<s>
Microformats	B-General_Concept
( μF	O
)	O
are	O
a	O
set	O
of	O
defined	O
HTML	B-General_Concept
classes	I-General_Concept
created	O
to	O
serve	O
as	O
consistent	O
and	O
descriptive	O
metadata	O
about	O
an	O
element	B-General_Concept
,	O
designating	O
it	O
as	O
representing	O
a	O
certain	O
type	O
of	O
data	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
contact	B-Operating_System
information	I-Operating_System
,	O
geographic	O
coordinates	O
,	O
events	O
,	O
blog	O
posts	O
,	O
products	O
,	O
recipes	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
allow	O
software	B-General_Concept
to	O
process	O
the	O
information	O
reliably	O
by	O
having	O
set	O
classes	O
refer	O
to	O
a	O
specific	O
type	O
of	O
data	O
rather	O
than	O
being	O
arbitrary	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microformats	B-General_Concept
emerged	O
around	O
2005	O
and	O
were	O
predominantly	O
designed	O
for	O
use	O
by	O
search	O
engines	O
,	O
web	O
syndication	O
and	O
aggregators	B-Application
such	O
as	O
RSS	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microformats	B-General_Concept
can	O
bridge	O
this	O
gap	O
by	O
attaching	O
semantics	B-Application
,	O
and	O
thereby	O
obviating	O
other	O
,	O
more	O
complicated	O
,	O
methods	O
of	O
automated	O
processing	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
natural	B-Language
language	I-Language
processing	I-Language
or	O
screen	O
scraping	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
use	O
,	O
adoption	O
and	O
processing	O
of	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
enables	O
data	O
items	O
to	O
be	O
indexed	O
,	O
searched	O
for	O
,	O
saved	O
or	O
cross-referenced	O
,	O
so	O
that	O
information	O
can	O
be	O
reused	O
or	O
combined	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
,	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
allow	O
the	O
encoding	O
and	O
extraction	O
of	O
event	O
details	O
,	O
contact	B-Operating_System
information	I-Operating_System
,	O
social	O
relationships	O
and	O
similar	O
information	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microformats2	O
abbreviated	O
as	O
mf2	O
is	O
the	O
updated	O
version	O
of	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Mf2	O
provides	O
a	O
more	O
easy	O
way	O
of	O
interpreting	O
HTML(hypertext Markup Language )	O
structured	O
syntax	O
and	O
vocabularies	O
than	O
the	O
earlier	O
ways	O
that	O
made	O
use	O
of	O
RDFa	B-General_Concept
and	O
microdata	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microformats	B-General_Concept
emerged	O
around	O
2005	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
a	O
grassroots	O
movement	O
to	O
make	O
recognizable	O
data	O
items	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
events	O
,	O
contact	O
details	O
or	O
geographical	O
locations	O
)	O
capable	O
of	O
automated	O
processing	O
by	O
software	B-General_Concept
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
directly	O
readable	O
by	O
end-users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Link-based	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
emerged	O
first	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
CommerceNet	O
,	O
a	O
nonprofit	O
organization	O
that	O
promotes	O
e-commerce	O
on	O
the	O
Internet	O
,	O
has	O
helped	O
sponsor	O
and	O
promote	O
the	O
technology	O
and	O
support	O
the	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
community	O
in	O
various	O
ways	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
CommerceNet	O
also	O
helped	O
co-found	O
the	O
Microformats.org	O
community	O
site	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Neither	O
CommerceNet	O
nor	O
Microformats.org	O
operates	O
as	O
a	O
standards	O
body	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
community	O
functions	O
through	O
an	O
open	O
wiki	B-Protocol
,	O
a	O
mailing	O
list	O
,	O
and	O
an	O
Internet	B-Protocol
relay	I-Protocol
chat	I-Protocol
(	O
IRC	B-Protocol
)	O
channel	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
of	O
the	O
existing	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
originated	O
at	O
the	O
Microformats.org	O
