science

Microformat

Microformat is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Microformat rather than just read about it. In short: Microformats (μF) are predefined HTML markup (like HTML classes) created to serve as descriptive and consistent metadata about elements, designating them as representing a certain type of data (such as contact information, geographic coordinates, events, products, recipes, etc.). They allow software to process the information reliably by having set classes refer to a specific type of data rather than being arbitrary.

Microformat — illustration

Key takeaways

Microformat belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Microformat to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Microformat from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Microformats (μF) are predefined HTML markup (like HTML classes) created to serve as descriptive and consistent metadata about elements, designating them as representing a certain type of data (such as contact information, geographic coordinates, events, products, recipes, etc.). They allow software to process the information reliably by having set classes refer to a specific type of data rather than being arbitrary. Microformats emerged around 2005 and were predominantly designed for use by search engines, web syndication and aggregators such as RSS. Google confirmed in 2020 that it still parses microformats for use in content indexing. Microformats are referenced in several W3C social web specifications, including IndieAuth and Webmention. Although the content of web pages has been capable of some "automated processing" since the inception of the web, such processing is difficult because the markup elements used to display information on the web do not describe what the information means. Microformats can bridge this gap by attaching semantics, and thereby obviating other, more complicated, methods of automated processing, such as natural language processing or screen scraping. The use, adoption and processing of microformats enables data items to be indexed, searched for, saved or cross-referenced, so that information can be reused or combined. As of 2013, microformats allow the encoding and extraction of event details, contact information, social relationships and similar information. As of 2026, microformats continue to be supported by modern web browsers and search engines as part of structured data processing on web pages. However, their usage has declined in favor of more recent standards such as JSON-LD and Schema.org, which provide greater flexibility for expressing structured information. Despite this, microformats remain in use in legacy systems and are still recognized by parsers for extracting semantic information from HTML content. They continue to be referenced in various web specifications and contribute to machine-readable data extraction in HTML documents. Microformats2, abbreviated as mf2, is the updated version of microformats. Mf2 provides an easier way of interpreting HTML structured syntax and vocabularies than the earlier ways that made use of RDFa and microdata.

Background Microformats emerged around 2005 as part of a grassroots movement to make recognizable data items (such as events, contact details or geographical locations) capable of automated processing by software, as well as directly readable by end-users. Link-based microformats emerged first. These include vote links that express opinions of the linked page, which search engines can tally into instant polls. CommerceNet, a nonprofit organization that promotes e-commerce on the Internet, has helped sponsor and promote the technology and support the microformats community in various ways. CommerceNet also helped co-found the Microformats.org community site. Neither CommerceNet nor Microformats.org operates as a standards body. The microformats community functions through an open wiki, a mailing list, and an Internet relay chat (IRC) channel. Most of the existing microformats originated at the Microformats.org wiki and the associated mailing list by a process of gathering examples of web-publishing behaviour, then codifying it. Some other microformats (such as rel=nofollow and unAPI) have been proposed, or developed, elsewhere.

Technical overview XHTML and HTML standards allow for the embedding and encoding of semantics within the attributes of markup elements. Microformats take advantage of these standards by indicating the presence of metadata using the following attributes:

class Classname rel relationship, description of the target address in an anchor-element (<a href=... rel=...>...</a>) rev reverse relationship, description of the referenced document (in one case, otherwise deprecated in microformats) For example, in the text "The birds roosted at 52.48, -1.89" is a pair of numbers which may be understood, from their context, to be a set of geographic coordinates. With wrapping in spans (or other HTML elements) with specific class names (in this case geo, latitude and longitude, all part of the geo microformat specification):

Software agents can recognize exactly what each value represents and can then perform a variety of tasks such as indexing, locating it on a map and exporting it to a GPS device.

Examples In this example, the contact information is presented as follows:

With hCard microformat markup, that becomes:

Here, the formatted name (fn), organisation (org), telephone number (tel) and web address (url) have been identified using specific class names and the whole thing is wrapped in class="vcard", which indicates that the other classes form an hCard (short for "HTML vCard") and are not merely coincidentally named. Other, optional, hCard classes also exist. Software, such as browser plug-ins, can now extract the information, and transfer it to other applications, such as an address book.

Specific microformats Several microformats have been developed to enable semantic markup of particular types of information. However, only hCard and hCalendar have been ratified, the others remaining as drafts:

hAtom (superseded by h-entry and h-feed) – for marking up Atom feeds from within standard HTML hCalendar – for events hCard – for contact information; includes: adr – for postal addresses geo – for geographical coordinates (latitude, longitude) hMedia – for audio/video content hAudio – for audio content hNews – for news content hProduct – for products hRecipe – for recipes and foodstuffs. hReview – for reviews rel-directory – for distributed directory creation and inclusion rel-enclosure – for multimedia attachments to web pages rel-license – specification of copyright license rel-nofollow, an attempt to discourage third-party content spam (e.g. spam in blogs) rel-tag – for decentralized tagging (Folksonomy) XHTML Friends Network (XFN) – for social relationships XOXO – for lists and outlines

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Microformat

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Microformat claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Microformat before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Microformat ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Microformat

In research: Microformat appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Microformat in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Microformat is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Knowledge representation, Microformats, Semantic HTML, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Microformat outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Microformat in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Microformat means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Microformat out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Microformat in simple terms?

Why does Microformat matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Microformat?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Microformat.