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There are many ways that SMBmeta files will be found for inclusion in directories and search engines. These include explicit
looking by spidering a given domain and by being included in a registry of SMBmeta domains. Another way is to have the SMBmeta
file be encountered during a normal search engine-style following of links. (In other words, the smbmeta.xml file would be
the object of a normal <a ref="..."> link.) There are search engines that already have their spidering techniques carefully
programmed. We can't expect them all to upgrade to a more modern way, such as following <link> tags for various purposes.
The SMBmeta XML format leaves much interesting information as plain text that would be found by such spidering.
For this type of exposing of an SMBmeta data file, the only question is how should the link be done in HTML. Search engines
are often programmed to ignore various forms of "stealth" links that are designed to be hidden from human readers (such as
white on white text, or tiny, invisible images). One way to implement a link to an SMBmeta file is to follow the example used
by RSS: Make the link be from a simple, non-intrusive image with a common design. Here is a sample that could be used for
SMBmeta:
The image is very small, and has colors that should work with most backgrounds, yet not stand out in a way that would
"mess up" the page. It is only 9 pixels high, so when it is included in-line it doesn't mess up the inter-line spacing with
normal sized text.
Here is some sample HTML that can be used to link to the smbmeta.xml file. This is written assuming that the button image
is stored in the same directory as the HTML:
<a href="/smbmeta.xml"><img src="smbmetabutton.gif" alt="Computer
readable business description" border="0" width="39" height="9"></a>
The ALT tag causes the text "Computer readable business description" to popup when you hold the mouse over the image
on some browsers, as well as provide information for browsing without images displayed.
The SMBmeta button should only be used to link to a valid SMBmeta data file in a format defined on the SMBmeta.org website.
It could lead to confusion if it pointed to a file in another format. (The name "SMBmeta" is trademarked for the purpose of
minimizing such confusion.) If you have a file with a different format (even slightly different), use a different name and
a different button.
Here are some examples of using the SMBmeta button to show how it looks in context:
This is a dark background website.
(c) Copyright Some Company
All Rights Reserved.
Last updated: 2003-02-07 16:23 EST
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This is a light background website.
It has text with an SMBmeta button in-line.
Something about our website.
Something else.
Here is even more about our website.
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To use the SMBmeta button, copy the GIF file to your computer and upload it to your website. (For example, in Internet
Explorer, right click on it and do a "Save Picture As...".) Do not link to the copy here (which will probably move at some
point).
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