Safari Microformats plugin

Frequently Asked Questions

• What are Microformats?
• Why only Leopard? How about a version for Tiger?
• Safari showed a message that the plugin is incompatible with the current version. What should I do?
• Why is not all information in my Microformat being imported?
• My Microformats are being parsed incorrectly!
• How should I format my dates so they get parsed correctly?
• How can I debug?
• How do I send a bugreport?

 

 

What are Microformats?
For all your questions on what they are, how to implement them, and all their specifications: http://microformats.org. Be sure to take a look at the wiki at http://microformats.org/wiki.

 

Why only Leopard? How about a version for Tiger?
Sorry, this plugin is 10.5+ only, seeing as Obj-C 2 features are used.

 

Safari showed a message that the plugin is incompatible with the current version. What should I do?
Just wait. I follow new releases closely, and will do my best to provide you with an updated version as fast as I can. There is no real need to email me asking when the new version will be out, as the answer will always be the same: it's ready when it's ready. The more enterprising users that go mucking about in plist files must be warned that doing so will most likely set your Mac on fire.

 

Why is not all information in my Microformat being imported?
Not necessarily all information present in hCards and hCalendars maps onto the parameters of the respective objects in Address Book and iCal. In the case of hCards, I do not believe shoving everything in notes is an acceptable solution, so if you wish for Address Book to support e.g. the geo information, please tell Apple about it.

 

My Microformats are being parsed incorrectly!
That's not a question! The first thing you should do is debug the parsing. Look at the debug output and verify each step. Errors will be marked in red so you can easily spot them. If you are convinced the parser did something wrong, take a look at the Microformats wiki and locate the rule that is being violated. Next step: double check. If you are still convinced, send me a properly formatted bugreport.

 

How should I format my dates so they get parsed correctly?
To avoid all problems, make sure your dates are formed according to ISO8601 (RFC 3339).
In short, it is YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ±XX:XX

 

How can I debug?
First of all you need to enable the Debug menu in Safari. This can be done by opening the Console (/Applications/Utilities/Console.app) and typing the following:

defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 1

When you restart Safari, a debug menu will appear.
At the bottom of this menu, click on the 'Enable Microformats debugging' menu item, and reload the page containing your Microformats. A window will appear containing a dump of parser-information.
Items in green are assignments of information. Yellow items are warnings. Red items are errors, e.g. date parse errors, missing nodes, ...

 

How do I send a bugreport?
Please use the contact form to send your bugreports.
Send along the following information with it:

• The URL of the website containing the Microformats.
• A problem description.
• The vcard or vevent node and its contents:
  e.g. <div class="vcard"><span class="fn">My Incorrect hCard</span></div>
  
• The debug output.
• A link to the section on the Microformats wiki which the parser violates (if applicable).