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Re: address tag

for

From: Tim Beadle
Date: Feb 19, 2007 12:20PM

On 19/02/07, Jukka K. Korpela < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> No, because ridiculing is one way of propagating the idea that
> microformats are a wrong idea, similar to emperor's new clothes.

In your opinion. I offer an alternative view. I did a little digging,
and the accessibility of microformats is an issue that has not been
ignored.

Here is an example of an accessibility benefit of microformats, at
least in theory:
"*Accessibility Benefits*

For a disabled user, filling out a form can be a long and tedious job.
Depending on their input device, whether it be a keyboard,
voice-recognition, on-screen keyboard or whatever else, entering the
data manually can be quite time consuming. Also, their ability to spot
and correct errors may not be as fast as a non-disabled person, so the
less manual data entry required each time, the better.

Additionally, someone with a cognitive disability may have difficulty
understanding what some fields are asking for (especially if you've used
some obscure label text they're not used to) and thus make it hard to
complete. If the UA could understand the field, it could help explain
it or fill it out for them.

It would be so much quicker easier for them if their UA could either
pre-fill most of the form for them or just submit a vCard/hCard. For
the latter option, a user wouldn't even have to know what a vCard or
hCard was, their UA could recognise the accepted MIME type
(text/directory) and ask them to select a name from their address book,
which would then implicitly select (or generate) the right vCard."

-- http://microformats.org/discuss/mail/microformats-discuss/2006-September/005984.html

> No, because it is the moral responsibility of proponents of the
> microformats idea to demonstrate its practical usefulness, if they can.

I've tried to demonstrate some of that practical usefulness, but I'm
really only a beginner.

I think, however, that if you enter the argument negatively, calling
the (really rather excellent) work of the Microformats community
"microbabble", there's a fair chance that you will *never* see any
worth there because of your prejudiced viewpoint.

If you think that Microformats are broken, then get involved and help
fix them rather than standing on the sidelines.

> In
> particular, if microformats are suggested as a means of improving
> accessibility, the proof of their usefulness should demonstrate how they
> actually help disabled users. So far, only _negative_ effects (such as
> confusing people with nonsensical title attributes) have been described.

So see above for a positive example.

Best regards,

Tim