[microformats-discuss] A 10 line script to identify and process any microformat

Thu Jul 28 19:56:58 PDT 2005

On Jul 28, 2005, at 5:48 PM, Alf Eaton wrote:
> The problem with all of these approaches is that once you want to 
> parse or extract more than one microformat, you have to check each 
> element of the page for each of a big list of possible classnames. 
> I'd like to propose, therefore (and maybe it's been proposed before),

It has.
> that each microformat should have one common classname: 
> 'microdata', say.

This has been proposed before and rejected for several reasons:
1. We're optimizing for publishers, not consumers. Yes, parsing 
microformats is *hard* and no one is claiming its easy.
2. This seems like needless complexity. Though its tough, you can get 
the data out.
3. A universal parsing apparatus is not possible. You could probably 
get a system that's pretty flexible and can handle a good number of 
formats, but you will not likely be able to create something with 
unlimited abilities.
4. What happens when everyone's using microformats everywhere? :D
> Then the main selector can be
> var mc = document.evaluate(//*[contains(@class,'microdata')]", 
> document, null, XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE, null);
> and you only have to check the big list of possible classnames 
> against that one node.
>> For example, <div class="microdata xfolkentry"> or <div 
> class="microdata hreview"> .

BTW, this is probably a good discussion to have on the microformats- 
discuss list.
As you may know (or may not), the dev list is not open subscription, 
but is limited to people who have a microformat implementation. 
Having said that, if you think you belong on the dev list, feel free 
to speak up (not on the list, though, email me directly).
-ryan