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Independent Data and Formatting with Microformats

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the web-fun dept.

IdaAshley writes to tell us IBM DeveloperWorks is running an article about how to best utilize microformats to embed data within standard XHTML code. From the article: "Microformats are a pragmatic approach to solving the issue of structured data on the Web. Is it as architecturally pure as XML-encoded data separated from its formatting through a mechanism such as XSLT style sheets? No. But I think this approach is a realistic middle step that will help build a more intelligent Web that is easier to use and provides better search and data integration."

5 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Re:META headers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Get off your hobby-horse, Jorn. At some point, please realise that you are clueless about markup. Only then will you be able to learn a bit about what you are so high-and-mighty about.

    Firstly, <meta> is an element type, not a header. It doesn't do your credibility much good when you don't even know what it is.

    Secondly, <meta> is an astonishingly limited element type. It's scoped to the page not particular parts of it, and it has a plain-text content model because it uses attributes instead of child elements.

    Thirdly, I anticipate you saying that you could fix this by changing the <meta> element type. Sure you could. You could fix it by changing it to a set of element types that describe content more accurately and changing it so that it could appear in other parts of the document. And you know what you'd have then? The structured HTML that you despise so much. That's right, microformats embody the very thing you are criticising.

    Finally, given that HTML hasn't changed recently to allow microformats, everything that is possible today with microformats was possible five years ago with microformats. It's a design strategy, not a new technology.

    Again, please learn a bit about something before you turn your nose up at it. You might be smart in other respects, but when it comes to markup, you are dumb. Please accept this so you can change it.

  2. Re:Standardization is the problem by TedTschopp · · Score: 4, Informative

    So now why is this "vevent" class special, and who decided it would be "vevent" and not "scheduledevent" or "calendarevent" or "microsoftcalendarhassomethingforyoutodotoday"?

    The idea is to leverage standards that are already out there, and in this case it would be the iCalendar standard.

    --
    Fantasy remains a human right; we make in our measure and in our derivative mode... -- JRR Tolkien
  3. Re:Tagging in Text by Mr_Tulip · · Score: 4, Informative
    The thing that makes Microformats stand out from homebrew versions is the attempt to standardize the formats, allowing others to easily work out what microformat you are using and integrate them into their own site.

    The article mentions the wiki, but doesn't link to it, except at the very bottom of the resources section.

  4. Re:I don't get it... by Karma+Farmer · · Score: 5, Informative
    The class attribute was never intended to be limited to CSS. From the HTML 4.01 specification:
    The class attribute... assigns one or more class names to an element; the element may be said to belong to these classes. A class name may be shared by several element instances. The class attribute has several roles in HTML:
    • As a style sheet selector (when an author wishes to assign style information to a set of elements).
    • For general purpose processing by user agents.
  5. Re:META headers by Karma+Farmer · · Score: 4, Informative
    How much of this could have been done 5 years ago
    All of it. Microformats use features introduced with HTML 4.0 in 1997, so all of this was possible nearly 10 years ago.

    How much of microformats could have been done using META
    None of it. META tags and microformats serve two entirely seperate purposes, and neither is in any way a replacement for the other.