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__NOTOC__
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Introduction to Microformats}}
 
==Introduction to Microformats==
 
Related: [[press]], [[presentations]], [[podcasts]], [[suggested-reading]], [[testimonials]]
 
__TOC__
 
 
== What are Microformats? ==
== What are Microformats? ==


Microformats are a way of adding simple markup to human-readable data items such as events, contact details or locations, on web pages, so that the information in them can be extracted by software and indexed, searched for, saved, cross-referenced or combined.
Microformats are a way of adding simple markup to human-readable data items such as events, contact details or locations, on web pages, so that the information in them can be extracted by software and indexed, searched for, saved, cross-referenced or combined.


More technically, they are items of semantic markup, using just standard (X)HTML with a set of common class-names. They are open and available, freely, for anyone to use.
More technically, they are items of semantic markup, using just standard "plain old semantic HTML" (i.e. "[[POSH]]") with a set of common [[class-names]] and "[[rel]]" values. They are open and available, freely, for anyone to use.


== Why Microformats ==
== Why Microformats ==
Line 20: Line 12:
In short, microformats are the convergence of a number of trends:
In short, microformats are the convergence of a number of trends:
# a logical next step in the evolution of web design and information architecture
# a logical next step in the evolution of web design and information architecture
# a way for people and organisations to publish richer information themselves, without having to rely upon centralized services
# a way for people and organizations to publish richer information themselves, without having to rely upon centralized services
# an acknowledgment that (outside of specialist areas) "traditional" metadata efforts have either failed or taken so long to garner any adoption, that a new approach was necessary
# an acknowledgement that (outside of speci<span class="notspam">alist</span> areas) "traditional" metadata efforts (e.g. meta tags) have either failed or taken so long to garner any adoption, that a new approach was necessary
# a way to use (X)HTML for data.
# a way to use well formed [[HTML]] for data.


== The Appeal to Simplicity ==
== The Appeal to Simplicity ==


* Microformats are a simple effort which has appealed to many frustrated with previous complex efforts. One parallel that can be drawn is to REST in the web services world, i.e. see this [http://www.windley.com/archives/2005/07/microformats.shtml comparison of microformats and REST]. See the [http://rest.blueoxen.net REST wiki] for more about REST. Related [http://patricklogan.blogspot.com/2006/01/microformat-microprotocol.html microformats and microprotocols].
* Microformats are a simple effort which has appealed to many frustrated with previous complex efforts.
* See also: [http://www.justinleavesley.com/journal/2005/7/28/web-services-and-the-innovators-dilemma.html Web Services and the Innovators Dilemma] by  Justin Leavesley
 
One parallel that has been drawn is to REST in the API / web services world - for more on REST see [[suggested-reading#REST|suggested reading on REST]].
 
==Get Started ==
 
It's easy to get started with microformats:
* [[get-started]] with adding microformats to your HTML
 
==Learn More ==
 
Learn more about microformats from the microformats.org
* [http://microformats.org/about/ about page],
* [http://microformats.org/ blog],
* [[faq|FAQ]],
* [[articles]],
* [[press]],
* [[presentations]],
* [[books]],
* [[podcasts]],
* [[screencasts]],
* and more [[suggested-reading|suggested reading]].
 
==See Also==


== Related Pages ==
* [[testimonials]]
* Recent [[press]] interviews and articles are also a good introduction.
* [[implement|So you want to implement microformats?]]
* See microformat [[presentations]] for more background and introductory material on [[microformats]].
* Listen to [[podcasts]] about microformats.
* More [[suggested-reading|suggested reading]]
* [[implement|So you wanna implement microformats?]]


