[uf-discuss] New Microformats Cheatsheet PDF

[Ryan Cannon]

On Dec 5, 2006, at 4:41 PM, "Brian Suda" <brian.suda at gmail.com> wrote:

>> One question:  why not use "?" for single occurence optional, and "+"
>> for one or more, like Perl (and I) do. I actually can't figure out
>> what character you use for "One or More" -- or is that a rendering
>> error?
>
> --- i think there was an reason why i didn't use ?, +, * (but i can't
> remember at the moment).

I'm guessing that in the type of Regular Expressions Dr. Prabhakar
mentions, the existence of a term implies that it is required, and
implies an order, whereas in this format you have to differentiate
between "Not Applicable" and "required once".

That said, I till prefer ?, + and *, as I have to continually move my
eye between the two charts in order to remember which is which. I would
remember ?, + and *.

Perhaps instead of the table on the right, which duplicates the other
information on the page, you could  have a similar column to the right
of each class name, with either and symbols for occurrence:

" " or "!" Required once
"?" or " " Optional
"+" at least one
"*" one or more

Regardless, moving the class name requirements closer to the structure
list will decrease the amount of time a reader takes to look up the
the information.

-- 
Ryan

http://RyanCannon.com