Simon St.Laurent has announced an IETF Internet-Draft defining a XPath based scheme to be used in the XPointer framework that is simpler than the xpointer() scheme and more powerful than the shorthand or element() scheme.

Split into four pieces, the last XPointer Last Call Working Drafts define several XPointer schemes ranging from id based shorthand pointers to an xpointer() scheme, which is a superset of XPath.

St.Laurent notes that there is a gap between the element() and the xpointer() schemes, which his proposal fills with existing technology by relying on XPath 1.0:

The xpath1() scheme strikes a balance between the simple implementation but limited functionality of shorthand pointers and the element() scheme, and the complex implementation but great capabilities of the xpointer() scheme. Perhaps more importantly, it strikes that balance using processing capabilities that are already widely deployed.

This work has no connection with the W3C Xlink WG:

This Internet-Draft has no connection to the W3C XLink WG except insofar as it builds on the XPointer Framework and uses other W3C work as references.

Other stories:

• IETF draft: "Registration of xmlns Media Feature Tag"
• XPointer splits into four pieces