[uf-discuss] Simplifying hierarchy in hCard

[Ryan King]

On Mar 29, 2006, at 12:40 PM, Chris Messina wrote:
> Actually, I've wondered this myself and think that people will
> actually do this regardless...
>
> So while I take your point Tantek, I think allowing this actually
> makes sense. Parsers should treat combined microformats and objects as
> non-nested objects... basically the equivalent behavior of shorthand
> CSS styles:
>
> background-color: #fff;
> background-image: url(image.gif);
> background-repeat: no-repeat;
>
> and
>
> background: url(image.gif) no-repeat #fff;

Bad comparison: there is no nesting in CSS declarations and the  
vocabulary is centrally controlled (unlike semantics in HTML class,  
rel and other attributes).

> Therefore, using:
>
> <span class="author vcard fn">My Name</span>
>
> would be the equivalent of
>
> <span class="author vcard"><span class="fn">My Name</span></span>
>
> ...except that it wouldn't be nestable.
>
> This saves a bunch of code and writing and makes for a more elegant
> solution, IMO.

The problem with this is that it throws out the advantages that  
unique root class names give us, namely, context. If we flatten the  
hierarchy, we greatly constrain our vocabulary, which we have enough  
trouble managing, as is.

-ryan

PS- we really need to FAQ this, it seems to come up once a month.