[uf-discuss] microformats are Sugar? WAS: Avatar Microformat ?

[Ryan King]

On Nov 24, 2005, at 2:19 PM, Chris Messina wrote:
> Microformats are for general purpose use, like flour and sugar. Using
> them you can build things as interesting as pizza or as simple as
> bread. However, a microformat for pizza would probably be
> inappropriate or not worth standardizing since its fundamental
> ingredients can be broken down further into more atomic units.

Chris, you've made an interesting analogy. Please indulge me as I  
expand on it (beware, I'm still recovering from my thanksgiving-day  
food coma)...

First, microformats = sugar, flour, or other elemental ingredients  
(see http://microformats.org/wiki/elemental-microformat).

Microformats also included some compounds (which you'd buy from the  
store, but could also make yourself), like cranberry sauce (I dunno,  
my family doesn't make it from scratch, I also don't eat it :D).

Now people have been making food (sematic xhtm) for a long time, but  
everyone was always making everything from scratch, even grinding  
their flour and refining their own sugar.

Finally, some people decided to get together and make the basics,  
which others could then reuse in their own recipes. The benefits of  
this arrangement are obvious, I can make mashed potatoes and gravy  
without having to make butter (inc. milking the cow) myself.

Mmmm, food.

-ryan
--
Ryan King
ryan at technorati.com