[uf-discuss] Some hcard feedback from a vCard implementor

[Sam Roberts]

On Tue, Apr 04, 2006 at 01:42:15PM -0400, Bruce D'Arcus wrote:
> On 4/4/06, Sam Roberts <sroberts at uniserve.com> wrote:
> 
> [... snip ...]
> 
> > - Don't make their mistake. Please put at least two examples in your
> >   spec: an organization, and an individual. And make them COMPLICATED.
> >   Two photos, a bunch of different kinds of addresses, real names
> >   (middle names, suffixes, etc.).
> 
> >From a citation format perspective, I'd venture to say this is among
> the most difficult problems, so nice to see you sum it up for us.
> 
> Middle names, BTW, are a rather mess in the real world (rather
> culturally-specific). Consider simple examples like "J. Edgard
> Hoover."

Yep, vCard's approach is to have N be the name, and FN be the formatted
name, so there's a backdoor for the creator to try and specify the
preferred format for their name:

  FN:J. Edgard Hoover
  N:Hoover;John;Edgard;;

> And for more complicated examples, there's stuff like "Alexander von
> Humbolt" (the articular), and the prefix/suffix stuff.

How would german-language speakers think of that? Is the "von" always
used with the family name, or is only used to join family and given? So

  Herr Humbolt

or

  Herr von Humbolt

?

If the former, I don't know how that would fit into vCards, probably
it would have to be:

  FN:Alexander von Humbolt
  N:Humbolt;Alexander;;Herr;

And there are definitely address book apps that would present it to the
user base on N as "Alexander Humbolt".

If the latter, it could be

  FN:Alexander von Humbolt
  N:von Humbolt;Alexander;;Herr;


Definitely this would make a good example.

Cheers,
Sam