Web Slice

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 a fly-out preview window.[5] Web Slices are based on the hAtom Microformat.[6]

Web Slice
IE8 Favorites menu displaying a WebSlice in a flyout Window
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

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 2012, Internet Explorer 8 and 9 are the only browsers to support Web Slices natively, although Mozilla Firefox has support via an add-on called webchunks.[7]

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 it was rumored that Opera 10 would 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. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  2. Foley, Mary Jo (2008-03-04). "IE 8 to feature WebSlices, Activities". ZDNet. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  3. "Web Slices". Internet Explorer 8: Features. Microsoft. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  4. "Internet Explorer 8 Readiness Tollkit - Web Slices". Microsoft. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
  5. Konigsburg, Eitan (4 February 2009). "Internet Explorer 8: Web Slices". First Look. The New York Times. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  6. "Web Slice Format Specification - Version 0.9". MSDN. Microsoft. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  7. glazou (September 4, 2008). "WebChunks". Mozilla. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  8. "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. 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. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  19. "Buildling Better Webs". Slideshare.net. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  20. "Arbitrary Web Slices".
  21. Lipskas, Vygantas (March 17, 2009). "Rumor: Opera 10 to Include Web Slices". FavBrowser.com. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
  22. Andrew (17 March 2009). "Opera 10 to Include Web Slices?". WebUpd8. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
  23. Prism-like widget creator - Opera Widgets - Opera Community. My.opera.com (2009-11-19). Retrieved on 2013-07-21.

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