article on microformats

Hello,

I'm writing an article on microformats, I hope to publish in
one of
Polish IT magazines. I read the Wiki and other resources, I
also began
implementing microformats on my websites a few weeks ago,
but I still
have some questions. Mostly about history or ideas behind
microformats, not the technology. I hope it's the right
place to ask
them.

1) In my article I wrote that the community behind
microformats began
as a sort of grasroots movement, involving enthusiasts:
bloggers,
wikipedia editors, people who were into
social-networking sites and other web 2.0 ideas etc. Only
later it
gained support of software companies and standarization
bodies.

Do you agree with that summary? Remember I need to keep it
short, it's
only an introduction, I'm mostly writing about technology.

2) I also put microformat movement in opposition to
"traditional"
semantic web concept, like the one proposed by Tim Berner's
Lee. I
mean, you're trying to solve the same problem
in a completely different way, without introducing new
language and
requiring webmasters to put a completely new content.
Instead, your
supporting incremental change, dealing
with the simplest problem first.

Again, do I got that right?

3) On a more technical note. I'm confused about a rel-tag.
Let's say I
run a website that has it's internal tagging system, each
post is
concluded with a few links: this article belongs to category
<this>,
<that> and <yet another>. I can also
ocassionally link to an external
site that supports tagging, like del.icio.us. Do i include a
rel-tag
on:
- internal links
- external links
- both?
FAQ says I'm not supposed to use rel-tag on links in a
tag-cloud, why?


-- 
Igor Wawrzyniak
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ts-discuss

Hi Igor,

On 16 Mar 2008, at 06:43, Igor Wawrzyniak wrote:
> 1) In my article I wrote that the community behind
microformats began
> as a sort of grasroots movement, involving enthusiasts:
bloggers,
> wikipedia editors, people who were into
> social-networking sites and other web 2.0 ideas etc.
Only later it
> gained support of software companies and standarization
bodies.
>
> Do you agree with that summary? Remember I need to keep
it short, it's
> only an introduction, I'm mostly writing about
technology.

Best to have Tantek, Eric or one of the other Technorati
alumni  
answer that, since they were here in the very beginning.

I think it would be inaccurate to say that it has the
support of  
‘standardisation bodies’. The microformats are designed and
built  
within this community, and don't get rubber stamped by any
other  
body. The existence of microformats is acknowledged
elsewhere, of  
course, and the spread of hCalendar is probably a principal
factor in  
HTML5 having a new <t>ime element.

> 3) On a more technical note. I'm confused about a
rel-tag. Let's say I
> run a website that has it's internal tagging system,
each post is
> concluded with a few links: this article belongs to
category <this>,
> <that> and <yet another>. I can also
ocassionally link to an external
> site that supports tagging, like del.icio.us. Do i
include a rel-tag
> on:
> - internal links
> - external links
> - both?

Where you are linking from your content (say a blog post) to
a tag  
space (whether that's Technorati or your own site), you
should use  
rel-tag to indicate that the two pages have a tag
relationship.

> FAQ says I'm not supposed to use rel-tag on links in a
tag-cloud, why?

Where you use the ‘rel’ attribute, you are saying ‘The page
I'm  
linking to is a <something> for this page’. So in a
blog entry,  
rel=tag means ‘The ‘/tags/microformats’ page I'm linking to
is a TAG  
for this page’. It's a more subtle meaning than ‘this _is_ a
tag’.

A tag _cloud_ is an aggregation of tags for multiple pieces
of  
content. If you put rel=tag on the tags in a tag cloud, you
would be  
saying ‘this is a tag _for the current page_’, which is not
what a  
tag cloud represents.

Hope that helps,

Ben
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On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 11:26 PM, Ben Ward <listsben-ward.co.uk> wrote:
>  > 1) In my article I wrote that the community
behind microformats began
>  > as a sort of grasroots movement, involving
enthusiasts: bloggers,
>  > wikipedia editors, people who were into
>  > social-networking sites and other web 2.0 ideas
etc. Only later it
>  > gained support of software companies and
standarization bodies.
>  >
>  > Do you agree with that summary? Remember I need
to keep it short, it's
>  > only an introduction, I'm mostly writing about
technology.
>
>  Best to have Tantek, Eric or one of the other
Technorati alumni
>  answer that, since they were here in the very
beginning.

Technorati was involved from the beginning? I noticed they
use microformats.

>  I think it would be inaccurate to say that it has the
support of
>  'standardisation bodies'.

OK, I'll drop that part.

>  > FAQ says I'm not supposed to use rel-tag on links
in a tag-cloud, why?
>
>  Where you use the 'rel' attribute, you are saying 'The
page I'm
>  linking to is a <something> for this page'. So
in a blog entry,
>  rel=tag means 'The '/tags/microformats' page I'm
linking to is a TAG
>  for this page'. It's a more subtle meaning than 'this
_is_ a tag'.

All clear now. Thanks.


-- 
Igor Wawrzyniak
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microformats-discuss mailing list
microformats-discussmicroformats.org
http://microformats.org/mailman/listinfo/microforma
ts-discuss

On Mar 17, 2008, at 1:14 PM, Igor Wawrzyniak wrote:

>> Best to have Tantek, Eric or one of the other
Technorati alumni
>> answer that, since they were here in the very
beginning.
>
> Technorati was involved from the beginning? I noticed
they use  
> microformats.


Technorati's developer wiki is unfortunately no longer
available, but  
you can see some early documentation there in the Internet
Archive:

http://web.archive.org/web/200503
11030245/http://developers.technorati.com/wiki

And if you look at the few names on those early drafts, most
of them  
worked at Technorati at the time.

Peace,
Scott

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