[uf-discuss] hidden microformats

[Drew McLellan]

On 28/9/2006, "Ben Ward" <lists at ben-ward.co.uk> wrote:

>Perhaps the better solution for this would be to revive (and perhaps  
>conclude) the ‘linking to a definitive microformat’ idea which has  
>popped up every so often. In short, provide a rel value to contain  
>within an hCard or hEvent which links to the page with the full  
>information. Parsers are then instructed to follow that link where  
>appropriate to get complete information.

That rather depends on whether the objective is to publish discoverable
information, or to make published information discoverable. My primary
goal is always the latter, with the former a noble secondary objective.

>That's still a work-in-progress though, so my advice for now is that  
>as Ernie Prabhaker says, there's nothing wrong with having smaller,  
>less complete hEvents, they're still valid microformats. For now,  
>just make sure you're linking to the full page from them and if in  
>the near future a suitable rel value is designed to parse those  
>links, you can add it in with no destruction or reworking required in  
>your application.

More than nothing wrong with - there's everything right with publishing
smaller, less complete hEvents.

If it's an event then it should be marked up as an event in the best way
possible, regardless of the fact that more comprehensive information is
available elsewhere. If I were to publish a list of some of
Shakespere's plays, I'd still mark it up as a list even though
Wikipedia has a more comprehensive list than mine.

In the first instance we must be concerned with adding the correct
semantics to the data we're publishing, not with how it may or may not
be used.

drew.