/12)
                  </li>
                  <li>
                    <a href="Editor.html" rel=
                     "sioc:container_of"><em>Intuitive hypertext
                    editing</em></a>
                  </li>
                  <li>Editing and Browsing Data with RDF and SVG @@
                  </li>
                </ul>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="PersistentDomains.html"><em>Persistent
                Domains</em></a> <em>- a social problem, social
                solution</em>(2000)
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="../1999/09/specification.html">How to write
                a specification (1999)</a>
              </li>
            </ul>
          </td>
        </tr>
      </tbody>
    </table>
    <hr />
    <h2>
      Informal notes not in this series
    </h2>
    <ul>
      <li>
        <a href="http://www.w3.org/2003/04/iri.html">Mappings and
        identity in URIs and IRIs</a>
      </li>
    </ul>
    <h2>
      Obsolete  notes
    </h2>
    <ul>
      <li>
        <a href="Syntax.html" rel= "sioc:container_of">Assumed syntax</a> - a
        simpler RDF syntax used in the following. (1999).
         <span style="font-style: italic;">This proposed
        altervative to RDF/XMl was never adopted,  RDF/XML
        prevailing as a standard and in practice also
        Notation3. </span>
      </li>
    </ul>
    <h2>
      Original design issues
    </h2>
    <p>
      <a href="OldDocs.html"><img src="../Icons/WWW/arch1990" alt=
      "1990 archives" /></a> <i>These documents date from the
      original design of the web, dating from 1990 when the first
      HTML editor was available to write them. When reading them
      please bear this in mind. Some have been updated later.
      Although the design is for a global general hypertext system,
      the justification for the initial project was the CERN
      environment and this may be evident in some places.</i>
    </p>
    <table bgcolor="#FFC060" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0">
      <tbody>
        <tr>
          <td>
            This lists decisions to be made in the design or
            selection of a <a name="Z12" href="../WhatIs.html" id=
            "Z12">hypermedia</a> information system. It assumes
            familiarity with the concept of hypertext. A summary of
            the uses of hypertext systems is followed by a list of
            features which may or may not be available. Some of the
            points appear in the Comms ACM July 88 articles on
            various hypertext systems. Some points were discussed
            also at <a name="Z11" href=
            "/Conferences/ECHT90/Points.html" id="Z11">ECHT90</a> .
            Tentative answers to some design decisions from the
            CERN perspective are included.
            <p>
              Here are the criteria and features to be considered:
            </p>
            <ul>
              <li>
                <a name="Z3" href="Uses.html" id="Z3">Intended uses
                of the system.</a>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a name="Z2" href="Availability.html" id=
                "Z2">Availability on which platforms?</a>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a name="Z6" href="Navigation.html" id=
                "Z6">Navigational techniques and tools: browsing,
                indexing, maps, resource discovery, etc</a>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a name="Z4" href="Versioning.html" id="Z4">Keeping
                track of previous versions of nodes and their
                relationships</a>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a name="Z5" href="Multiuser.html" id=
                "Z5">Multiuser access: protection, editing and
                locking, annotation.</a>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a name="Z7" href="Notification.html" id=
                "Z7">Notifying readers of new material
                available</a>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a name="Z10" href="Topology.html" id="Z10">The
                topology of the web of links</a>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a name="Z8" href="LinkTypes.html" id="Z8">The
                types of links which can express different
                relationships between nodes</a>
              </li>
            </ul>
            <p>
              These are the three important issues which require
              agreement between systems which can work together
            </p>
            <ul>
              <li>
                <a name="Z17" href="Naming.html" id="Z17">Naming
                and Addressing</a> of documents
              </li>
              <li>
                <a name="Z18" href=
                "../Protocols/RelevantProtocols.html" id=
                "Z18">Protocols</a>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a name="Z13" href="Formats.html" id="Z13">The
                format in which node content is stored and
                transferred</a>
              </li>
              <li>Implementation and optimization - <a name="Z15"
              href="Caching.html" id="Z15">Caching</a> , smart
              browsers, knowbots etc., <a name="Z14" href=
              "Formats.html#4" id="Z14">format conversion,
              gateways.</a>
              </li>
            </ul>
            <p>
              Other historical notes which are not otherwise
              referenced in this overview:
            </p>
            <ul>
              <li>
                <a href="Annotation">Annotation</a>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="BuildingBackLinks">Building Back Links</a>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="CompatibleProof">Proof that HTTP 1.0 is
                compatible with 0.9</a>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="Function.html">Function</a>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="ProtocolVersions.html">From version to
                version of HTTP</a>
              </li>
              <li>
                <a href="HTTP0.9Summary.html">Summary of HTTP
                0.9</a>
              </li>
            </ul>
          </td>
        </tr>
      </tbody>
    </table>
    <p>
      Other historical notes
    </p>
    <ul>
      <li>
        <a href="../MarkUp/SGML/TimComments.html">A pre-XML (pre
        W3C!) note about reforming SGML</a> (1993/3)
      </li>
    </ul>
    <hr />
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