Microsummaries are regularly-updated compilations of the most important and timely information on web pages. For example:

• the current stock price and movement for a company profile: “GOOG: 406.74 + 0.58”
• the latest headline for a news site: “BBC: US dismisses Iran attack claims”
• the highest bid and time remaining for an auction item: “Godzilla DVD: $15 / 2 minutes left”

Microsummaries work better than titles as labels for pages in many situations, because they give users quicker and simpler access to timely updates while giving sites a way to entice users to visit them for more details.

In this session, I’ll demonstrate how Firefox will incorporate microsummaries into its UI, starting with bookmark labels. I’ll also explain how both sites and extension authors can build microsummaries for pages using XSLT stylesheets or simple profiles of the RSS/Atom specs, and I’ll describe future directions for microsummaries in both browser UI and on the web.