[microformats-discuss] Microformat for blog-searchand characterizing

[Tantek Ç elik]

On 7/21/05 1:46 PM, "Andy Skelton" <skeltoac at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 7/21/05, Björn Seibert <bjoernseibert at gmx.de> wrote:
>> ok, I'll review it and add the changes you submitted. Thank you. That
>> makes sense. I'll post the changed listing again for further discussion.
> 
> This is a very interesting development for me and very well-timed. A
> few months ago, I needed to begin adding metadata to other's blogs via
> a WordPress plugin. I knew this would be temporary but I needed
> something right away so I used something like this:
> 
> <meta name='botd:version' content='1.0.1' />
> <meta name='botd:generator' content='WordPress 1.5.1.2' />
> <meta name='botd:lang' content='' />
> <meta name='botd:home' content='http://www.skeltoac.com/' />
> <meta name='botd:name' content='Skeltoac' />
> <meta name='botd:desc' content='The personal and impersonal journal of
> Andy Skelton.' />

This is definitely a pattern encouraged by the HTML specification (except
for the namespacing "botd:").

However, this kind of use of <meta> is for the most part not much different
in mechanism from meta keywords, and is thus has all the same
vulnerabilities.

In short, invisible metadata works in small experiments, maybe even just
among small crowds of people, but when it goes mainstream, the signal
inevitably deteriorates to noise.  More on this:

 http://tantek.com/log/2005/06.html#d03t2359

and about halfway down on this page:

 http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&id=1247&special
Id=38


> I suggest using a discreet element, perhaps <span
> class="sitename">Doodz-R-Uz</span>

Why not simply use the <title> in the HTML?


> "Generator" would be
> optional.

Perhaps there could even be a separate "generator" microformat, which would
make sense as an annotation on the *visible* "Built with XYZ" images/buttons
that people put on their sites.  I think "generator" goes beyond just
blogging.


> We might also define "founded" and "updated" dates as
> optional.

I would suggest looking at the schemas in both ATOM and RSS as far as blog
related datetime information.

Thanks,

Tantek