HTML5 Developers: Starter on Microdata

Webmonkey provides a nice little explanation of what microdata is, plus a very good example and a link to data-vocabulary.org, a good starting point for ensuring that search spiders don't lose the plot.

SEO: still important, and be glad. The roadmaps that exist today are sufficiently rich that it doesn't have to feel like alchemy.

On Mending the Marketing and Tech Divide

Here's an article for marketers about learning how to relate to your tech team.

The chief operating officer of Watershed Publishing -- a big tech geek -- wrote the first draft. It was hilarious; I read it and thought, "This is a laundry list of things he hates about me!"

But the dude makes some solid points. I honestly think the fractured marketer/dev/designer relationship in most office settings is a topic that needs addressing, especially as sophisticated interactive technology has become a de facto expectation of brand websites and online campaigns.

There's a universe of (actively-maintained) difference in the spheres where marketing and tech work; from experience, it's hard finding people willing to breach the divide.

This is counterproductive hubris crap. When working with interactive media, marketers must make an effort to get geeky (read: more tech-savvy). This will make them better marketers. On the other hand, engineers should also feel compelled to nurture their own creativity. This makes them more competitive assets.

One day at DriversEd.com, after getting the usual pushback from the senior engineer, I spat out, "Why don't you ATTEND OUR MEETINGS so you can tell us what can't be done before we've laid out a game plan!"

He smiled, shuffled a deck of cards between his hands and answered, "Because I like the way it feels to say no after your hopes have been ignited."

Funny guy.

Marketers, devs and designers: we live in the same world now. Deal with it.