Microformats take a step forward

If you have any interest in the semantic web, then you might be familiar with microformats. This method of embedding metadata within the XHTML and HTML of web documents has had a number of challenges over the years. The two major issues the microformat community has had to contend with are accessibility and localization.  

The microformats community has announced the alpha draft of a standard that they hope will solve both of these issues. Born from the value excerpting feature of hCard, value class patterns allow users to directly specify which part of the microformat pertains to the value, as opposed to definitions, labels and so on.

Those who are unfamiliar with microformats would be wise to at least read up on the basics of this semantic web technology, as it may become crucial to your SEO efforts in the future.

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