Microformats
Microformats are the way of the present, and most certainly the way of the future. This is simply an approach to HTML that allows you to markup information on your site in a way that allows humans and devices to use the text/data on the page in new ways.
We use microformats at theaterchurch.com to markup our contact information and events schedule. Visitors to our site can take that information from a page and into their address books or calendars in one simple click. It is also easy to work microformats into dynamic content by inserting them into the markup of your content management system. I have crafted our content management system to microformat our data at strategic places, like the small group directory, where visitors can add the small group leader’s contact information right to their address book. It’s completely hands-off, once a system is in place to produce the proper markup.
While it’s hard to gauge how well microformats are utilized, I think it’s clear that it has been valuable for us to offer this feature. It’s so simple to implement that the ROI is strong on the return side. And yet, as the popularity of microformats increases, we’ll be strategically prepared to deliver in the coming years.
I have several projects in which I’ve implemented microformats and I will continue to endorse microformats among my web developer peers. If you are not in a position to personally add microformats to a site you control, talk to your web administrator about getting it rolling!
If you are interested in discovering and using microformats on the Web, I recommend the Operator extension for Firefox. There are other options available. Some sites may make hCard or hCal content available through tools like Technorati Contacts or Events and tie the service into microformatted content on the host site. This is an approach I regularly take in making microformats accessible without the need for a third-party tool. Firefox 3 should support microformats natively, and I would not be surprised if other browsers followed suit.
Obviously, I think that creating content online is important. But adding value and meaning to that content through semantic markup, including microformats, is a great step in creating content that is accessible, modular and re-usable!
If you are interested in microformats, be sure to check out microformats.org. There is also an excellent book/blog on the subject called Microformats: Empowering Your Markup for Web 2.0 from web expert John Allsop. I highly recommend it both as a great read on microformats as well as a technical resource.
[tags]microformats, html, semantic, markup, accessibility, content, open, operator[/tags]
