hyperdata gem - turn hypertext from web pages into structured data (supports Feed.HTML n friends)

• home :: github.com/feedhtml/hyperdata
• bugs :: github.com/feedhtml/hyperdata/issues
• gem :: rubygems.org/gems/hyperdata
• rdoc :: rubydoc.info/gems/hyperdata
• forum :: groups.google.com/group/wwwmake

What's Feed.HTML? - A Free Feeds Format in HyperText Markup Language (HTML) w/ Structured Meta Data

What's Feed.HTML? Let's start with an example from the Microformats v2 h-entry spec:

<article class="h-entry">
  <h1 class="p-name">Microformats are amazing</h1>
  <p>Published by <a class="p-author h-card" href="http://example.com">W. Developer</a>
     on <time class="dt-published" datetime="2013-06-13 12:00:00">13<sup>th</sup> June 2013</time>
 
  <p class="p-summary">In which I extoll the virtues of using microformats.</p>
 
  <div class="e-content">
    <p>Blah blah blah</p>
  </div>
</article>

Let's try to make it simpler and easier. Why in 2017 still (re)use class for microformats / microdata? Let's use o for object types / structs / scopes and x for (object) props / property keys:

<article o=item>
  <h1 x=title>Microformats are amazing</h1>
  <p>Published by <a o=card x=author href="http://example.com">W. Developer</a>
     on <time x=published datetime="2013-06-13 12:00:00">13<sup>th</sup> June 2013</time>
 
  <p x=summary>In which I extoll the virtues of using microformats.</p>
 
  <div x=content>
    <p>Blah blah blah</p>
  </div>
</article>

Why o and x? and not let's say p and q? The idea is to use letters that are not already used in single-letter tags and that are easy to remember - think: tic-tac-toe-like ;-)

Parsed to JSON resulting in:

{
   "title": "Microformats are amazing",
   "author": "W. Developer",
   "card":   { "name": "W. Developer",
               "url":  "http://example.com"
             },
   "published": "2013-06-13 12:00:00",
   "summary": "In which I extoll the virtues of using microformats.",
   "content": "<p>Blah blah blah</p>"
}

Shortcuts / Alternatives

Use hfeed / hitem / hcard

As an alternative you can use hfeed or feed (for o=feed), hitem or item (for o=item), hcard or item (for o=card) shortcuts. Let's (re)try:

<article item>
  <h1 title>Microformats are amazing</h1>
  <p>Published by <a card author href="http://example.com">W. Developer</a>
     on <time published datetime="2013-06-13 12:00:00">13<sup>th</sup> June 2013</time>
 
  <p summary>In which I extoll the virtues of using microformats.</p>
 
  <div content>
    <p>Blah blah blah</p>
  </div>
</article>

Use "predefined" convention over configuration structures

As an alternative you can use the "recommend" predefined convention over configuration structure. Let's (re)try:

<article>
  <h1>Microformats are amazing</h1>
  <p>Published by <a href="http://example.com">W. Developer</a>
     on <time datetime="2013-06-13 12:00:00">13<sup>th</sup> June 2013</time>
 
  <p>In which I extoll the virtues of using microformats.</p>
 
  <div>
    <p>Blah blah blah</p>
  </div>
</article>

E.g.:

• Use article for your item.
• Use heading (h1) for your title.
• The first paragraph (p) for your metadata block with author and published date.
  • The first time (time) is the published date.
  • The first anchor link (a) is the author.
• Optional: The second paragraph (p) is the summary.
• The first division (div) is the content.

Usage

To be done.

License

The Feed.HTML format & conventions and the hyperdata scripts are dedicated to the public domain. Use it as you please with no restrictions whatsoever.

Questions? Comments?

Send them along to the wwwmake Forum/Mailing List. Thanks!