If the goal is to automate distributing production information, then XML is sufficient. I thought a 'microformat' was meant to be an overlay on narrative text - like a highlighter with a color dedicated to 'product info'. I could be wrong - who knows the purpose of microformats as compared to simply using XML? There are several book related formats - UIEE for example (but that isn't XML) [1] - and there is UBL for 'business documents' [2] but I don't know if they have a 'product' format.
[1] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/1161336/103-3996345-0333429 [2] http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=ubl > About the need for a UPI: While it's true that it's important to identify a > product uniquely, once you've specified the part number and/or the > description as well as the manufacturer's name you've uniquely ID'd the > part, since it's rare that a manufacturer duplicates its own part names or > numbers. Well, not everything has a manufacturer, the manufacturer's name isn't necessarily unique, manufacturers do actually re-use and have duplicate part numbers. And the same product can have a UPC, EAN, manufacturer and part number - anyone could use any of these to reference the product. Then you get into issues of similarity, like after-market manufacturers of 'compatible' or 'equivalent' products - wouldn't it be nice to know those relationships? Anyway, something that mostly works is infinitely better than not having a system at all. _______________________________________________ microformats-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://microformats.org/mailman/listinfo/microformats-discuss