== Articles ==
== External Resources==
* [http://www.digital-web.com/articles/microformats_primer/ Digital Web Magazine: Microformats Primer] by Garrett Dimon
* [http://www.gr0w.com/articles/design/an_extra_side_to_web_standards_based_design/ An Extra SIDE to Web Standards Based Design] - How Semantic Information Design Ethics (SIDE) and a few readily available techniques can help heal the Web, by Jon Tan.  See also his [http://www.csszengarden.com/?cssfile=/193/193.css&page=0 CSS Zen Garden "Leggo my ego" entry].
* [http://thedredge.org/ Andrew D. Hume] has written a blog post [http://thedredge.org/2005/07/introducing-microformats/ introducing microformats] and another one on [http://usabletype.com/articles/2005/usable-microformats/ usable microformats].
* [http://24ways.org/advent/practical-microformats-with-hcard Practical Microformats with hCard] by Drew McLellan
* [http://www.thefutureoftheweb.com/blog/2006/1/hcard Jesse Skinner's introduction to hCard]
* [http://blog.usweb.com/ Shaun Shull's] great post on [http://blog.usweb.com/archives/how-microformats-affect-search-engine-optimization-seo How Microformats Affect Seearch Engine Optimization]
* [http://blogbusinesssummit.com/2006/04/microformats_in.htm Blog Business Summit: Microformats in Plain English: the Promise of Simple Business to Business Data Exchange] by Steve Broback


== Miscellaneous Reference ==
* Emily Lewis's excellent series of articles:
** [http://ablognotlimited.com/articles/tag/Getting+Semantic+series/ A Blog Not Limited: Getting Semantic With Microformats Series]
* Sitepoint has a nice introductory tutorial:
** [http://reference.sitepoint.com/html/microformats Microformats - Plugging the Gaps in HTML]
* Premasagar has written up
** [http://premasagar.com/microformats/compound/ some nice microformats examples with source].


These are various intro-related links/articles which I haven't figured out yet how to incorporate.  You may find them of interest. - [http://tantek.com/log/ Tantek]
== Translations ==


* [http://www.betaversion.org/~stefano/linotype/news/93/ Data First vs. Structure First]
* [[introduction-pt-br]] (see also [[introduction-pt-br-2]])
** [http://tantek.com/log/ Tantek] says: In many ways it is actually *far* worse than that post conveys.  The "typical" programmer literally loves spending far more time worrying about and designing the structure for structure's sake, than data, and even less so, "real world" data (current behaviors etc.). Hence we have taken the directly opposite tack with microformats when looking to solve a problem.
* ...
*** Zeroeth, define the real-world problem.  If you can't do this, then stop.
*** First, look at real-world usage (data).
*** Second, what previous standards are people actually using today?  If there is more than one, then lean towards those with the better adoption.
***And only after those first two do we bother to pay attention to theoretical standards, those that have been invented (whether by individuals, committees), but haven't seen much if any actual adoption.
* [http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-interest/2000Mar/0103 2000-03-21 Dan Connolly on human-consumable information]: ('''strong emphasis''' added)
** I believe that one of the best ways to transition into RDF, if not a long-term deployment strategy for RDF, is to '''manage the information in human-consumable form (XHTML) annotated with just enough info to extract''' the RDF statements that the human info is intended to convey. In other words: using a relational database or some sort of native RDF data store, and spitting out HTML dynamically, is a lot of infrastructure to operate and probably not worth it for lots of interesting cases. '''We all know that we have to produce a human-readable version of the thing... why not use that as the primary source?'''

Latest revision as of 22:15, 17 December 2023

What are Microformats?

Microformats are a way of adding simple markup to human-readable data items such as events, contact details or locations, on web pages, so that the information in them can be extracted by software and indexed, searched for, saved, cross-referenced or combined.

More technically, they are items of semantic markup, using just standard "plain old semantic HTML" (i.e. "POSH") with a set of common class-names and "rel" values. They are open and available, freely, for anyone to use.

Why Microformats

Why did we come up with microformats?

In short, microformats are the convergence of a number of trends:

  1. a logical next step in the evolution of web design and information architecture
  2. a way for people and organizations to publish richer information themselves, without having to rely upon centralized services
  3. an acknowledgement that (outside of specialist areas) "traditional" metadata efforts (e.g. meta tags) have either failed or taken so long to garner any adoption, that a new approach was necessary
  4. a way to use well formed HTML for data.

The Appeal to Simplicity

  • Microformats are a simple effort which has appealed to many frustrated with previous complex efforts.

One parallel that has been drawn is to REST in the API / web services world - for more on REST see suggested reading on REST.

Get Started

It's easy to get started with microformats:

Learn More

Learn more about microformats from the microformats.org

See Also

External Resources

Translations

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