[uf-discuss] Re: microformats for normal people, like my mum

[Pelle W]

David Janes skrev:
> On 6/28/07, Pelle W <mejllistor at kodfabrik.se> wrote:
>> I would say that Microformat = XML and therefor you say that "this reads
>> microformats" as much as you can say "this reads XML".
> Well, microformats are one thing and XML is another so Microformat !=
> XML. Or do you mean "Terminology-wise/linguistically can be used in
> the same", in which case I ask "does anyone say 'this reads XML'" as a
> _marketing_ term. We already have a perfectly good technical name for
> microformats, i.e. "microformats".
Both are methods of describing data in a way computers understand which 
means that it's what is described by those methods that should be named 
and not the methods because no one but developers really care about them 
and that's the main problem with giving Microformats a different name I 
think - it doesn't do anything in itself and the things described by the 
different standards is so "simple" and natural that it's hard to give 
them any special name.

What differs a microformat address from a usual address on a webpage? 
Well - the latter kan be read by computers but it's still the same 
address so it's still just a simple address. It adds nothing other than 
the possibility of the browser understanding and extracting it and it's 
the same with many XML-standards such as RSS - it adds data which the 
browser/computer can understand and extract.

If firefox needs a catchy phrase - then perhaps use "Increased ability 
to extract data from webpages" or something - because it's just as basic 
as that - no new names because a name is only useful for developers who 
needs to distinguish between methods - but the user doesn't care about 
the methods - they care about result!

/ Pelle