Helix Generic Content Model #6

tripodsan · 2022-08-09T14:48:29Z

tripodsan
Aug 9, 2022
Maintainer

Work in progress document to describe the helix generic content model in a formal way.

Semantically, a Helix Generic Content document follows the HTML5 content model, with some limitations.

Note that the document generated by the rendering pipeline can contain more elements than the ones that describe the semantic content. eg. the pipeline includes the head.html verbatim, which can contain any metadata elements or gibberish.

outline

Since the overall structure is a HTML5 document, it is not described here too formally, but given in exemplary form:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    {metadata}
  </head>
  <body>
    <header>{headerContent}</header>
    <main>{mainContent}</main>
    <footer>{footerContent}</footer>
  </body>
</html>

interface HelixDocument {
  children: [ Head | Body ];
}

interface Head {
  children: [ HelixMetadata ];
}

interface Body {
  children: [ HeaderContent | MainContent | FooterContent ];
}

helix := "<!DOCTYPE html>" html;
html := "<html>" head body "</html>";
head := "<head>" metadata* "</head>";
metadata := "<meta name=... content=... >" | title;
title := "<title>" text "</title>";
body := "<body>" header main footer "</body>";
header := "<header />";
footer := "<footer />";

Metadata content

Helix recognises the <meta> and <title> metadata elements. All others are ignored on import, but can be present on export.

interface HelixMetadata {
  children: [ Meta* | Title ];
}

interface Meta {
  name: string;
  content: string;
}

interface Title {
  children: [ Text ];
}

Header content

Always empty (TBD)

Footer content

Always empty (TBD)

Main Content

All the content that semantically maps to document semantics of an individual page or fragment is found in the main-content content section of the markup. It consists of default content in sections and blocks.

main := "<main>" section* "</main>";
section := "<div>" sectionContent "</div>";

interface MainContent {
  children: [ Section* ];
}

interface Section {
  children: [ FlowContent | Block ]*;
}

The following html elements, along with their respective semantics are understood; those are a subset of the flow content defined by html.

helixFlowContent :=
  | "<a>"
  | "<br>"
  | "<code>"
  | "<del>"
  | "<em>"
  | "<h1>" | "<h2>" | "<h3>" | "<h3>" | "<h4>" | "<h5>" | "<h6>"
  | "<img>"
  | "<li>"
  | "<ol>"
  | "<p>"
  | "<picture>"
  | "<pre>"
  | "<source>"
  | "<span>"
  | "<strong>"
  | "<sub>"
  | "<sup>"
  | "<table>"
  | "<tbody>"
  | "<td>"
  | "<th>"
  | "<thead>"
  | "<tr>"
  | "<u>"
  | "<ul>";

tripodsan · 2022-08-11T06:14:10Z

tripodsan
Aug 11, 2022
Maintainer Author

Section Content

Section content can contain phrasing content and block. The flow content is understood in its semantic meaning. For example a <h1> is a title, a <em> marks text as emphasised (and not per se italic).

sectionContent := ( helixFlowContent | block )*;

Blocks

A helix block is identified by nested <div> tags which can be used to further structure the document by adding attributes to parts of the content. The content of a block cell is again semantic html, but please note that nested blocks are not supported.

The class attribute of a block's <div> tag has special semantic, as it defines the block name and options.

<div class=”blockname”>
  <div>
     <div>
      <p>Hello, World.</p>
     </div>
  </div>
</div>

block := "<div class=" blockClass ">" blockRow+ "</div>";
blockClass := blockName blockOptions*;
blockRow := "<div>" blockCell+ "</div>";
blockCell := "<div>" helixFlowContent* "</div>";

interface Block {
  name: string;
  options: string[];
  children: [ BlockRow ]*;
}

interface BlockRow {
  children: [ BlockCell ]*;
}

interface BlockCell {
  children: [ FlowContent ]*;
}

0 replies

bdelacretaz · 2023-03-09T09:10:04Z

bdelacretaz
Mar 9, 2023

FWIW, if at some point you need more semantics in the HTML, note that we've been using HTML Microdata for the Universal Editor, and that works well.

1 reply

tripodsan Mar 9, 2023
Maintainer Author

I would see this as an additional layer, where one could define some schema, that would decorate the microdata on the elements, based on block types etc. this should then also help transforming the updates back into the document.

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Helix Generic Content Model #6

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Helix Generic Content Model #6

tripodsan Aug 9, 2022 Maintainer

outline

Metadata content

Header content

Footer content

Main Content

Replies: 2 comments · 1 reply

tripodsan Aug 11, 2022 Maintainer Author

Section Content

Blocks

bdelacretaz Mar 9, 2023

tripodsan Mar 9, 2023 Maintainer Author

tripodsan
Aug 9, 2022
Maintainer

Replies: 2 comments 1 reply

tripodsan
Aug 11, 2022
Maintainer Author

bdelacretaz
Mar 9, 2023

tripodsan Mar 9, 2023
Maintainer Author