rfc-2119
From Microformats
RFC 2119
Microformat specifications (and their drafts) use the key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL". These are to be interpreted as described in RFC2119 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt) and MAY include a link to this page, or directly to http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt.
Definitions
RFC 2119 gives the following definitions:
Templates
The following templates are available for use on this wiki:
These adhere to the W3C Manual of Style guidelines for RFC 2119 (http://www.w3.org/2001/06/manual/#RFC).
Markup suggestions
When using RFC 2119 terms on web pages, consider re-using the mark-up pattern from the W3C Manual of Style (http://www.w3.org/2001/06/manual/#RFC) (in particular class="RFC2119" - note capitalization), and perhaps their suggested style rule as well.
On this wiki, the above templates help facilitate the use of the markup pattern from the W3C Manual of Style.
In addition, for marking up the commonly used initial paragraph declaring RFC 2119 terms in documents, consider using the following markup, proposed (http://edward.oconnor.cx/2007/08/marking-up-rfc2119-text) by Edward O'Connor:
<p>
The key words "<dfn>MUST</dfn>", "<dfn>MUST NOT</dfn>",
"<dfn>REQUIRED</dfn>", "<dfn>SHALL</dfn>", "<dfn>SHALL NOT</dfn>",
"<dfn>SHOULD</dfn>", "<dfn>SHOULD NOT</dfn>",
"<dfn>RECOMMENDED</dfn>", "<dfn>MAY</dfn>", and "<dfn>OPTIONAL</dfn>"
in this document are to be interpreted as described in <a
href="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt"
rel="help glossary">RFC 2119</a>.
</p>
microformat thoughts
Some have suggested considering a new microformat for marking up use of RFC 2119 terms.
It appears there is no need for such a new microformat however. Following W3C's established practice, and Edward O'Connor's POSH suggestion for the initial paragraph, appears to be sufficient.
