diff --git a/demo/custom-messages-metadata-demo.html b/demo/custom-messages-data-demo.html
similarity index 55%
rename from demo/custom-messages-metadata-demo.html
rename to demo/custom-messages-data-demo.html
index 1395265..4544e07 100644
--- a/demo/custom-messages-metadata-demo.html
+++ b/demo/custom-messages-data-demo.html
@@ -8,18 +8,16 @@
 
 <script src="../lib/jquery.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
 <script src="../jquery.validate.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
-<script src="../lib/jquery.metadata.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
 
 <script type="text/javascript">
 $(document).ready(function() {
-	$("#commentForm").validate({meta: "validate"});
-	$("#commentForm2").validate();
-	$("#commentForm3").validate({
+	$("#commentForm").validate();
+	$("#commentForm2").validate({
 		messages: {
 			email: {
 				required: 'Enter this!'
 			}
-		}		
+		}
 	});
 
 });
@@ -28,54 +26,41 @@ $(document).ready(function() {
 <style type="text/css">
 form { width: 500px; }
 form label { width: 250px; }
-form label.error, 
+form label.error,
 form input.submit { margin-left: 253px; }
 </style>
 
 </head>
 <body>
-	
+
 <h1 id="banner"><a href="http://bassistance.de/jquery-plugins/jquery-plugin-validation/">jQuery Validation Plugin</a> Demo</h1>
 <div id="main">
 
-<p>Take a look at the source to see how messages can be customized with metadata.</p>	
+<p>Take a look at the source to see how messages can be customized with metadata.</p>
 
-<!-- Custom messages with custom "meta" setting -->
+<!-- Custom rules and messages via data- attributes -->
 <form class="cmxform" id="commentForm" method="post" action="">
 	<fieldset>
 		<legend>Please enter your email address</legend>
 		<p>
 
 			<label for="cemail">E-Mail *</label>
-			<input id="cemail" name="email" class="{validate:{required:true, email:true, messages:{required:'Please enter your email address', email:'Please enter a valid email address'}}}"/>
+			<input id="cemail" name="email" data-rule-required="true" data-rule-email="true" data-msg-required="Please enter your email address" data-msg-email="Please enter a valid email address" />
 		</p>
 		<p>
 			<input class="submit" type="submit" value="Submit"/>
 		</p>
 	</fieldset>
 </form>
-<!-- Custom messages with default "meta" setting -->
+
+<!-- Custom message for "required" in metadata is overriden by a validate option -->
 <form class="cmxform" id="commentForm2" method="post" action="">
 	<fieldset>
 		<legend>Please enter your email address</legend>
 		<p>
 
 			<label for="cemail">E-Mail *</label>
-			<input id="cemail" name="email" class="{required:true, email:true, messages:{required:'Please enter your email address', email:'Please enter a valid email address'}}"/>
-		</p>
-		<p>
-			<input class="submit" type="submit" value="Submit"/>
-		</p>
-	</fieldset>
-</form>
-<!-- Custom message for "required" in metadata is overriden by a validate option -->
-<form class="cmxform" id="commentForm3" method="post" action="">
-	<fieldset>
-		<legend>Please enter your email address</legend>
-		<p>
-
-			<label for="cemail">E-Mail *</label>
-			<input id="cemail" name="email" class="{required:true, email:true, messages:{email:'Please enter a valid email address'}}"/>
+			<input id="cemail" name="email" data-rule-required="true" data-rule-email="true" data-msg-email="Please enter a valid email address" />
 		</p>
 		<p>
 			<input class="submit" type="submit" value="Submit"/>
@@ -85,8 +70,5 @@ form input.submit { margin-left: 253px; }
 