wiki	B-Protocol
and	O
the	O
associated	O
mailing	O
list	O
by	O
a	O
process	O
of	O
gathering	O
examples	O
of	O
web-publishing	O
behaviour	O
,	O
then	O
codifying	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
other	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
(	O
such	O
as	O
rel	B-Application
=	I-Application
nofollow	I-Application
and	O
unAPI	O
)	O
have	O
been	O
proposed	O
,	O
or	O
developed	O
,	O
elsewhere	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
XHTML	B-Language
and	O
HTML	O
standards	O
allow	O
for	O
the	O
embedding	O
and	O
encoding	O
of	O
semantics	B-Application
within	O
the	O
attributes	B-General_Concept
of	I-General_Concept
markup	I-General_Concept
elements	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microformats	B-General_Concept
take	O
advantage	O
of	O
these	O
standards	O
by	O
indicating	O
the	O
presence	O
of	O
metadata	O
using	O
the	O
following	O
attributes	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
relationship	O
,	O
description	O
of	O
the	O
target	O
address	O
in	O
an	O
anchor-element	O
(	O
...	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
wrapping	O
in	O
spans	B-General_Concept
(	O
or	O
other	O
HTML	B-General_Concept
elements	I-General_Concept
)	O
with	O
specific	O
class	O
names	O
(	O
in	O
this	O
case	O
geo	B-General_Concept
,	O
latitude	O
and	O
longitude	O
,	O
all	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
geo	B-General_Concept
microformat	I-General_Concept
specification	O
)	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
software	B-General_Concept
agents	I-General_Concept
can	O
recognize	O
exactly	O
what	O
each	O
value	O
represents	O
and	O
can	O
then	O
perform	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
tasks	O
such	O
as	O
indexing	O
,	O
locating	O
it	O
on	O
a	O
map	O
and	O
exporting	O
it	O
to	O
a	O
GPS	O
device	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
this	O
example	O
,	O
the	O
contact	B-Operating_System
information	I-Operating_System
is	O
presented	O
as	O
follows	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
hCard	B-General_Concept
microformat	I-General_Concept
markup	O
,	O
that	O
becomes	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Here	O
,	O
the	O
formatted	O
name	O
(	O
fn	O
)	O
,	O
organisation	O
(	O
org	O
)	O
,	O
telephone	O
number	O
(	O
tel	O
)	O
and	O
web	O
address	O
(	O
url	O
)	O
have	O
been	O
identified	O
using	O
specific	O
class	O
names	O
and	O
the	O
whole	O
thing	O
is	O
wrapped	O
in	O
class	O
=	O
"	O
vcard	O
"	O
,	O
which	O
indicates	O
that	O
the	O
other	O
classes	O
form	O
an	O
hCard	B-General_Concept
(	O
short	O
for	O
"	O
HTML	O
vCard	O
"	O
)	O
and	O
are	O
not	O
merely	O
coincidentally	O
named	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
,	O
optional	O
,	O
hCard	B-General_Concept
classes	O
also	O
exist	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Software	B-General_Concept
,	O
such	O
as	O
browser	O
plug-ins	O
,	O
can	O
now	O
extract	O
the	O
information	O
,	O
and	O
transfer	O
it	O
to	O
other	O
applications	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
an	O
address	B-Operating_System
book	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
annotated	O
examples	O
of	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
on	O
live	O
pages	O
,	O
see	O
HCard	B-General_Concept
#Live	O
example	O
and	O
Geo	B-General_Concept
(	O
microformat	B-General_Concept
)	O
#Usage	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Several	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
have	O
been	O
developed	O
to	O
enable	O
semantic	O
markup	O
of	O
particular	O
types	O
of	O
information	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
only	O
hCard	B-General_Concept
and	O
hCalendar	B-General_Concept
have	O
been	O
ratified	O
,	O
the	O
others	O
remaining	O
as	O
drafts	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
hCard	B-General_Concept
–	O
for	O
contact	B-Operating_System
information	I-Operating_System
;	O
includes	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
hRecipe	B-General_Concept
–	O
for	O
recipes	O
and	O
foodstuffs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
