Main Page

Welcome to the microformats wiki!

Please start with the introduction page and read how-to-play before making any edits.

Getting Started

• First, read up on what it means to be POSH new!.
• See the about page, latest news, plus recent press, presentations, books, podcasts, and screencasts.
• Have questions? Read the frequently asked questions and see the glossary for new terms.
• Want to learn more in person? Check out microformats events.

Definition

One popular definition from our mailing list (see also: mailing-lists) is "simple conventions for embedding semantics in HTML to enable decentralized development." More precisely, microformats can be defined as:

simple conventions

for embedding semantic markup

for a specific problem domain

in human-readable (X)HTML/XML documents, Atom/RSS feeds, and "plain" XML

that normalize existing content usage patterns

using brief, descriptive class names

often based on existing interoperable standards

to enable decentralized development

of resources, tools, and services

"Or do you just use your browser to browse? That's so 20th century." -- Mark Pilgrim

See more explanations of what are microformats, and what you can do with them.

How to contribute

Do you want to help take microformats to the next level? You can:

• Advocate the use of microformats.
• Write a testimonial.
• Do something on the to do list.
• Join the mailing lists and IRC Channel to learn and help answer questions about microformats.
• Translate this microformats wiki into other languages to make microformats globally accessible.
• Find orphaned pages, and add links to them.
• Before proposing any new microformats, make sure your website is POSH and uses existing microformats, and then read the process.

Specifications

Microformats open standards specifications (see also: implementations, examples-in-the-wild)

• hCalendar - hcalendar creator
• hCard - hcard creator
• rel-license
• rel-nofollow
• rel-tag
• VoteLinks
• XFN (see also: xfn-implementations)
• XMDP
• XOXO

Drafts

• adr
• geo
• hAtom
• hResume
• hReview - hreview creator
• rel-directory
• rel-enclosure
• rel-home
• rel-payment
• Robots Exclusion
• xFolk

Design Patterns

Design patterns are common uses of markup across microformats.

• abbr-design-pattern
• class-design-pattern
• date-design-pattern
• datetime-design-pattern
• include-pattern
• value-class-pattern
• rel-design-pattern

Exploratory Discussions

Per the microformats process: research and analysis of real-world examples, existing formats, and brainstorming to motivate the microformat. Please check rejected-formats before making additions.

• alternates alternates brainstorming, alternates examples
• attention
• audio-info (examples, formats, brainstorming, proposal) - Marking up information and metadata related to audio (speech, music, and sound in general). new!
• blog description blog description examples
• blog info blog info examples
• blog post examples, blog post formats, and blog post brainstorming (yielded the hAtom draft)
• book book examples, book formats, and book brainstorming
• chat chat examples, chat formats, and chat brainstorming
• citation citation effort, citation examples, citation formats, citation brainstorming, and citation FAQ
• code code examples, code brainstorming new!
• comment comment problem, comment examples, and comment formats (Some stuff needs to be extracted from comments-formats)
• collection description - for describing collections in libraries new!
• course-catalog; course-catalog-examples new!
• currency; currency-examples; currency-brainstorming; currency-proposal; currency-issues
• depend-examples: examples of dependency graphs, especially as they relate to software new!
• digital-signatures: incorporation of digital signatures in Microformatted data; (digital-signature examples, digital-signatures brainstorming) new!
• directions directions examples new!
• directory inclusion directory inclusion examples, directory inclusion formats. (see also rel-directory)
• distributed conversation distributed conversation overview, distributed conversation brainstorming, distributed conversation examples, and distributed conversation formats
• error messages error message examples, error message brainstorming
• forms forms examples
• file-format (examples, formats, brainstorming) - for the mark-up of file format information (size, type, codecs, bitrate, etc.) new!
• genealogy genealogy exploration
• geo extensions
  • geo-extension-strawman - extend geo for moons, other planets, etc.
  • geo-elevation-examples - extend geo for representing altitude new!
  • geo-waypoint-examples - extend geo for representing routes and boundaries, using waypoints new!
• group group brainstorming and group examples
• grouping (examples, formats, brainstorming, proposal) - Metadata markup of items that should be grouped together. new!
• items items brainstorming and items examples
• hash hash examples
• job listing job listing examples and job listing brainstorming
• last modified last modified examples, last modified formats, and last modified brainstorming
• hListing hListing proposal, and hListing feedback
  • Also, listing examples, formats, and brainstorming
• hProduct - hProduct brainstorming | hProduct examples
• hToDo
• location location formats. (see also adr and geo)
• measures and measurement units measure
• media-info (media-info examples, media-info formats, media-info brainstorming) updated!
• meeting minutes meeting minutes examples, meeting minutes formats, and meeting minutes brainstorming
• metalink metalink examples new!
• microsummary microsummary brainstorming
• MFO examples
• music music examples updated!
• news news examples new!
• operating-hours: operating-hours-examples ..of stores, restaurants, etc. updated!
• payment
• photo note photo note examples
• question-answer, question-answer-brainstorming; question-answer-examples new!
• receipt (examples, formats, brainstorming, proposal) - Marking up information and metadata related to purchase receipts. new!
• recipe recipe examples, recipe-brainstorming updated!
• rel-product rel-product brainstorming
• requirements testing requirements testing overview, and requirements testing examples
• REST examples
• resume resume brainstorming, and resume formats
• review review examples, and review formats (yielded the hReview draft)
• search results search results example
• show show brainstorming
• showroll brainstorming
• species - for the marking up of the scientific names of living things: species-examples; species-brainstorming updated!
• table examples
• tagspeak tagspeak examples
• tagcloud tagcloud examples, and tagcloud brainstorming.
• transit table transit table examples
• uid
• widget widget examples, and widget brainstorming
• wiki formats
• work of art work of art overview, work of art examples, work of art formats, and work of art brainstorming
• XMDP brainstorming (see also xmdp-faq)
• realestate-propertydetail brainstorming

Examples

• examples-in-the-wild
• implementations
• zen-garden

Tools, Test Cases and Additional Research

The first place to look for examples, code, and test cases is in the pages for each individual microformat. There are only a few cross-cutting tools and services that need to process more than one microformat. This section is intended for editors, parsers, validators, test cases, and other information relevant across multiple microformats.

• accessibility
• faqs-for-rdf
• icalendar-implementations
• internationalization
• parsing-microformats
• selected-test-cases-from-the-web
• Source code repository -- how to download code from the repository
• user-interface
• vcard-implementations, vcard-errata, vcard-suggestions
• why-are-content-standards-hard
• User profile examples, in the wild (User profiles, for social websites)
• Profile URI examples, in the wild (Profile URIs for head elements)

resources

• events
• cheatsheets are handy if you need a quick reminder about a particular microformat.
• spread-microformats
• buttons
• icons
• demo - a page with links for quickly demonstrating microformats working in practice.
• Semacode
• jobs
• user-interface
• shortcuts to wiki pages with long names
• marked-for-deletion
• spell-check dictionary

shared work areas

• to-do
• microformats-issues - issues related to more than one microformat.
• external-issues

microformats wiki translations in other languages

You may read and edit microformats articles in many other languages:

• languages with over 100 articles
  • Français (French) mis à jour!
• languages with over 10 articles
  • Português (Brazilian Portuguese)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
• languages with over 2 articles
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • Romanian
• elsewhere
  • Wikipedia's article on microformats has been translated into a number of languages.

See also other-languages, and how-to-start-a-new-translation.