Findability Blog of Jake Beachboard

We know what webcrawlers are and how they like to surf around the web in a very methordical method but is there anyway we can help the little guys out? The answer is yes search engine spiders dont pull over for directions they just run around but if your nice you can give them a sitemap. Not just the one you see on a very complex webpage but one just for them. Its a XML document that uses a specific format and it tells a spider where all it needs to go..so it wont get lost on the Jersey turnpike. To find out more information check out these links, they really are helpful

Sitemaps.org
Google xml sitemap generator
Neuroticweb sitemap

So you just spent weeks putting together an even that your site is sponsoring, it took tons of work and people are aware but wouldnt it be nice if you could sink all of the events information to the users outlook or his google calendar? Or even better a google map that syncs with his google calendar and then that syncs with his personal organizer! Wow that would be the best…well guess what you can do that, its called Microformats.

What the heck is a Microformat? Well the simple definition is its a way to format data in xml so that it is readable by all sorts of devices and services. Heres an example of a hCard microformat

<div class=”vcard”>
   <div class=”fn”>Joe Doe</div>
   <div class=”org”>The Example Company</div>
   <div class=”tel”>604-555-1234</div>
   <a class=”url” href=”http://example.com/”>http://example.com/</a>
 </div>

So as you can see its really simple and overly helpful you can check out more information on the following sites.

Microformats.org
Wikipedias Microformats Article
Wikipedias hCard article

I ran across this link while surfing slashdot. Its a great article on the troubles of the blind surfing the web. I know we have all read about it, but theres a great video on the article that actually plays a readers output. It also had a link in it on WebAIM’s Section 508 Checklist a cool little resource for us. Enjoy!