rel-nofollow	O
,	O
an	O
attempt	O
to	O
discourage	O
third-party	O
content	O
spam	O
(	O
e.g.	O
</s>
<s>
Using	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
within	O
HTML	O
code	O
provides	O
additional	O
formatting	O
and	O
semantic	O
data	O
that	O
applications	O
can	O
use	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
applications	O
such	O
as	O
web	B-Application
crawlers	I-Application
can	O
collect	O
data	O
about	O
online	O
resources	O
,	O
or	O
desktop	O
applications	O
such	O
as	O
e-mail	O
clients	O
or	O
scheduling	O
software	B-General_Concept
can	O
compile	O
details	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
use	O
of	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
can	O
also	O
facilitate	O
"	O
mash	O
ups	O
"	O
such	O
as	O
exporting	O
all	O
of	O
the	O
geographical	O
locations	O
on	O
a	O
web	O
page	O
into	O
(	O
for	O
example	O
)	O
Google	B-Application
Maps	I-Application
to	O
visualize	O
them	O
spatially	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Several	O
browser	O
extensions	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
Operator	B-Operating_System
for	O
Firefox	B-Application
and	O
Oomph	O
for	O
Internet	B-Application
Explorer	I-Application
,	O
provide	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
detect	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
within	O
an	O
HTML	O
document	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
hCard	B-General_Concept
or	O
hCalendar	B-General_Concept
are	O
involved	O
,	O
such	O
browser	O
extensions	O
allow	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
to	O
be	O
exported	O
into	O
formats	O
compatible	O
with	O
contact	O
management	O
and	O
calendar	O
utilities	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Outlook	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
dealing	O
with	O
geographical	O
coordinates	O
,	O
they	O
allow	O
the	O
location	O
to	O
be	O
sent	O
to	O
applications	O
such	O
as	O
Google	B-Application
Maps	I-Application
.	I-Application
</s>
<s>
Yahoo	B-Application
!	I-Application
</s>
<s>
Query	O
Language	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
extract	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
from	O
web	O
pages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
12	O
May	O
2009	O
Google	B-Application
announced	O
that	O
they	O
would	O
be	O
parsing	O
the	O
hCard	B-General_Concept
,	O
hReview	B-General_Concept
and	O
hProduct	B-General_Concept
microformats	I-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
using	O
them	O
to	O
populate	O
search	O
result	O
pages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
subsequently	O
extended	O
this	O
in	O
2010	O
to	O
use	O
hCalendar	B-General_Concept
for	O
events	O
and	O
hRecipe	B-General_Concept
for	O
cookery	O
recipes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Similarly	O
,	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
are	O
also	O
processed	O
by	O
Bing	B-Application
and	O
Yahoo	B-Application
!	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	O
said	O
in	O
2006	O
that	O
they	O
needed	O
to	O
incorporate	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
into	O
upcoming	O
projects	O
,	O
as	O
did	O
other	O
software	B-General_Concept
companies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Alex	O
Faaborg	O
summarizes	O
the	O
arguments	O
for	O
putting	O
the	O
responsibility	O
for	O
microformat	B-General_Concept
user	O
interfaces	O
in	O
the	O
web	O
browser	O
rather	O
than	O
making	O
more	O
complicated	O
HTML	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Various	O
commentators	O
have	O
offered	O
review	O
and	O
discussion	O
on	O
the	O
design	O
principles	O
and	O
practical	O
aspects	O
of	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microformats	B-General_Concept
have	O
been	O
compared	O
to	O
other	O
approaches	O
that	O
seek	O
to	O
serve	O
the	O
same	O
or	O
similar	O
purpose	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
,	O
there	O
had	O
been	O
some	O
criticism	O
of	O
one	O
,	O
or	O
all	O
,	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
spread	O
and	O
use	O
