[microformats-discuss] Re: a proposal for a microformat for weblog
entries
Tantek Ç elik
tantek at cs.stanford.edu
Thu Aug 11 05:05:09 PDT 2005
On 8/11/05 4:50 AM, "David Janes -- BlogMatrix" <davidjanes at blogmatrix.com>
wrote:
> Tantek,
>
> 1. I am trying to use upon myself, plus I have a thousand+ active blogs
> upon which I can fairly test theories and iterations upon with
> disrupting normal day to day operations
Excellent.
Let me ask this then, have you tried first adopting the already established
microformats within your blog to gain a better understanding of what
additional pieces you need?
> 2. There are a number of intended uses, the first coming to mind is
> something like reblg (http://reblg.com/developer), which is why included
> the proponents of that format in the mailout (to find out if I'm
> covering too much ground that they've done, are these compatible, does
> this make rebloging easier). More generally, I'm working on a
> greasemonkey project that will tie the identification of microformats
> (including this one) into a series of URI actions, such as reblogging,
> sending the link to something like del.ico.us, etc..
Then it sounds like at least the *concepts* are worthy of discussing on the
microformats-discuss list (cc'd).
Like I said, this is something that *many* folks have worked on already, so
I suggest doing some additional background research.
For example, there have been some thoughts written here:
http://microformats.org/wiki/blog-post-formats
http://microformats.org/wiki/blog-description-format
> I'm not planning to waste anyone's time on this, nor am I asking for
> anyone's upfront commitments, blood oaths, or whatever: I'm entirely
> content to play with this ideas
Playing with ideas is strongly encouraged. It's typically much more
productive than simply talking about them. So you're on the right track
there.
> I am asking for feedback, comments, pointers to previous or
> ongoing work in this area and giving a heads up to people that may be
> interested in case this stuff actually works out or is treading on
> anyone's toes.
Excellent. I think you will certainly get it. There's definitely at least
a few other people on the microformats-discuss list who are interested in
researching/pursuing a microformat for blog entries.
So far, everyone who is interested is trying out different variations on
their own blogs and learning from the experience.
Hope that helps,
Tantek
>
> Tantek Çelik wrote:
>
>> David,
>>
>> Lots of folks have tried to come up with a microformat for weblog entries.
>>
>> In short, working on this kind of standard is a waste of time.
>>
>> UNLESS
>>
>> 1. You first try using it yourself, and seeing how it works on your own
>> blog.
>>
>> 2. Answer the question of why?
>>
>> What real-world problem is being solved with this?
>>
>> Making analysis easier is irrelevant to most people, as is making things
>> easier for tools. If there's no benefit for users, there's no reason to
>> pursue.
>>
>> I'm sorry to make this sound so harsh, but it is important here to establish
>> the priorities of solving *real* problems rather than theoretical problems,
>> of first doing *research*, and *documenting* it, instead of starting with a
>> format proposal.
>>
>> http://microformats.org/wiki/process
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Tantek
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 8/11/05 3:58 AM, "David Janes -- BlogMatrix" <davidjanes at blogmatrix.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I'm contacting you folk because you're all writing about microformats
>>> and I'd like your opinion on this idea. A missing piece from the whole
>>> microformats world is a microformat for weblog entries, which I'll call
>>> "xEntry" for now. There are a number of benefits to such a format:
>>> - they're easy to produce (it's just template work)
>>> - they will make analysis of weblog content easier
>>> - they will make "reblogging" tools easier to do
>>> - probably more...
>>>
>>> The format itself would be quite simple. I've just used Atom
>>> (http://www.atomenabled.org/developers/syndication/) as a reasonable
>>> definition for what should be in this microcontent spec, and worked from
>>> there. Here's the basic elements:
>>>
>>> xentry
>>> id
>>> author
>>> published
>>> title
>>> content
>>>
>>> Notes: "xentry" could become "aentry" to more suggest Atom, but I like
>>> the way this reminisent of xFolk (http://microformats.org/wiki/xfolk).
>>> There's an example of the markup after my signature below.
>>>
>>> Your thoughts? If people think this is a good idea, I can start fleshing
>>> this out more. There a little conflict or overlap with the reblg people,
>>> but I think that can be worked out.
>>>
>>> Regards, etc...
>>> David Janes
>>> Founder, BlogMatrix
>>> http://www.blogmatrix.com
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------
>>>
>>> - Original weblog article:
>>>
>>> <div class="post">
>>> <h3 class="storytitle" id="post-2960">
>>> <a href="http://dannyayers.com/archives/2005/08/03/httptracer/"
>>> rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link: HTTPTracer">HTTPTracer</a>
>>> </h3>
>>>
>>> <div class="storycontent">
>>> <p>bla bla bla</p>
>>> </div>
>>> <div class="metabits">
>>> <div class="keywords">
>>> <a
>>> href="http://dannyayers.com/misc/about/biog.htm">Danny</a>@13:45 |
>>> <a href="http://dannyayers.com/..." title="View ..."
>>> rel="category tag">Programming</a>
>>> </div>
>>> </div>
>>>
>>> <div class="feedback">
>>> <a
>>> href="http://dannyayers.com/archives/2005/08/03/httptracer/#comments">Commen
>>> ts
>>> (0)</a>
>>> </div>
>>> </div>
>>>
>>> - With xEntry markup (I've made all the xEntry markup uppercase for
>>> _visibility purposes only_; note the optional use of <abbr> to provide
>>> deeper data):
>>>
>>> <div class="XENTRY post">
>>> <h3 class="storytitle" id="post-2960">
>>> <a href="http://dannyayers.com/archives/2005/08/03/httptracer/"
>>> class="TITLE ID" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link:
>>> HTTPTracer">HTTPTracer</a>
>>> </h3>
>>>
>>> <div class="CONTENT storycontent">
>>> <p>bla bla bla</p>
>>> </div>
>>> <div class="metabits">
>>> <div class="keywords">
>>> <a href="http://dannyayers.com/misc/about/biog.htm"><abbr
>>> class="AUTHOR" title="Danny Ayers">Danny</abbr></a>@<abbr
>>> class="PUBLISHED" title="2005-08-03T11:45:02Z">13:45</abbr> |
>>> <a href="http://dannyayers.com/..." title="View ..."
>>> rel="category tag">Programming</a>
>>> </div>
>>> </div>
>>>
>>> <div class="feedback">
>>> <a
>>> href="http://dannyayers.com/archives/2005/08/03/httptracer/#comments">Commen
>>> ts
>>> (0)</a>
>>> </div>
>>> </div>
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