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<entry-title>Introduction to Microformats</entry-title>
<entry-title>Introduction to Microformats</entry-title>
__TOC__
 
== What are Microformats? ==
== What are Microformats? ==


Microformats are a way of adding simple markup to human-readable data items such as events, contact details or locations, on web pages, so that the information in them can be extracted by software and indexed, searched for, saved, cross-referenced or combined.
Microformats are a way of adding simple markup to human-readable data items such as events, contact details or locations, on web pages, so that the information in them can be extracted by software and indexed, searched for, saved, cross-referenced or combined.


More technically, they are items of semantic markup, using just standard "plain old semantic (X)HTML" (i.e. "[[POSH]]") with a set of common [[class-names]] and "[[rel]]" values. They are open and available, freely, for anyone to use.
More technically, they are items of semantic markup, using just standard "plain old semantic HTML" (i.e. "[[POSH]]") with a set of common [[class-names]] and "[[rel]]" values. They are open and available, freely, for anyone to use.


== Why Microformats ==
== Why Microformats ==
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In short, microformats are the convergence of a number of trends:
In short, microformats are the convergence of a number of trends:
# a logical next step in the evolution of web design and information architecture
# a logical next step in the evolution of web design and information architecture
# a way for people and organisations to publish richer information themselves, without having to rely upon centralized services
# a way for people and organizations to publish richer information themselves, without having to rely upon centralized services
# an acknowledgement that (outside of speci<span class="notspam">alist</span> areas) "traditional" metadata efforts have either failed or taken so long to garner any adoption, that a new approach was necessary
# an acknowledgement that (outside of speci<span class="notspam">alist</span> areas) "traditional" metadata efforts (e.g. meta tags) have either failed or taken so long to garner any adoption, that a new approach was necessary
# a way to use [[(X)HTML]] for data.
# a way to use well formed [[HTML]] for data.


== The Appeal to Simplicity ==
== The Appeal to Simplicity ==


* Microformats are a simple effort which has appealed to many frustrated with previous complex efforts. One parallel that can be drawn is to REST in the web services world - for more on REST see [[suggested-reading#REST|suggested reading on REST]].
* Microformats are a simple effort which has appealed to many frustrated with previous complex efforts.
* See: [http://www.justinleavesley.com/journal/2005/7/28/web-services-and-the-innovators-dilemma.html Web Services and the Innovators Dilemma] by Justin Leavesley
 
One parallel that has been drawn is to REST in the API / web services world - for more on REST see [[suggested-reading#REST|suggested reading on REST]].


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 16:59, 2 December 2011

<entry-title>Introduction to Microformats</entry-title>

What are Microformats?

Microformats are a way of adding simple markup to human-readable data items such as events, contact details or locations, on web pages, so that the information in them can be extracted by software and indexed, searched for, saved, cross-referenced or combined.

More technically, they are items of semantic markup, using just standard "plain old semantic HTML" (i.e. "POSH") with a set of common class-names and "rel" values. They are open and available, freely, for anyone to use.

Why Microformats

Why did we come up with microformats?

In short, microformats are the convergence of a number of trends:

  1. a logical next step in the evolution of web design and information architecture
  2. a way for people and organizations to publish richer information themselves, without having to rely upon centralized services
  3. an acknowledgement that (outside of specialist areas) "traditional" metadata efforts (e.g. meta tags) have either failed or taken so long to garner any adoption, that a new approach was necessary
  4. a way to use well formed HTML for data.

The Appeal to Simplicity

  • Microformats are a simple effort which has appealed to many frustrated with previous complex efforts.

One parallel that has been drawn is to REST in the API / web services world - for more on REST see suggested reading on REST.

See also

external

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