online store microformat: schema.org vs. hproduct

[Tonearm]

I used the hproduct microformat to mark up my product pages a while back. I just got up to speed on schema.org and I'm wondering if there is any current benefit to switching from hproduct to schema.org?

The biggest difference I can see that could have an impact for an online store is schema.org's ability to mark up multiple products on a single page. However, I don't think Google puts that to use currently. Some of the "WebPage" stuff could also be interesting but I don't think Google is using it yet.

[tedster]

Some of the "WebPage" stuff could also be interesting but I don't think Google is using it yet.

I haven't seen evidence of Google using it either. It's clear they would like to, but they may be waiting for more websites to adopt the schema.org tags first.

[Tonearm]

Thanks tedster. Are microdata/microformats currently used in any way for a typical online store besides review/price/availability rich snippets for product pages?

[Tonearm]

Does anyone know if HTML5 is required for schema.org?

[tedster]

Microdata is a set of tags, introduced with HTML5, that allows you to do this.

[schema.org...]

However, as long as your mark-up doesn't depend on quirks mode for rendering in the browser window, then you should just be able to change the DTD and everything is backwards-compatible.

[Tonearm]

as long as your mark-up doesn't depend on quirks mode for rendering in the browser window, then you should just be able to change the DTD and everything is backwards-compatible.

Great news. Does that go for XHTML 1.0 Transitional? Any reason to not switch to HTML5?