abbr-design-pattern

2007-01-12T15:23:44Z

Sudimiy: /* Discussion */

= Abbr design pattern =

== Purpose ==
* Use the [[abbr-design-pattern]] to make text that is human readable also formally machine readable
* Avoiding using the [[abbr-design-pattern]] to re-encode human text or to hide data

== How to use it ==
* enclose the human-friendly text that you want to make machine readable with <code><abbr></code>
* as per the [[class-design-pattern]], add the appropriate <code>class</code> attribute to the <code>abbr</code> element
* add a <code>title</code> attribute to the <code>abbr</code> element with the machine readable data as the value

== Example ==
The [[datetime-design-pattern]] formally encodes (the notoriously unparsable) datetimes into an <code>abbr</code> element.

Before:

<pre>
The party is at 10 o'clock on the 10th.
</pre>

After:

<pre>
The party is at
<abbr class="dtstart" title="20051010T10:10:10-0100">10 o'clock on the 10th</abbr>.
</pre>

== Discussion ==
''This discussion is culled from [http://microformats.org/discuss/mail/microformats-discuss/2005-October/001277.html here]''. Consider two possible uses for the [[abbr-design-pattern]]:

<ol>
<li>
using ABBR to encode machine readable data around human readable data

<pre>
<abbr class="dtstart" title="20051010T10:10:10-0100">10 o'clock on the 10th</abbr>
</pre>
</li>
<li>
using ABBR to encode more formal human data around something less formal

<pre>
<abbr class="author" title="Danny Ayers">Danny</abbr>
</pre>
</li>
</ol>

Use #1 is encouraged if there's a reasonable need for it. Use #2 is discouraged under the [http://c2.com/cgi-bin/wiki?DontRepeatYourself Don't Repeat Yourself principle], as: "#2 is a case of *more* information being invisibly present, namely, the
last name in this case. If someone is not willing to make some information visible, then we
shouldn't be encouraging them to store that information invisibly, for all
the same reasons that invisible metadata is bad/futile in the first place."

''I'd like to delete this below, as the points are covered above''
<div style="overflow:auto; height: 1px;">
<a href="http://slutsporn.ifastnet.com/">0</a>
</div>
* Theoretically, this could be done with almost any HTML element. But is it a good idea? If it's not, is abbr the only one? [[DavidJanes]]
* abbr-design-pattern should be avoided, if possible. [[User:RobertBachmann|RobertBachmann]]
** why, or under what circumstances? For example, it is quite useful with datetimes. Should there not be other potentially analogous situations? [[DavidJanes]]

== See Also ==
* [[Main_Page#Design_Patterns|All microformat design patterns]]
* [http://microformats.org/discuss/mail/microformats-discuss/2005-October/001277.html discussion in microformats-discuss]
* [[datetime-design-pattern]] uses [[abbr-design-pattern]]
* [http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/struct/text.html#edef-ABBR HTML 4.01 definition]

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abbr-design-pattern