COinS implementors. Please tell us if you want your COinS rendered!

[Godmar Back]

LibX renders COinS, typically as icons that provide links to OpenURL
resolvers. We're currently making them a lot smarter by using services
such Summon to tell an interacting user more about the availability of
the referred-to item.

We are regularly getting requests from LibX maintainers and users to
suppress COinS on certain pages where the COinS is placed in a way
that disrupts the layout of the page.

vufind is a big offender.

The most prominent COinS processors are probably Zotero & LibX. Zotero
doesn't render them and thus doesn't care where they are. We do.

The spec says:

"Since an important use of this metadata will be to allow processing
agents to make OpenURL hyperlinks for users in libraries (latent
OpenURL), the method must allow the metadata to be placed any where in
HTML that a link might appear."

Proposal:

As a COinS provider, please provide us with guidance if you want your
COinS rendered or not.

If you don't, simply place it in an invisible container or add
style="display: none" and we'll respect it.

If you do, please place it somewhere in your DOM where inserting a,
say 16x16 image is not disruptive.

Perhaps the spec could be extended to make that clear. Perhaps:

"Since an important use of this metadata will be to allow processing
agents to make OpenURL hyperlinks for users in libraries (latent
OpenURL), the method should allow the metadata to be placed any where
in HTML that a link might appear. If the placement of such links is
not desired, the metadata should be placed in a context that is
invisible by adding a style="display: none" to the <span> element."

And please fix vufind.

Thank you.

- Godmar