[uf-discuss] hCalendar spec- no specification included!

[Justin Thorp]

Ben,

I will try and get to the IA page tonite and see if I can add some comments and thoughts.

I think the people reading the articles about microformats and jumping into the spec cold are the early adoptor web developers.  My uneducated opinion is that microformats is a fairly new movement.  

Regardless, it seems like it would be in the best interest of what we are trying to do to write all of our stuff and organize it so that it also works for the 50 year old web systems programmer who may be slow to adopting (stubborn) new technologies but was told by his boss he has to look at the business applications of adopting microformats.

If I land on Microformats.org for the first time, just wanting to learn, I am going to be looking for something that says intro or new or tutorial.  It needs to answer the who, what, when, where, why, and how.  It shouldn't use jargonny language.

If I am new and reading about hCard or hCalendar for the first time.  I want to figure out BRIEFLY what the background is.  I don't need a history of vCard.  I'd want some examples.  Id want to know about what sites use them.  I'd want tools to help build them.  Id want a list of all the different class names and where I can and can not use them (the rules).  I'd leave semantic principles in a doc that you can link to. Maybe mention it briefly.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Justin Thorp


******************
Justin Thorp
Web Services - Office of Strategic Initiatives
Library of Congress
e - juth at loc.gov
p - 202/707-9541

>>> bewest at gmail.com 10/18/06 12:59 PM >>>
Justin,

Would you mind visiting
<http://microformats.org/wiki/to-do#Information_Architecture> and
adding your support?

While we're on the subject of newbies, if they first hear about
microformats from the sources you mentioned, what kind of people are
they? Are they graphic designers? Web developers?  Business people?
It appears that microformat newbies are the kind of people that go to
conventions.

What do these people expect when they visit for the first time?  Most
web browsing is task-oriented.  Do they want to find out how to author
microformats?  Learn more about what they are?  Find out why they
exist?

Ben

On 10/18/06, Justin Thorp <juth at loc.gov> wrote:
> I really like this idea.  What if the landing page for the microformat wasn't the spec but it was some warm and fuzzy intro for newbies?  It could then link to the spec for those that were interested to it.
>
> A good example of this would be the W3C WAI's intro for WCAG that they give you before you get sent right into WCAG 1.0.
> http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag 
>
> I would expect that a lot of newbies start off hearing about microformats on tutorials like:
> http://www.digital-web.com/articles/microformats_primer/ 
> http://www.thinkvitamin.com/features/design/how-to-use-microformats 
>
> Or from presentations like:
> http://tantek.com/presentations/2006/09/microformats-practices/ 
>
> They get linked to the spec and then get offly confused.
>
> -justin thorp
>
> ******************
> Justin Thorp
> Web Services - Office of Strategic Initiatives
> Library of Congress
> e - juth at loc.gov 
> p - 202/707-9541
>
> >>> andy at pigsonthewing.org.uk 10/17/06 3:39 PM >>>
> In message
> <8ad71be30610161404q2e9e9df0l10bd008032dcc182 at mail.gmail.com>, Benjamin
> West <bewest at gmail.com> writes
>
> >Regarding the specs bit, I meant to refer to the various stages of the
> >process.  The spec landing page might contain the big questions, with
> >a status section pointing to pages dedicated toward how the spec is
> >moving through the process, and with the "learn more" section pointed
> >at the spec itself.
>
> If the "spec itself" is on a secondary page, then the "landing" page
> isn't the spec.
>
> --
> Andy Mabbett
>                 Say "NO!" to compulsory ID Cards:  <http://www.no2id.net/>
>
>                 Free Our Data:  <http://www.freeourdata.org.uk>
> _______________________________________________
> microformats-discuss mailing list
> microformats-discuss at microformats.org 
> http://microformats.org/mailman/listinfo/microformats-discuss 
>
> _______________________________________________
> microformats-discuss mailing list
> microformats-discuss at microformats.org 
> http://microformats.org/mailman/listinfo/microformats-discuss 
>
_______________________________________________
microformats-discuss mailing list
microformats-discuss at microformats.org 
http://microformats.org/mailman/listinfo/microformats-discuss