[microformats-discuss] Definition of "microformat"?

[Dr. Ernie Prabhakar]

Hi all,

I can never resist a good etymological workout. :-) Here's my take:

Microformats are
  terse conventions
    for using existing tags
    and brief, descriptive class names
  that assign precise semantics
    for a single, well-defined problem domain
    within HTML/XHTML/XML documents

In short, "Microformats are terse conventions that assign precise  
semantics."

-- Ernie P.

"Keep things as vague as possible -- but no vaguer"
(Dr. Ernie's First Law of Marketing)




On Sep 16, 2005, at 6:22 AM, DuCharme, Bob (LNG-CHO) wrote:

> Stephen Downes wrote:
>
>> "Microformats are descriptions of types of data that can be expressed
>> in a consistent manner and which can be part of, or embedded in,
>> larger data elements. When the consistent expression of a microformat
>> is defined and widely employed, this data may be reliably extracted
>> from these larger data elements, thus allowing the microformat  
>> data to
>> assist in the characterization and indexing of the larger data
>> elements."
>
> I think the emphasis on embedding microformat data elsewhere for later
> aggregation adds (and explains) a lot. Shouldn't a complete  
> definition of
> microformats mention the re-use of existing schemas, though? As I  
> understand
> it, making up your own elements and attributes is not the typical
> microformats approach.
>
> Otherwise, substituting "RDF" for "Microformats" above would still  
> make your
> paragraph a true statement!
>
> Bob
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