The document discusses how adding semantic markup like microformats to web content can make it more meaningful to machines and improve search engine optimization. It provides examples of how standards like hCalendar and hCard can be used to semantically tag events and contact information. Implementing microformats transforms a website into a readable API that allows other applications to retrieve and reuse the structured data.

1. Microformats Workshop 101 Improving SEO Maintaining & improving competitive advantage Future-proofing our sites Long-term cost-savings Preparing for the semantic web

2. In the beginning….

3. Location, location, location X X X Content, Content, Content Words Images Sound Music Flash files Videos The Web is about content, content, content and that content is increasingly dynamic and interactive, with users being given more opportunities to control and manipulate that content. What we’ll learn to today is why the rallying cry “Content, content, content” is inseparable from another rallying cry “Standards, standards, standards.”

4. Sidebar on standards Of railroad tracks and refrigerators…. Point: standards and lack of agreement on standards isn’t new or peculiar to IT.

5. Semantic Web Information overload – for users, for search engines, for apps "… most information on the Web is designed for human consumption, and … the structure of the data is not evident to a robot browsing the web. … the Semantic Web approach instead develops languages for expressing information in a machine processable form.“ -- Tim Berners-Lee From the Semantic Web road map: http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/Semantic.html Web 3.0? The name is controversial, probably because people became disillusioned with the way Web 2.0’s meaning was diluted or outright undermined.

6. What is the semantic web? The focus on standards-based Web design to improve our ability to make sense of all that content. Using technologies and markup language to make it easier to find, organize, and repurpose information users find on the Web Content, content, content requires standards, standards, standards The semantic web is about making the content more meaningful. Let’s revisit my old chest nut, the phrase, “A man with a bone.” what meaning(s) are conjured up by the phrase?

7. Man with a bone Some people might say, “Oh, that’s just semantics.” By that they mean trivial. Bu this isn’t trivial at all when with think of the use cases. Consider: WHO or who? Manhattan (city) or Manhattan (drink) or Manhattan (Sunseeker model)?

8. How does it mean? With Semantic Markup It’s also called HTML or, more properly, (X)HTML (X)HTML gives structure and meaning to content Sometimes, developers might use the word “tags” <img> image <p> paragraph <cite> citation <h1> heading <p> paragraph <em> emphasize <strong> strong emphasis <ul> unordered list <li> list item <button> button <address> address <abbr> abbreviation (WHO/who?) <dl> definition list <dt> defines item in dl <dd>describes item in dl <blockquote> quotation

9. an interview transcript classified advertisement a product review a book review a product listing a product price or price range a name, an address, a business location classified ad listing a video or movie contact information: phone #, hours, geo location an event listing In HTML 4 there are about 50 elements to describe what our content means. Maybe 50 sufficed in 1995, but it doesn't now, especially if we want to get much more granular to describe page content:

10. In order to create more granularity to the structure and meaning of pages, we could rewrite (X)HTML

11. 1998: HTML4 published by W3C W3C focus XHTML(2) No-one maintains HTML 2004: WHATWG formed Mission: improve and extend HTML Work begins on what will become HTML5 2007: W3C HTML WG reactivated Adopts and continues WHATWG work ( Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group ) will be years before HTML5 will be widely adopted This week in HTML5 lampoons the HTML5 Working Group, http://lastweekinhtml5.blogspot.com/ -- funny and foul-mouthed http://lastweekinhtml5.blogspot.com/2009/10/for-honor-of-our-leaders-glorious.html

12. The microformat movement emerged to extend existing (X)HTML. (X)HTML was designed to be extensible. Instead of an entire rewrite of (X)HTML, address specific problems (usually business and/or communication needs) and create a MICRO format.

13. Calendars & Business Cards

14. Microformats meet business/communication needs: Probably the most widely implemented microformats that you may have encountered is the ability to add an event to your calendar (Apple’s iCal, Google’s Calendar, Outlook’s Calendar) vCards in email or hCards on a Web page According to Yahoo! SearchMonkey , there are 1,450,000,000 web pages that publish hCard and 36,200,000 pages marked up with hCalendar

15. Sites using hCalendar Mapquest is implementing microformats such as hCard, hCalendar, and Geolocation http://blog.mapquest.com/2008/09/25/microformat-support-on-mapquest-local/ Yahoo! Upcoming Events Calendar - http:// upcoming.yahoo.com / Eventful - http://eventful.com/ Barcamps - http://barcamp.org/#BarCamps Meetup.com - http://www.meetup.com/ Classic Car Events - http://autopendium.com/events Southern West Virginia's Calendar of Events - http:// www.visitwv.com /events-calendar Wayne State University Events Calendar - http:// events.wayne.edu / PHP.net - http:// www.php.net /conferences/ Used in Firefox plugsin, Drupal, Dreamweaver plugins, Technorati

16. For sports fans…. World Cup Kickoff http:// www.worldcupkickoff.com / Lifehackers first promoted this tool, a story later picked up by Yahoo! News. Mon May 22, 4:00 PM ET The World Cup, one of the world's most watched sporting events, is almost upon us. If you've ever tried to follow your favorite team through the Cup you know that it can sometimes be difficult to know when they're on. World Cup Kickoff can help. World Cup KickOff is all you will ever need for knowing all the match details for the upcoming World Cup 2006. Whether you use your mobile phone, MS Outlook, Apple iCal or Mozilla Calendar, you can download and keep all the fixtures you are interested in so you will never miss a single game! Next tip? We'll show you how to get up at 2 AM to watch your matches.

