[microformats-discuss] microformats and semantic HTML best practices

[Bud Gibson]

On Sep 4, 2005, at 17:52, Bryan J Busch wrote:

> In absorbing the microformats principles
> (http://microformats.org/about/), I've accepted that the invention of
> a microformat first requires a specific problem to be solved. My
> questions now are more along the lines of: should I be encouraging
> myself to prioritize the seriousness of the problems, or even, how do
> I know this is a problem at all?
>

One way of answering this question is to ask if it solves a problem  
for you.  That's step 1.  If it does, then look and see if anyone  
else has a solution to that problem already.  If not, try inventing  
the microformat.

I think one of the issues novices face with microformats is that they  
are not entirely sure what they are.  Sometimes, the only way to  
figure that out is to try to do one.

Given my experience, microformats make DOM processing (e.g., screen  
scraping, ajax) applications dramatically simpler to write and more  
portable.  If you are doing DOM processing, then you should be using  
microformats, period.

I'm a little less enthralled than many on the list with the idea that  
you should start with a community process.  I'd say research, create  
what you have to, see if it's useful, then go community as part of  
your marketing effort.

Prove the value to yourself first.

Bud