micmath blog

John Resig mentions the recent discussion at the BBC regarding some of the issues with Microformats. I know it wasn't a discussion that was undertaken lightly: there are many developers at The Beeb who are passionate about standards, accessibility and Microformats.

The important point to remember here is that, unlike nearly every other commercial company, publically-funded organizations such as the BBC are mandated to make their content as accessible as possible.

So what happens when a screen reader sees an example of a Microformat date like this?

Am I childish because I am looking forward to a big party on
<abbr class="date" title="2008-07-16T13:06:00EST">my birthday</abbr>?

Apparently some will read out that long string of numbers in the title. It's hard to fault them, it is labeled a "title" after all. But it's not being used as a title here, and the phrase isn't even an abbreviation. Hopefully this discussion will inspire a more accessible solution.

Edit: Seems the BBC are looking into the RDFa format while the Microformats people debate what to do about their dates.