 <a href="index.html">Back to main page</a>
 
-<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
-<script type="text/javascript">_uacct = "UA-2623402-1";urchinTracker();</script>
-
 </body>
 </html>
diff --git a/demo/index.html b/demo/index.html
index ff8040f..cfd9241 100644
--- a/demo/index.html
+++ b/demo/index.html
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ $().ready(function() {
 <h3>Syntetic examples</h3>
 <ul>
 	<li><a href="errorcontainer-demo.html">Error message containers in action</a></li>
-	<li><a href="custom-messages-metadata-demo.html">Custom Messages as Metadata</a></li>
+	<li><a href="custom-messages-data-demo.html">Custom Messages as Element Data</a></li>
 	<li><a href="radio-checkbox-select-demo.html">Radio and checkbox buttons and selects</a></li>
 	<li><a href="ajaxSubmit-intergration-demo.html">Integration with Form Plugin (AJAX submit)</a></li>
 	<li><a href="custom-methods-demo.html">Custom methods and message display.</a></li>
diff --git a/jquery.validate.js b/jquery.validate.js
index 688720f..86b4db6 100644
--- a/jquery.validate.js
+++ b/jquery.validate.js
@@ -148,9 +148,9 @@ $.extend($.fn, {
 		var data = $.validator.normalizeRules(
 		$.extend(
 			{},
-			$.validator.metadataRules(element),
 			$.validator.classRules(element),
 			$.validator.attributeRules(element),
+			$.validator.dataRules(element),
 			$.validator.staticRules(element)
 		), element);
 
@@ -571,16 +571,6 @@ $.extend($.validator, {
 			return true;
 		},
 
-		// return the custom message for the given element and validation method
-		// specified in the element's "messages" metadata
-		customMetaMessage: function(element, method) {
-			if (!$.metadata) {
-				return;
-			}
-			var meta = this.settings.meta ? $(element).metadata()[this.settings.meta] : $(element).metadata();
-			return meta && meta.messages && meta.messages[method];
-		},
-
 		// return the custom message for the given element and validation method
 		// specified in the element's HTML5 data attribute
 		customDataMessage: function(element, method) {
@@ -607,7 +597,6 @@ $.extend($.validator, {
 			return this.findDefined(
 				this.customMessage( element.name, method ),
 				this.customDataMessage( element, method ),
-				this.customMetaMessage( element, method ),
 				// title is never undefined, so handle empty string as undefined
 				!this.settings.ignoreTitle && element.title || undefined,
 				$.validator.messages[method],
@@ -877,15 +866,16 @@ $.extend($.validator, {
 		return rules;
 	},
 
-	metadataRules: function(element) {
-		if (!$.metadata) {
-			return {};
+	dataRules: function(element) {
+		var method, value,
+			rules = {}, $element = $(element);
+		for (method in $.validator.methods) {
+			value = $element.data('rule-' + method.toLowerCase());
+			if (value !== undefined) {
+				rules[method] = value;
+			}
 		}
-
-		var meta = $.data(element.form, 'validator').settings.meta;
-		return meta ?
-			$(element).metadata()[meta] :
-			$(element).metadata();
+		return rules;
 	},
 
 	staticRules: function(element) {
@@ -935,8 +925,14 @@ $.extend($.validator, {
 			}
 		});
 		$.each(['rangelength', 'range'], function() {
+			var parts;
 			if (rules[this]) {
-				rules[this] = [Number(rules[this][0]), Number(rules[this][1])];
+				if ($.isArray(rules[this])) {
+					rules[this] = [Number(rules[this][0]), Number(rules[this][1])];
+				} else if (typeof rules[this] === 'string') {
+					parts = rules[this].split(/[\s,]+/);
+					rules[this] = [Number(parts[0]), Number(parts[1])];
+				}
 			}
 		});
 
@@ -954,11 +950,6 @@ $.extend($.validator, {
 			}
 		}
 
-		// To support custom messages in metadata ignore rule methods titled "messages"
-		if (rules.messages) {
-			delete rules.messages;
-		}
-
 		return rules;
 	},
 
