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IndieWeb Microformats blog adjustments

So... this IndieWeb thing is pretty cool.

This morning I spent a few hours (yes that's right hours), putting microformats onto this blog.

It wasn't very difficult, or the first time I'd worked with microformats, but it was the first time I really understood them.

  • classes starting with p-* are meant to be text-only, or will be read that way
  • classes starting with h-* are meant to be a container for a single entry
  • classes starting with dt-* are meant to be a container for a datetime information
  • classes starting with u-* are meant to be a container for urls
  • classes starting with e-* are meant to be raw HTML

This was actually spelled out in an excellent article I recommend you read Getting started with microformats2

Minor grumble

Part of me is very unhappy that we should need to add more markup to websites to have machines parse them better. As an alternative I would prefer common markup patterns which do not clutter class names. I was already using article for my posts. Perhaps I should post headers with a single link, title etc using tags.

I'm also upset about the HTML centricity of the IndieWeb. I've been writing HTML for over 20 years now and being paid to in-part generate and deliver HTML for over 17 of those years. It always felt like a stepping stone to me. Projects using SAX a Java XML technology have been working on compressing XML for years. This appeals to my fondness for efficiency.

Ultimately size affects speed, and portability. Sure I have a <50W rPi4 which can run even the single-page monstrosity the startup I work for made; but I like to think we will continue to refine things which took a lot of resources to explore, so that the developing world can join in, and we can spend those savings on new exploration(s).

Future improvements

I have the most pathetic bare-bones implementation of micro-formats for a blog which right now is text.

  • I'm going to roll my own CMS like it's 2004
  • I'm going to look to bring in some projects
  • I have aspirations for pictures and diagrams

Thanks for reading. Until next time.

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