[uf-discuss] hCard names - n vs. fn

[Brian Suda]

On 4/23/07, Paul Wilkins <paul_wilkins at xtra.co.nz> wrote:
> For the purposes of discussion, a more generic version of this is
>
> <div class="vcard">
>  <span class="n">
>   <span class="honorific-prefix">The Rt Hon</span>
>   <span class="fn">Tony Blair</span>
>   <span class="honorific-suffix">MP</span>
>  </span>
> </div>
>
> An update may be required, where then fn is looked for first, and parsed out
> into appropriate n fields, then after that the n fields are updated from the
> remaining information.

--- well, this a tricky situation because the author has been MORE
explicit with the use of the N property. We can happily pick apart
things from FN when N is not present, but when the author expresses
deeper semantics IMHO i don't think we should be implying any
additional information, unless there is a very good reason.

In this situation there are two possibilities.
1) drop the N all together
 - you lose the extracting of the prefixes and suffixes, but get the
FN->N correct
2) add an additional class of 'family-name' to the class="fn"
 - this will incorrectly put the WHOLE FN value in the N's family name field

as with everything, there are trade-offs. Microformats are only ment
to cover the 80% not 100% of extreme edge cases.

-brian

-- 
brian suda
http://suda.co.uk