[uf-discuss] Re: Microformats Would Benefit From a Pseudo-Namespace

[Jens Meiert]

> http://meiert.com/en/blog/20070913/microformats-and-pseudo-namespaces/

Put another way:

* Concerning HTML, current web dev practice still focuses more on styling, while microformats focus more on semantics (basically great). This difference in focus probably also helps in explaining why there's certain increased probability of conflicts, yet especially when adding microformats to large projects.

* Predefining class names is neat, but statements like "some elements should use this or that name" aren't lightweight. vCard [1], for example (though special), surely uses some names that few authors would otherwise voluntarily choose, and thus it's at least "questionable" if the microformats community can really assume something like "consensus on semantics" then.

* Concepts like namespaces /will/ make it easier to add microformats in about any scenario. With namespaces, there's basically a very low chance that there are any conflicts at all even when the project uses millions of pages, thousands of IDs/classes, and hundreds of web developers. People might be more eager to add microformats.


All issues without judgement; neither do I claim that any current/common practice is advisable, nor do I claim that the microformats community wants to make microformats use as hard as possible. It rather seems to me that consideration of these issues might help work with and acceptance of microformats.


[1] http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2426.txt

-- 
Jens Meiert
http://meiert.com/en/