The Lurker

On Microformats

There's always been something wrong about "microformats" that I've never quite been able to put my finger on. "Why microformats? Because XML is way too fucking easy to parse" was my first, satisfying but not entirely adequate, theory. Shelley Powers hits the nail on the head:

Regarding microformats: Using "rel", "class", and "profile", as the only available means in which to add semantics to markup is the same as using LOLCats to re-define the Bible: it's pidgin markup. "Me class sitting. Me relate chair. Chair relate desk. Me class watching. Me relate windows. Window relate Woman. Woman class running. Woman relate street. Woman class feeling. Feeling relate weather. Weather class cool. Weather class fall. Me class wistful. Me class wishing. Me relate woman."

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