Home Original page

Proposal — New property `onDisplay`

Problem statement (user need)

“Where can I try this now?”
This is the everyday question for people looking to experience products before they buy and also for visitors deciding what art to see in person. Today, Schema.org can tell us if a thing is purchasable in a store (InStoreOnly), but it cannot say whether the item is actually on view for the public — on a showroom floor or on a gallery wall — right now.

  • InStoreOnly ≠ on display. It simply says you can buy it offline, but not whether you can view and experience it.
  • For consumers and visitors, this leaves the key question unanswered.

We have tried to make use of schema with an association of 40 design furniture retailers. But found that the schema ontology, which has such a great trait of being able to being explicit, lacks this addition which we feel would be of benefit for many.

New property: onDisplay (Boolean)

  • domainIncludes: Product, VisualArtwork
  • rangeIncludes: Boolean
  • Definition: Indicates whether the item is currently publicly viewable (e.g., on a showroom floor or on a gallery wall).
  • Usage note:
    • Use onDisplay: true when the public can physically see or try the item at a Place.
    • This complements commerce signals; it does not replace them.
    • To indicate the place, reuse existing properties (e.g. location on the item page, or hasPart on the place page).

Affected types

  • Thing > Product → add onDisplay
  • Thing > CreativeWork > VisualArtwork → add onDisplay

Compatibility

  • This is a non-breaking extension. Existing mark-up remains valid.
  • onDisplay is complementary: it provides an answer to a distinct, high-value user question while preserving established commerce semantics.

Value to society

A minimal addition, but a meaningful one:

  • For consumers: answers the practical question “Where can I try this now?” across places.
  • For retailers and museums: makes visibility of their on-floor or on-wall inventory indexable, discoverable, and AI-friendly.
  • For the web ecosystem: promotes structured answers to a question that otherwise requires scraping, guessing, or manual updates.

References

Acknowledgements

This proposal aims to follow the spirit of how to work with schema proposals. We feel this serves a widely felt gap, responds with the smallest possible addition, and delivers value for users and implementers alike.

Thank you for your consideration. We appreciate your feedback.