[microformats-discuss] Picoformats

[Bud Gibson]

On Aug 24, 2005, at 9:19, Dimitri Glazkov wrote:

> These additional semantics should follow the spirit of the
> microformats, but not have the burden of "standardization", because
> they are application or vendor-specific. They are picoformats.
>
> After a while, these additional semantics may start forming patterns
> that span applications, vendors, at which point it becomes obvious
> that a microformat is emerging. At this point, the consequences of
> interpretation and changes start getting a lot more substantial, and a
> centralized management of the specs becomes necessary.
>

Dimitri:  I think you are quite correct about market mechanisms.   
Also, I agree with your observations about how this fits with a  
general software design pattern that is emerging on the web.

A big win comes when you can reuse DOM scripting code across sites,  
something that is possible when microformats are used.  This implies  
that you have at least made your microformat public and are promoting  
it, perhaps by building applications that take advantage of it.  I do  
not think microformats will just emerge without this.

Probably the most pragmatic step is to make a microformats clearing  
house where people just search for a microformat in some way and  
adopt it or not.

We're building some interesting applications around xFolk.  I expect  
some extensions to be added to that standard as a result.  They're  
already informally there.

Bud