Revision as of 19:06, 23 April 2007

Microformats Wiki

Hello! Welcome to the microformats wiki. If you haven't already done so, please see the introduction page.

Please read how-to-play before making any edits.

Please read process before proposing any new microformats.

Getting Started

First, read up on what it means to be posh new!.

What are microformats? What can you do with them?

The about page, latest news, plus recent press, presentations, books, podcasts, and screencasts are also good places for some background information. Our cheatsheets are handy if you need a quick reminder about a particular microformat. We even have a spell-check dictionary of microformat-related terms.

Frequently asked questions about this wiki and microformats in general are answered in the FAQ, and there is a glossary.

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

Simply put: "Microformats are a codification of convention." -- Aaron Gustafson

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

How to contribute

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

Check out our open to do list for things to help get done.
Join the mailing lists and IRC Channel to learn and help answer questions about microformats.
Advocate the use of microformats.
help to translate this microformats wiki into other languages to make microformats globally accessible.
Find orphaned pages, and add links to them.

Specifications

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

Drafts

Design Patterns

Design patterns are common uses of markup across microformats.

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 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
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
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!
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!
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

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.

shared work areas

buttons
icons
spread-microformats
demo - a page with links for quickly demonstrating microformats working in practice.
events
to-do
microformats-issues - issues related to more than one microformat.
external-issues
user-interface
shortcuts to wiki pages with long names
marked-for-deletion