[uf-discuss] Best practice for the "value" subproperty

[Jeremy Boggs]

"Costello, Roger L." <costello at mitre.org> writes:
> <span class="fn">
>        <span class="value">John </span>
>        will be our speaker.  Mr.
>        <span class="value">Public</span>
> </span> will talk about ...

While this is more an editorial suggestion than a microformat  
suggestion, it seems the best solution would be:

<span class="vcard"><span class="fn">John Public</span></span> will  
be our speaker. Mr. Public will talk about...

In general, it isn't good writing practice to mention someone's first  
name in a sentence, and then their last name in a later sentence (and  
vice versa). Even if, with hCard, we could combine the first and last  
names into one contact card, it isn't clear just from the text itself  
that "John" and "Mr. Public" are the same person; It would be jarring  
to the reader. With the change above, the microformat parser can  
easily grab the hCard for "John Public" AND the reader will know that  
"Mr. Public" is in fact "John Public."

Now, I understand the microformat question raised (it is very  
interesting one, I might add), but it seems like the best solution in  
this instance would be to avoid the problem to begin with as much as  
possible.

Are the instances on the web, Roger, that the scenario you posed to  
the list is in being used? Or was this more a hypothetical question?

Best,
Jeremy Boggs