 | This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: virtually all of the content is from the late 2000s. (March 2020) |
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| Abbreviation | μF |
|---|---|
| Status | Published |
| Year started | 2005 |
| Latest version | Microformats2 May 2010 |
| Related standards | Microdata (HTML), RDF, RDF Schema, OWL |
| Domain | Semantic Web |
| Website | microformats |
Microformats (μF)[note 1] are a set of defined HTML classes created to serve as consistent and descriptive metadata about an element, designating it as representing a certain type of data (such as contact information, geographic coordinates, events, blog posts, products, recipes, etc.).[1] They allow software to process the information reliably by having set classes refer to a specific type of data rather than being arbitrary.
Microformats emerged around 2005 and were predominantly designed for use by search engines, web syndication and aggregators such as RSS.[2] Google confirmed in 2020 that it still parses microformats for use in content indexing.[3] Microformats are referenced in several W3C social web specifications, including IndieAuth [4] and Webmention.[5]
Although the content of web pages has been capable of some "automated processing" since the inception of the web, such processing is difficult because the markup elements used to display information on the web do not describe what the information means.[6] Microformats can bridge this gap by attaching semantics, and thereby obviating other, more complicated, methods of automated processing, such as natural language processing or screen scraping. The use, adoption and processing of microformats enables data items to be indexed, searched for, saved or cross-referenced, so that information can be reused or combined.[6]
As of 2013[update], microformats allow the encoding and extraction of event details, contact information, social relationships and similar information.
Microformats2, abbreviated as mf2, is the updated version of microformats. Mf2 provides a more easy way of interpreting HTML structured syntax and vocabularies than the earlier ways that made use of RDFa and microdata.[7]
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- ^ "Class Names Across All Microformats". Microformats.org. 23 September 2007. Retrieved 6 September 2008.
- ^ "Microformats". MDN Web Docs. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
- ^ Tanna, Jamie. "Google confirms Microformats are still a recommended metadata format for content". Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ Parecki, Aaron. "IndieAuth". Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ Parecki, Aaron. "Webmention". Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ a b "What's the Next Big Thing on the Web? It May Be a Small, Simple Thing – Microformats". Knowledge@Wharton. Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. 27 July 2005.
- ^ "Microformats - HTML: HyperText Markup Language | MDN". developer.mozilla.org. Retrieved 6 August 2022.