Web Slice

Web Slice

IE8 Favorites menu displaying a WebSlice in a flyout Window
Developed by Microsoft
Latest release 0.9
Type of format Web syndication, Screen scraping
Extended from hAtom Microformat
Open format? Yes, As part of Microsoft Open Specification Promise
Website Web Slice Format Specification - Version 0.9

Web Slice is a web feed technology introduced in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 that allows certain portions of a web page to be subscribed to.[1][2][3][4] Internet Explorer allows users to preview the subscribed Web Slices in fly-out preview window.[5] Web Slices are based on hAtom Microformat.[6]

Microsoft developed the Web Slice format, and published a specification under the Microsoft Open Specification Promise.[6] The specification is not published by any independent standards body. As of 2010, Internet Explorer 8 is the only browser to support Web Slices natively, although Mozilla Firefox has support via an add-on called webchunks.[7]

Contents

Implementation

The Web Slice has 9 properties: the Web Slice id, entry title, entry content, end time, alternative display source, alternative navigation, alternative update source, and time to live.[6] The 3 required properties are: the Web Slice id, entry title, and entry content.

To disable Web Slices on a web page, add[8]

<meta name="slice" scheme="IE" content="off"/>

To specify the default web slice on a page with multiple web slices, add [8]

<link
   rel="default-slice"
     <!-- Must be "default-slice" -->
    type="application/x-hatom"
      <!-- Must be "application/x-hatom" -->
    href="id of webslice"
      <!-- The ID of the web slice -->
/>

Sample Webslice

<div class="hslice" id = "hslice-id goes here">
  <!-- The ID of the hSlice -->
    <div style="display:none" class="entry-title">Title goes here</div>
      <!-- The title -->
    <span class="ttl" style="display:none">360</span>
      <!-- How often to refresh in minutes -->
    <abbr class="endtime" title="10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 UTC"></abbr>
      <!-- When the link expires -->
    <div class="entry-content">
        The content goes here
    </div>
</div>

Mozilla Firefox

While Firefox does not have built in support for web slices, extensions have been created to give the ability to read web slices.

WebChunks

WebChunks is a Mozilla Firefox 3 implementation of Microsoft Webslices. It allows you to "follow" an area of a web page through a dedicated feed bookmarked in a new toolbar. With Greasemonkey, WebChunks can insert webchunks/webslices markup into any web page so the Webchunks extension handles it.[7][9][10][11][12][13]

Fireclip

Fireclip is a Firefox addon that lets you "clip out" parts of a website and watch them for changes. It lets you track specific parts of a website in a similar manner to web slices.[14][15][16][17][18][19]

PageSlices

Pageslices is a Firefox addon too. It allows you to not only store parts of websites but organize them by adding on custom pages. Web site of the project: http://pageslices.net.

Google Chrome

Google Chrome, like Firefox, does not have built in support for web slices however the extension API new to Chrome 4 allows extensions to be created to give the ability to relatively simply create arbitrary webslices[20] of any content from any page.

Opera

Although Opera 10 was rumored to have support for web slices, this did not come to pass.[21][22] Opera does have a "widgetize" feature likened to web slices which allows web pages to be displayed on a user's desktop.[23]

See also

References

  1. ^ Bishop, Todd (2008-03-05). "Microsoft shows IE8 Activities, 'WebSlices'". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/archives/133518.asp. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
  2. ^ Foley, Mary Jo (2008-03-04). "IE 8 to feature WebSlices, Activities". ZDNet. http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1241. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
  3. ^ "Web Slices". Internet Explorer 8: Features. Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/features/easier.aspx. Retrieved 7 February 2010. 
  4. ^ "Internet Explorer 8 Readiness Tollkit - Web Slices". Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/readiness/developers-new.aspx#webslices. Retrieved 9 February 2010. 
  5. ^ Konigsburg, Eitan (4 February 2009). "Internet Explorer 8: Web Slices". First Look. The New York Times. http://firstlook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/internet-explorer-8-web-slices/. Retrieved 7 February 2010. 
  6. ^ a b c "Web Slice Format Specification - Version 0.9". MSDN. Microsoft. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc304073(VS.85).aspx. Retrieved 7 February 2010. 
  7. ^ a b glazou (September 4, 2008). "WebChunks". Mozilla. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8494. Retrieved 15 February 2010. 
  8. ^ a b "Subscribing to Content with Web Slices". Microsoft. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc196992(VS.85).aspx. Retrieved 7 February 2010. 
  9. ^ Vadukut, Sidin (2009-01-28). "Nice try IE8, but Mozilla slices better". LiveMint. http://www.livemint.com/2009/01/28143030/Nice-try-IE8-but-Mozilla-slic.html. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
  10. ^ Cabello, Percy (2008-09-08). "WebChunks: even better than the real thing". Mozilla Links. Mozilla. http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2008/09/webchunks-is-even-better-than-the-real-thing/. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
  11. ^ Cabello, Percy (2008-03-11). "IE 8 Activities and WebSlices for Firefox". Mozilla Links. Mozilla. http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2008/03/ie-8-activities-and-webslices-for-firefox/. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
  12. ^ Pash, Adam (2008-09-08). "WebChunks Puts Dynamic Information from Any Web Site in Your Toolbar - Firefox Extensions". Lifehacker. http://lifehacker.com/5046925/webchunks-puts-dynamic-information-from-any-web-site-in-your-toolbar. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
  13. ^ Ryan (2008-03-11). "IE8 Activities & WebSlices for Firefox". Cybernetnews.com. http://cybernetnews.com/ie8-activities-webslices-for-firefox/. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
  14. ^ Kashyap, Varun (2009-12-07). "How To Add 20 Best Features Of Other Browsers to Firefox | The Best Article Every day". Bspcn.com. http://www.bspcn.com/2009/12/07/how-to-add-20-best-features-of-other-browsers-to-firefox. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
  15. ^ Han, Ming (January 8, 2009). "Fireclip". Mozilla. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5850. Retrieved 15 February 2010. 
  16. ^ "Fireclip - Take back the web. Piece by piece". Fireclip.awardspace.info. http://fireclip.awardspace.info/. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
  17. ^ Purdy, Kevin (2009-01-13). "Fireclip Brings Mac-Like Web Clipping to Firefox - Downloads". Lifehacker. http://lifehacker.com/5130084/fireclip-brings-mac+like-web-clipping-to-firefox. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
  18. ^ Amit Agarwal (2009-01-13). "Track Specific Portions of any Web Page with FireClip". Labnol.org. http://www.labnol.org/software/track-web-page-portions-with-firefox/6518/. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
  19. ^ "Buildling Better Webs". Slideshare.net. http://www.slideshare.net/guesta429c09e/buildling-better-webs. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
  20. ^ "Arbitrary Web Slices". http://code.cheesydesign.com/?p=450. 
  21. ^ Lipskas, Vygantas (March 17, 2009). "Rumor: Opera 10 to Include Web Slices". FavBrowser.com. http://www.favbrowser.com/rumor-opera-10-to-include-web-slices/. Retrieved 12 April 2010. 
  22. ^ "Opera 10 to Include Web Slices?". WebUpd8. 17 March, 2009. http://www.webupd8.org/2009/03/opera-10-to-include-web-slices.html. Retrieved 12 April 2010. 
  23. ^ http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=296156

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