Microformats bring standardization in small baby steps

While the semantic web grand vision has been somewhat an academic exercise, microformats are creating easy ways for sites to share information in a fluid, flexible, and distributed way. I have just finished trying out Yahoo Search Monkey. It is cool and very easy to create custom searches that pull microformat data directly into the search results. This creates a customized look and provides the search results recipient with more helpful information which will only increase the likelihood that they visit your site.

Here is a sample XOXO list in microformats that details some of the benefits:

1. SEO
   
   
   
   1. More precise searches
   
   
   2. Faceted search
   
   
   3. More meaningful search result display data
   
   
   
   


2. Integration with other programs
   
   
   
   1. Add to my calendar
   
   
   
   


3. Better browsing
   
   
   
   1. Firefox 3 provides easy API for adding and operating on microformats
   
   
   2. IE 8 uses hAtom for Web Slices and promises more microformat support as well.
   
   
   
   

Another example is the hDITA work at Lotus Information 2.0 Web Site