Main Page
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
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)
- 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
- 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 file format examples] - for the mark-up of file format information (size, type, codecs, bitrate, etc.)
- genealogy genealogy examples
- 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)
- meeting minutes meeting minutes examples, meeting minutes formats, and meeting minutes brainstorming
- metalink metalink examples new!
- microsummary microsummary brainstorming
- MFO examples
- music music examples
- 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)
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.
- accessibility
- faqs-for-rdf
- icalendar-implementations
- internationalization
- parsing-microformats
- selected-test-cases-from-the-web
- Source code repository -- HowTo: Download code from the repository
- vcard-implementations, vcard-errata, vcard-suggestions
- why-are-content-standards-hard
- Profile examples, in the wild
- buttons
- icons new!
- spread-microformats new!
- demo - a page with links for quickly demonstrating microformats working in practice.
- events
- to-do
- microformats-issues new! - issues related to more than one microformat.
- user-interface
- shortcuts to wiki pages with long names
- marked-for-deletion
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
- languages with over 2 articles
See also other-languages, and how-to-start-a-new-translation.