[uf-discuss] Some hcard feedback from a vCard implementor

[Ryan King]

On Apr 4, 2006, at 3:20 PM, Sam Roberts wrote:
> Really, you can use any XML element type you want?

No, any (X)HTML element you want. Microformats are built on top of (X) 
HTML. I suppose you could use it with other XML dialects, if you  
like, but I don't know why you would want to.

> Ok, that explains my
> confusion. Its because I completely don't get it.  This is like no XML
> format I've ever run across,

Likewise.

> but then, I don't use XML much, probably I
> lead a sheltered life.
>
> I wouldn't even now how to begin encoding a vCard as an hCard, and it
> doesn't sound like there is any reason to. Would an hcard even exist,
> standalone?

Huh? "Would it exist on its own?" There are plenty of hCards that  
exist on their own, sans-vCards. See http://microformats.org/wiki/ 
hcard#Examples_in_the_wild.

> Is this all designed so that the class parameters serve as hooks  
> for css
> styling statements?

No, styling is a nice benefit to using @class, but @class is about  
more than style [http://microformats.org/blog/2005/10/19/more-than- 
styling/].

> Is this why you aren't just using one of the several
> existing vCard XML formats?

Because we're building on the much more popular family of HTML.

>>> the rules aren't in the spec
>>
>> Here's the main rule:
>> "The basic format of hCard is to use vCard object/property names in
>> lower-case for class names, and to map the nesting of vCard objects
>> directly into nested XHTML elements."
>
> All the structured types (ADR, GEO, ORG,..) have names assigned to  
> what
> are ';' seperated fields. The above rule would give:
>
> <JOE class="ORG">Company;Unit;Sub-Unit</JOE>

No, you would use the names for the sub-properties, and lower-case  
the class names.

<span class="org">
   <span class="organization-name">Company</span>
   <span class="organization-unit">Unit</span>
   <span class="organization-unit">Sub-Unit</span>
</span>

-ryan

--
Ryan King
ryan at technorati.com