hproduct-proposal

2009-01-03T16:31:13Z

C4tcnAbocd: roc4tlin

basdarbocdom
<h1><em>draft</em> hProduct Proposal</h1>

hProduct is a format suitable for embedding in (X)HTML, Atom, RSS, and arbitrary XML. hProduct is be related to several [[microformats]] (including [[hlisting|hListing]] and [[hreview|hReview]]) and is an open standard.

__TOC__
===Authors===

(in alphabetical order)
* Craig Cook, [http://focalcurve.com/ Focal Curve]
* Aaron Gustafson, [http://easy-designs.net/ Easy! Designs]
* [[User:PaulLee|Paul Lee]], Google Product Search
* <span class="vcard"><span class="url fn">[http://jay.beweep.com/ Jay Myers]</span>, [http://www.bestbuy.com BestBuy Co, Inc.]

==Introduction==

The web is a thriving marketplace with a plethora of vendors scattered across the globe. Sifting through this mass of information is difficult when it is unstructured. The hProduct microformat will bring order and structure to the chaos, making it easy for people to list the products they offer and easy for Web Services to consume that product information for analysis and syndication. This proposal follows the common practices of ecommerce sites such as Amazon, BestBuy.com, Buy.com, and AutoByTel.

hProduct is compatible and combinable with [[hlisting|hListing]] and [[hreview|hReview]].

=== Scope ===

Giving details about a particular product is sometimes very complex as parameters are differnt for books and CDs than they are for iPods or cars. It should be very easy to mark up an item using hProduct and the syntax should be simple yet flexible enough for more advanced applications.

=== Out of Scope ===

This microformat does not intend to replicate any of the content proposed within [[hlisting|hListing]] and would defer all money/transactional matters to that microformat.
This microformat also does not attempt to specify a product ontology, or category-specific attributes; instead, it aims to create a framework to allow for flexible expression of both.

== Format ==

=== In General ===

The hProduct format is based on a set of fields common to numerous ecommerce sites and formats in use today on the web.

=== Schema ===

The hProduct schema consists of the following (see [[class-names|existing class names]] for reference):

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
! field
! required
! plurality
! description
|-
| availability
| optional
| singular
| Text. Can be further refined by type (instore, online, preorder, backorder, specialorder).
|-
| brand
| optional
| singular
| Text. Can also use [[hcard|hCard]] for manufacturer.
|-
| buy
| optional
| plural
| Text. Purchase messaging and/or rel="purchase" indicating target url for purchasing item.
|-
| category
| optional
| plural
| Text. [[hcard|hCard]]. Can also use [[rel-tag|rel-tag]].
|-
| condition
| optional
| singular
| Text. Examples: 'new', 'used', 'refurbished'.
|-
| description
| optional
| singular
| Text. [[hreview|hReview]]. Can also include valid HTML markup.
|-
| model
| optional
| singular
| Text.
|-
| '''n'''
| '''required'''
| '''singular'''
| '''Text.''' [[hcard|hCard]]. Product name or title.
|-
| photo
| optional
| plural
| Image element or link. [[hcard|hCard]]. Photo or image of the object used in <img>.
|-
| price
| optional
| plural
| Floating point number. Can be further refined by type (msrp, regular, sale, clearance), can use [[currency|currency]] format.
|-
| quantity
| optional
| singular
| Integer.
|-
| shipping
| optional
| singular
| Text. Messaging. Example: 'Ships within 24-48 hours.'
|-
| url
| optional
| singular
| href. [[hcard|hCard]]. Can contain rel='product'.
|-
| version
| optional
| singular
| Text. [[hreview|hReview]].
|}

The identifier structure is used to describe product identifiers like UPC or SKU, and is designed to accommodate new or as-yet-unidentified identifiers.

* '''identifier (optional)'''
** type (required) - examples:
*** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturer_part_number mpn]
*** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Product_Code upc]
*** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isbn isbn]
*** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Serial_Number issn]
*** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Article_Number ean]
*** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Article_Number jan]
*** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_number sn]
*** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_identification_number vin]
*** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock-keeping_unit sku]
**value (required) - label may be implied

In addition to the above fields, hProduct includes a properties and values (p-v) mechanism to accommodate the wide variation in product attributes.

* '''p-v (optional)'''
** property (required) - examples:
*** accessory for
*** artist
*** author
*** color
*** compatible with
*** quantity in lot
*** rating - can be further denoted into rating types (product || merchant || mpaa || esrb || others)
*** released - hcalendar event for date of release
*** size
** value (required) - label may be implied

Finally, [[hreview|hReview]] is used to describe product reviews.

==Additional Details==

===Version===

'''version''': This optional field permits hProduct publishers to specify a particular version of hProduct that their content uses. By omitting this field, the publisher is stating that implementations may interpret the hListings according to any version of the hProduct specification. The value for this proposal as of 28-Oct-2008 is "0.0," since it has no official standing yet.

===Cross-cutting issues===

''Internationalization:'' Though there are many English-language tokens, they are only used as invisible class-names; user-visible listing information can be completely localized. Note that (X)HTML <code>LANG</code> attribute rules still apply as usual, for multilingual aggregators of hProduct.

Certain field names have been reused from the [[hcard|hCard]] and [[hcalendar|hCalendar]] microformats, e.g., <code>version, description</code>. In addition, brands described by hProduct may contain hCard fields.

==Examples (Preliminary)==

=== Simple Product ===

The Pick of Destiny
by Tenacious D
The Pick of Destiny is the highly anticipated soundtrack to the upcoming
New Line Cinema comedy, Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny. An epic
musical adventure, the film follows Tenacious D (Jack Black and Kyle Gass)
on their quest to obtain the Pick and become The Greatest Band on Earth.
Released: November 14, 2006
Label: Sony
UPC: 82796948912

<pre><nowiki><div class="hproduct">
<h4 class="name">The Pick of Destiny</h4>
<h5 class="p-v">by <span class="property artist">Tenacious D</span></h5>
<p class="description summary">The Pick of Destiny is the highly
anticipated soundtrack to the upcoming New Line Cinema comedy, Tenacious
D in the Pick of Destiny. An epic musical adventure, the film follows
Tenacious D (Jack Black and Kyle Gass) on their quest to obtain the Pick
and become The Greatest Band on Earth.</p>
<ul>
<li class="p-v"><span class="property">Released</span>:
<span class="value"><abbr title="2006-11-14T12:00:01-05:00">November
14, 2006</abbr></span></li>
<li>Label: <span class="brand">Sony</span></li>
<li class="p-v"><span class="property">UPC</span>:
<span class="value">82796948912</span></li>
</ul>
</div></nowiki></pre>

=== Examples in Production ===

* Description of [http://jay.beweep.com/index.php/2008/10/14/reviving-shop-urls-with-hproduct BestBuy.com implementation]

==Changes==
mid Nov 2006: initial concepting.

15-July-2008: hProduct revival effort

28-Oct-2008: Agreement on initial hProduct draft

== Research ==
* [[product-examples]]
* [[product-formats]]
* [[product-brainstorming]]

== Discussions ==
* Feedback is encouraged on the [[product-brainstorming]] page.
* See also [http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/referer.html blogs discussing this page].

==See also==
* [[product]]
* [[currency]]
* [[hReview]]
* [[hListing]]
* [[item]]

== Acknowledgements ==
Much of this document is based on the fine work of the folks behind [[hlisting|hListing]] and their proposal.

Microformats Wiki - User contributions [en]

hproduct-proposal