Article:		What Are Microformats
Subject:		Are these really benefits?
Date:		2006-06-25 18:37:51
From:		Logomachist
Response to: XHTML 2 as the 'Universal Document' ... and the 'Universal Form'
I like the idea of microformats, the idea that programs can be equipped to handle certain metadata in specific ways, and the ability to mix simple data types within documents, but I have to wonder if some of the points you mentioned are really that beneficial. <blockquote> The first is that it means you can validate your documents without having to keep creating new schemas. </blockquote> If the document schema is loose and doesn't fit the information you're denoting, doesn't that defeat the purpose of validation? <blockquote> And third, making XHTML 2 both a data format *and* a UI format means that your pages become both the data *and* the metadata -- for example, your home page can be your RSS feed, without changing. </blockquote> Isn't this the same as saying it mixes content and presentation, and therefore is a big no-no? Wasn't HTML designed from the start to delinate a documents structure, not presentation? That's what we have styling languages for, and they work as well for XML as they do for (x)HTML. <blockquote> Nowadays, although you generally use XML instead, the equivalent is that you immediately have to come up with a new UI to edit the data. </blockquote> I don't see much benefit here. CSS is (relatively) easy.

Previous Message

Up

Next Message