17. hCalendar code example <div class = &quot; vevent &quot;> <h5 class = &quot; summary &quot;> Refresh Hampton Roads Monthly Meeting</h5> <div>posted on <abbr class = &quot; dtstamp &quot; title=“20091101T1300Z&quot;>November 1, 2009 </abbr> </div> <div>Date: <abbr class = &quot; dtstart &quot; title=“20001103T180000Z&quot;>November 3, 2009, 18:00 EST</abbr> - <abbr class = &quot; dtend &quot; title = “20001103T190000Z&quot;>20:00 EST </abbr> </div> <div>This meeting is <strong class = &quot;class&quot;>public</strong>.</div> <div>Filed under:</div> <ul> <li class=&quot; category &quot;>Business</li> <li class=&quot; category &quot;>Technology</li> <li class=&quot; category &quot;>Design</li> <li class=&quot; category &quot;>Usability</li> <li class=&quot; category &quot;>Web Standards</li> </ul> </div>

18. Refresh Hampton Roads Monthly Meeting posted on November 1, 2009 Date: November 3, 2009 18:00 - 20:00 EST This meeting is public. Filed under: Business Technology Design Usability Web Standards

19. hCard Adds structure and meaning to contact information. Business card-like information is automatically extracted and imported into users’ address books. It can be made available to third party apps. Technorati's Contacts Feeds Service Operator Plug-in for Firefox Tails Export Plug-in for Firefox Oomph Microformats Toolkit

20. Microformats are designed for humans first, machines second are a simple, open data format extend already existing, agreed upon standards development starts with POSH – P lain O ld S emantic H TML allow for publishing and sharing information in structured, meaningful ways “ enable users to own, control, move and share their data on the web.“ -- according to Emily Lewis, a microformat evangelist who’s written Microformats Made Simple , mircoformats are meant:

21. Practical results: By marking up content with microformats, the content can be described meaningfully: <div class = “ vevent ”> <abbr class = “ dtstamp ”> <abbr class = “ dtstart ”> When extracted or retrieved by a machine, that machine can organize information in ways understandable and usable by people – because the markup’s more meaningful Markup, new and improved with more meaning! In popular buzz, it is what’s behind the ‘semantc web’ which is sometimes called Web 3.0 Microformats transform a web site into a read only API

22. A read only API? We publish a site once with (X)HTML enhanced by microformats Using the hooks provided by microformats, the content can be converted into any other format that might be needed. There’s no need to create and maintain separate data files for machine data or exchange (e.g., no need for separately maintained XML feeds, RSS feeds, Atom feeds, JSON, etc. Instead, if a third party wants to data or information, they just use an existing converter or write their own. It’s a standard – a lingua franca – that emerged like the original lingua franca from trade and exchange Optimus - http://microformatique.com/optimus/

23. The Benefits Enhances user experience Improved SEO; better search results; may even be able to use microformat hooks to improve our search Encouraging standards and consistency reduces development time Simple format – no steep learning curve No need for special technologies Makes data accessible; enables sharing and re-use of structured data Does not duplicate effort (RSS feeds duplicate existing (X)HTML displays)

24. Who Benefits (and how) Managers : standards streamline dev process; SEO improvements Designers : simple to learn; not daunting technology; styling is easy using existing CSS Developers : less time deciding what to name thing or how to mark up content and more time writing the styles Content authors : makes content more meaningful Users : enhances UX; improves search; plugins and third party apps built to make organizing data easier

25. Get on the bandwagon

26. Already being used by: Apple’s Webmail Digg Dreamweaver Drupal Eventful Facebook Firefox extensions Flickr People; Flickr geo-tagged photos Google’s search uses Rich Snippets rel-nofollow is a microformat dev’d by google Google Maps; Blogger; Last.fm LinkedIn Livejournal and LJfind Intel’s Mashmaker Movable type blogging software Oodle Salesforce Technorati Events, Contacts, Tagging Twitter Upcoming.org Microsoft Windows Livewriter Wordpress Yahoo! Local Yahoo UK Movies

27. In search Google’s long adopted microformats in google local, maps. This year, Google started using microformats to display “Rich Snippets” Custom Search:

28. What we’re already doing The link rel=“nofollow” microformat

29. Widely implemented microformats we could use Another relationship would be link rel = “tag” By adding rel = &quot;tag&quot; to a hyperlink, a page indicates that the destination of that hyperlink is an author-designated &quot;tag&quot; (or keyword/subject) for the current page. Rel (relationship) tags make the content more meaningful and, therefore, make it easier to do content-specific searching. Already in use: Technorati Tags http:// technorati.com /tag/ Operator Plug-in for Firefox https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4106

30. rel = “prev” and rel = next” < previous > 2 < next > Google rel = “canonical” to deal with the problem of duplicate content Rel = “home” – to indicate which is the home page Rel = “license” – to link to a copy of the license for a site, its content, etc.