of	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
was	O
being	O
advocated	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Opera	O
Software	B-General_Concept
CTO	O
and	O
CSS	B-Language
creator	O
Håkon	O
Wium	O
Lie	O
said	O
in	O
2005	O
"	O
We	O
will	O
also	O
see	O
a	O
bunch	O
of	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
being	O
developed	O
,	O
and	O
that	O
’s	O
how	O
the	O
semantic	O
web	O
will	O
be	O
built	O
,	O
I	O
believe.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
in	O
August	O
2008	O
Toby	O
Inkster	O
,	O
author	O
of	O
the	O
"	O
Swignition	O
"	O
(	O
formerly	O
"	O
Cognition	O
"	O
)	O
microformat	B-General_Concept
parsing	O
service	O
,	O
pointed	O
out	O
that	O
no	O
new	O
microformat	B-General_Concept
specifications	O
had	O
been	O
published	O
since	O
2005	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Computer	O
scientist	O
and	O
entrepreneur	O
,	O
Rohit	O
Khare	O
stated	O
that	O
reduce	O
,	O
reuse	O
,	O
and	O
recycle	O
is	O
"	O
shorthand	O
for	O
several	O
design	O
principles	O
"	O
that	O
motivated	O
the	O
development	O
and	O
practices	O
behind	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Recycle	O
:	O
encourage	O
modularity	O
and	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
embed	O
,	O
valid	O
XHTML	B-Language
can	O
be	O
reused	O
in	O
blog	O
posts	O
,	O
RSS	O
feeds	O
,	O
and	O
anywhere	O
else	O
you	O
can	O
access	O
the	O
web	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
some	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
make	O
use	O
of	O
title	O
attribute	O
of	O
HTML	O
's	O
element	B-General_Concept
to	O
conceal	O
machine-readable	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
(	O
particularly	O
date-times	O
and	O
geographical	O
coordinates	O
)	O
in	O
the	O
""	O
,	O
the	O
plain	O
text	O
content	O
of	O
the	O
element	B-General_Concept
is	O
inaccessible	O
to	O
screen	O
readers	O
that	O
expand	O
abbreviations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
June	O
2008	O
the	O
BBC	O
announced	O
that	O
it	O
would	O
be	O
dropping	O
use	O
of	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
using	O
the	O
abbr	O
design	O
pattern	O
because	O
of	O
accessibility	O
concerns	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microformats	B-General_Concept
are	O
not	O
the	O
only	O
solution	O
for	O
providing	O
"	O
more	O
intelligent	O
data	O
"	O
on	O
the	O
web	O
;	O
alternative	O
approaches	O
are	O
used	O
and	O
are	O
under	O
development	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
XML	B-Protocol
markup	O
and	O
standards	O
of	O
the	O
Semantic	O
Web	O
are	O
cited	O
as	O
alternative	O
approaches	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
contrast	O
these	O
with	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
in	O
that	O
they	O
do	O
not	O
necessarily	O
coincide	O
with	O
the	O
design	O
principles	O
of	O
"	O
reduce	O
,	O
reuse	O
,	O
and	O
recycle	O
"	O
,	O
at	O
least	O
not	O
to	O
the	O
same	O
extent	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
advocate	O
of	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
,	O
Tantek	O
Çelik	O
,	O
characterized	O
a	O
problem	O
with	O
alternative	O
approaches	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
the	O
type	O
of	O
data	O
to	O
be	O
described	O
does	O
not	O
map	O
to	O
an	O
existing	O
microformat	B-General_Concept
,	O
RDFa	B-General_Concept
can	O
embed	O
arbitrary	O
vocabularies	O
into	O
HTML	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
for	O
example	O
domain-specific	O
scientific	O
data	O
such	O
as	O
zoological	O
or	O
chemical	O
data	O
for	O
which	O
there	O
is	O
no	O
microformat	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Standards	O
such	O
as	O
W3C	O
's	O
GRDDL	O
allow	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
to	O
be	O
converted	O
into	O
data	O
compatible	O
with	O
the	O
Semantic	O
Web	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
advocate	O
of	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
,	O
Ryan	O
King	O
,	O
put	O
the	O
compatibility	O
of	O
microformats	B-General_Concept
with	O
other	O
approaches	O
this	O
way	O
:	O
</s>
