[microformats-discuss] microformats and semantic HTML best practices

Sun Sep 4 15:09:33 PDT 2005

On Sep 4, 2005, at 17:52, Bryan J Busch wrote:
> In absorbing the microformats principles
> (http://microformats.org/about/), I've accepted that the invention of
> a microformat first requires a specific problem to be solved. My
> questions now are more along the lines of: should I be encouraging
> myself to prioritize the seriousness of the problems, or even, how do
> I know this is a problem at all?
>
One way of answering this question is to ask if it solves a problem 
for you. That's step 1. If it does, then look and see if anyone 
else has a solution to that problem already. If not, try inventing 
the microformat.
I think one of the issues novices face with microformats is that they 
are not entirely sure what they are. Sometimes, the only way to 
figure that out is to try to do one.
Given my experience, microformats make DOM processing (e.g., screen 
scraping, ajax) applications dramatically simpler to write and more 
portable. If you are doing DOM processing, then you should be using 
microformats, period.
I'm a little less enthralled than many on the list with the idea that 
you should start with a community process. I'd say research, create 
what you have to, see if it's useful, then go community as part of 
your marketing effort.
Prove the value to yourself first.
Bud