Web Slice
Developed byMicrosoft
Latest release
0.9
Type of formatWeb syndication, Screen scraping
Extended fromhAtom Microformat
Open format?Yes, As part of Microsoft Open Specification Promise
WebsiteWeb Slice Format Specification - Version 0.9

Web Slices are a web feed technology based on the hAtom Microformat[1] that allows users to subscribe to portions of a web page.[2][3][4][5] Microsoft developed the Web Slice format, and published a specification under their Open Specification Promise.[1] The specification is not published by any independent standards body. Introduced in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, Web Slices can be previewed in a fly-out window.[6] As of 2012, Internet Explorer 8 and 9 were the only browsers to support Web Slices natively, although Mozilla Firefox had support via an add-on called webchunks.[7]

Implementation

A 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.[1] 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 2020 00:00:00 UTC"></abbr>
      <!-- When the link expires -->
    <div class="entry-content">
        The content goes here
</div>

Support

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 or 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 was another Firefox addon that allowed not only storing parts of websites but also organizing them by adding on custom pages.[20]

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[21] of any content from any page.

Opera

Although it was rumored that Opera 10 would have support for web slices, this did not come to pass.[22][23] Opera does have a "widgetize" feature likened to web slices which allows web pages to be displayed on a user's desktop.[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Web Slice Format Specification - Version 0.9". MSDN. Microsoft. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  2. ^ Bishop, Todd (2008-03-05). "Microsoft shows IE8 Activities, 'WebSlices'". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  3. ^ Foley, Mary Jo (2008-03-04). "IE 8 to feature WebSlices, Activities". ZDNet. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  4. ^ "Web Slices". Internet Explorer 8: Features. Microsoft. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  5. ^ "Internet Explorer 8 Readiness Tollkit - Web Slices". Microsoft. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
  6. ^ Konigsburg, Eitan (4 February 2009). "Internet Explorer 8: Web Slices". First Look. The New York Times. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  7. ^ a b glazou (September 4, 2008). "WebChunks". Mozilla. Archived from the original on 12 October 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  8. ^ a b "Subscribing to Content with Web Slices". Microsoft. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  9. ^ Vadukut, Sidin (2009-01-28). "Nice try IE8, but Mozilla slices better". LiveMint. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  10. ^ Cabello, Percy (2008-09-08). "WebChunks: even better than the real thing". Mozilla Links. Mozilla. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  11. ^ Cabello, Percy (2008-03-11). "IE 8 Activities and WebSlices for Firefox". Mozilla Links. Mozilla. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  12. ^ Pash, Adam (2008-09-08). "WebChunks Puts Dynamic Information from Any Web Site in Your Toolbar - Firefox Extensions". Lifehacker. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  13. ^ Ryan (2008-03-11). "IE8 Activities & WebSlices for Firefox". Cybernetnews.com. 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. Archived from the original on 2010-02-14. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  15. ^ Han, Ming (January 8, 2009). "Fireclip". Mozilla. Archived from the original on 12 October 2012. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  16. ^ "Fireclip - Take back the web. Piece by piece". Fireclip.awardspace.info. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  17. ^ Purdy, Kevin (2009-01-13). "Fireclip Brings Mac-Like Web Clipping to Firefox - Downloads". Lifehacker. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  18. ^ Amit Agarwal (2009-01-13). "Track Specific Portions of any Web Page with FireClip". Labnol.org. Archived from the original on 2009-09-17. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  19. ^ "Buildling Better Webs". Slideshare.net. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  20. ^ "Pageslices homepage". Archived from the original on 2011-10-31.
  21. ^ "Arbitrary Web Slices".
  22. ^ Lipskas, Vygantas (March 17, 2009). "Rumor: Opera 10 to Include Web Slices". FavBrowser.com. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
  23. ^ Andrew (17 March 2009). "Opera 10 to Include Web Slices?". WebUpd8. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
  24. ^ Prism-like widget creator - Opera Widgets - Opera Community. My.opera.com (2009-11-19). Retrieved on 2013-07-21.

External links

Development

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Web syndication
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