[uf-dev] Displaying hidden microformat in Operator (and elsewhere)

[Manu Sporny]

Mike Kaply wrote:
> In looking at pages like:
> 
> http://www.samsoniteblacklabel.com/store-locator.samsonite
> 
> I've discovered what I consider a flaw in Operator in that I display
> all microformats even if they aren't visible on the screen at the same
> time. This can make pages like this one unwieldy.
> 
> Originally I considered updating Operator to fix this, but on further
> investigation, I would like to make the core Microformats code I am
> putting into Firefox ignore hidden microformats.

Do both, give users the option but default it to not showing hidden
Microformats :)

Operator is primarily a tool to help people glean information from web
pages. They won't understand if 100 vCards pop up in Operator when only
5 are visible on the screen.

Advanced users, however, may want every vCard on the page displayed to
them, thus they should have that option. This, I believe, is more of a
usability question than anything else.

If it is a usability question, we should strive for the following:

* Keep what is visible on screen and what is visible via Microformats in
  sync.
* Allow lower-level APIs to get access to all of the Microformats on the
  page if they need to.
* Don't overload the person browsing with unnecessary data.
* Give them the option of seeing "hidden" Microformats.

-- manu