Remove Microformat Classes from CSS

[davidakennedy]

I wanted to create an issue to fix some of the issues related to errors with structured data.

We talked about these issues as a team, and adding extensive support for Microformats 2 or Schema.org through microdata or RDFa doesn't make much sense because of:

• _s being a starter theme, and it's hard to know what kind of theme will be built with it. So any support we add may be incomplete.
• Adding additional classes or attributes pollutes the markup and creates issues when people use the classes for styling.
• It's difficult because Core may/may not add additional support and help for structured data.

Going forward:

• Let's remove any Microformat-related classes from the Sass/CSS to discourage theme authors from using the classes.
• Point theme authors toward JSON-LD, which allows for adding support for structured data outside of template files or CSS. See this page from Google on the topic.

PRs welcome on removing all Microformat classes from the Sass/CSS files.

Related issues and PRs for reference:

844

860

930

1065

1113

[dshanske]

I disagree with this decision, but based on it, I strenuously object to endorsing JSON-LD as it is inconsistent. If you want to make this statement, it should be that _s will have no structured markup of any sort and that is to be added to any theme developed on it by the theme author.

[davidakennedy]

Thanks for speaking up, @dshanske!

I disagree with this decision, but based on it, I strenuously object to endorsing JSON-LD as it is inconsistent.

How is it inconsistent? That would help me understand better.

If you want to make this statement, it should be that _s will have no structured markup of any sort and that is to be added to any theme developed on it by the theme author.

Would be fine with that. I wasn't intended to add it to any official docs.

[dshanske]

Deciding that you will remove all structured markup but then recommending a different type of markup. I would rather if you are going in that direction, that you make the statement that structured markup is up to the individual who creates the theme based on _s.

[grappler]

@dshanske How is JSON-LD inconsistent? It seems like Yoast SEO thinks it is OK. https://yoast.com/json-ld/

[dshanske]

@grappler I think you meant me. But, I'm saying it is inconsistent with the decision not to support structured data. If you are rejecting one over the other, I would object.

[grappler]

I think you meant me. But, I'm saying it is inconsistent with the decision not to support structured data.

Yes, sorry. Ah I thought you meant JSON-LD was inconsistent and not the decision to point theme authors toward JSON-LD.

Deciding that you will remove all structured markup but then recommending a different type of markup.

We are not removing the structured markup but removing the use of the classes from the CSS. The only change that is required is to remove .hentry from the CSS and replace it with .post,.page. I hope that clarifies it a bit.

[miklb]

Is this still planned?