Touch-phone coolness bringing you closer to clients
OK, I've not tested this on iPhone yet because I don't have one. But if you do, try navigating to the profile page for Derby Energy Performance Certificates (just randomly chosen - all profiles now feature this technology) and see if this works.
What you should (hopefully) notice is the ability to click/touch the phone number on the page, and have the phone call it (I don't expect you to do this, obviously - not unless you're offering him work anyway).
It should also be possible to "scoop" the contact details into an address book automatically.
hCard microformat
I don't intend to bore you with the tech-speak underlying all this, but hCard is a "HTML card". When a browser (or other application) encounters the code, it will enable various features to utilise the information in various ways, such as display the address in Google Maps for instance.
There is a growing family of other microformats available too, such as hCalendar. This one allows you to import an event directly into your calendar.
Not just for mobile phones
These days, mobile phones are the new laptop. There are around 3-4 times more of them than even desktop PCs. The current generation hitting the market are, without doubt, moving the web from the desktop, into your greasy mitts. That's why I felt it was important to look into this - the mobile internet cannot be ignored.
But this is not just for mobile phones: the next version of Internet Explorer (IE 8) - currently in beta testing - will have this technology built-in too, which means a much wider audience familiar with the technology in the not-too-distant future.
Maybe one day we'll see a microformat developed for the Energy Performance Certificate!
Anyway, I hope this new feature helps those of you listed within the DEA directory.