31. Blogging platforms and social media are using XFN (X)HTML Friends Network - a set of relationship defining links to other people’s web pages Me Identity Muse | Crush | Date | Sweetheart Romantic Child | Parent | Sibling | Spouse | Kin Family Co-resident | Neighbor Geographical Co-worker | Colleague Professional Met Physical Friend | Acquaintance | Contact Relationship

32. hAtom and blogs The hAtom schema consists of the following: hfeed ( hfeed ). optional. feed category . optional. keywords or phrases, using rel -tag . hentry ( hentry ). entry-title . required. text. entry-content . optional (see field description). text. [*] entry-summary . optional. text. updated . required using datetime -design-pattern . [*] published . optional using datetime -design-pattern . author . required using hCard . [*] bookmark (permalink). optional, using rel -bookmark . tags. optional. keywords or phrases, using rel -tag .

33. hListing listing action: sell | rent | trade | meet | announce | offer | wanted | event | service Lister: using hCard microformat: (full name || email || url || telephone) Dtlisted: date listed Dtexpired: date expired Price: Item Info: optional uses: fn || url || photo || geo || adr | // Uses hCard microformat if it’s for person or business Summary: summary of the item listed. Description: description of item listed. Item tags: keywords or phrases describing the item being offered, using rel -tag microformat. Permalink: permanent link to the listing (is not intended to expire).

34. For Developers: First, you start with content Miz Thang Drama for Divas Unlimited http://www.mizthang.com Atlanta, GA 30301 [email_address] What is the basic structure and meaning:

35. POSHify You work from the content, out, add valid and semantic markup: <dl> <dt> Miss Thang </dt> <dd> <ul> <li> <a href=&quot;http://www.mizthang.com&quot;> Drama for Divas Unlimited </a> </li> <li> Atlanta, GA 30301 </li> <li> <a href=&quot;mailto:mizthang@mizthang.com&quot;> mizthang @mizthang.com </a> </li> </ul> </dd> </dl>

36. vCardize <dl class=“ vcard ”> <dt class=“ fn ”>Miss Thang</dt> <dd> <ul> <li> <a class = “ url ” href=&quot;http://www.mizthang.com&quot;> Drama for Divas Unlimited </a> </li> <li class=“ adr ”><span class=“ locality ”>Atlanta</span>, <abrr class=“ region ” title=“ Georgia ”>GA</abbr> <span class=“ postal-code ”>30301</span></li> <li> <a class=“ email ” href=&quot;mailto:mizthang@mizthang.com&quot;> [email_address] </a> </li> </ul> </dd> </dl>

37. The purpose – so content can be read and understood by people, but can also be retrieved and extracted by machines for the purposes of indexing, searching for, saving, cross-referencing that information for people. are designed for humans first, machines second are a simple, open data format extend already existing, agreed upon standards development starts with POSH – P lain O ld S emantic H TML allow for publishing and sharing information in structured, meaningful ways “ enable users to own, control, move and share their data on the web.“ -- according to Emily Lewis, a microformat evangelist who’s written Microformats Made Simple

38. Resources The Microformats Wiki, www.microformats.org Microformatique – microformat blog @ http://microformatique.com/ @microformats on Twitter -- http://twitter.com/microformats @microformateers on Twitter – http://twitter.com/microformateers Microformats Role Play – http:// visitmix.com /Articles/Microformats-Role-Play Getting Semantic with Microformats – http://ajaxian.com/archives/getting-semantic-with-microformats-series-by-emily-lewis Update on Rich Snippets -- http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/10/help-us-make-web-better-update-on-rich.html Webpatterns -- naming conventions and patterns for the Web: http://www.webpatterns.org/ Semantic Class Names (several articles and resources) -- http:// microformats.org /wiki/semantic-class-names Microformat Transformer -- http:// microformatique.com/optimus / Web 3.0 -- http://webr3.org/blog/featured/preparing-yourself-for-web-3-0-lod-and-2010/ Microformat University -- http://www.virtualhosting.com/blog/2008/microformats-university-100-articles-and-resources/ Microformats: Empowering Your Markup for Web 2.0 - John Allsopp Microformats Made Simple by Emily Lewis