diff --git a/lib/jquery.metadata.js b/lib/jquery.metadata.js
deleted file mode 100644
index ad8bfba..0000000
--- a/lib/jquery.metadata.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,122 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Metadata - jQuery plugin for parsing metadata from elements
- *
- * Copyright (c) 2006 John Resig, Yehuda Katz, J�örn Zaefferer, Paul McLanahan
- *
- * Dual licensed under the MIT and GPL licenses:
- *   http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php
- *   http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
- *
- * Revision: $Id: jquery.metadata.js 4187 2007-12-16 17:15:27Z joern.zaefferer $
- *
- */
-
-/**
- * Sets the type of metadata to use. Metadata is encoded in JSON, and each property
- * in the JSON will become a property of the element itself.
- *
- * There are three supported types of metadata storage:
- *
- *   attr:  Inside an attribute. The name parameter indicates *which* attribute.
- *          
- *   class: Inside the class attribute, wrapped in curly braces: { }
- *   
- *   elem:  Inside a child element (e.g. a script tag). The
- *          name parameter indicates *which* element.
- *          
- * The metadata for an element is loaded the first time the element is accessed via jQuery.
- *
- * As a result, you can define the metadata type, use $(expr) to load the metadata into the elements
- * matched by expr, then redefine the metadata type and run another $(expr) for other elements.
- * 
- * @name $.metadata.setType
- *
- * @example <p id="one" class="some_class {item_id: 1, item_label: 'Label'}">This is a p</p>
- * @before $.metadata.setType("class")
- * @after $("#one").metadata().item_id == 1; $("#one").metadata().item_label == "Label"
- * @desc Reads metadata from the class attribute
- * 
- * @example <p id="one" class="some_class" data="{item_id: 1, item_label: 'Label'}">This is a p</p>
- * @before $.metadata.setType("attr", "data")
- * @after $("#one").metadata().item_id == 1; $("#one").metadata().item_label == "Label"
- * @desc Reads metadata from a "data" attribute
- * 
- * @example <p id="one" class="some_class"><script>{item_id: 1, item_label: 'Label'}</script>This is a p</p>
- * @before $.metadata.setType("elem", "script")
- * @after $("#one").metadata().item_id == 1; $("#one").metadata().item_label == "Label"
- * @desc Reads metadata from a nested script element
- * 
- * @param String type The encoding type
- * @param String name The name of the attribute to be used to get metadata (optional)
- * @cat Plugins/Metadata
- * @descr Sets the type of encoding to be used when loading metadata for the first time
- * @type undefined
- * @see metadata()
- */
-
-(function($) {
-
-$.extend({
-	metadata : {
-		defaults : {
-			type: 'class',
-			name: 'metadata',
-			cre: /({.*})/,
-			single: 'metadata'
-		},
-		setType: function( type, name ){
-			this.defaults.type = type;
-			this.defaults.name = name;
-		},
-		get: function( elem, opts ){
-			var settings = $.extend({},this.defaults,opts);
-			// check for empty string in single property
-			if ( !settings.single.length ) settings.single = 'metadata';
-			
-			var data = $.data(elem, settings.single);
-			// returned cached data if it already exists
-			if ( data ) return data;
-			
-			data = "{}";
-			
-			if ( settings.type == "class" ) {
-				var m = settings.cre.exec( elem.className );
-				if ( m )
-					data = m[1];
-			} else if ( settings.type == "elem" ) {
-				if( !elem.getElementsByTagName )
-					return undefined;
-				var e = elem.getElementsByTagName(settings.name);
-				if ( e.length )
-					data = $.trim(e[0].innerHTML);
-			} else if ( elem.getAttribute != undefined ) {
-				var attr = elem.getAttribute( settings.name );
-				if ( attr )
-					data = attr;
-			}
-			
-			if ( data.indexOf( '{' ) <0 )
-			data = "{" + data + "}";
-			
-			data = eval("(" + data + ")");
-			
-			$.data( elem, settings.single, data );
-			return data;
-		}
-	}
-});
-
-/**
- * Returns the metadata object for the first member of the jQuery object.
- *
- * @name metadata
- * @descr Returns element's metadata object
- * @param Object opts An object contianing settings to override the defaults
- * @type jQuery
- * @cat Plugins/Metadata
- */
-$.fn.metadata = function( opts ){
-	return $.metadata.get( this[0], opts );
-};
-
-})(jQuery);
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/index.html b/test/index.html
index 5b85ea1..02c1667 100644
--- a/test/index.html
+++ b/test/index.html
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 	<script src="jquery.js"></script>
 	<script src="../lib/jquery.form.js"></script>
 	<script src="qunit/qunit.js"></script>
-	<script src="../lib/jquery.metadata.js"></script>
 	<script src="../lib/jquery.mockjax.js"></script>
 	<script src="../jquery.validate.js"></script>
 	<script src="../additional-methods.js"></script>
@@ -57,10 +56,10 @@
 		<ol id="empty"></ol>
 
 		<form id="testForm1">
-			<input type="text" class="{required:true,minlength:2}" title="buga" name="firstname" id="firstname" />
+			<input type="text" data-rule-required="true" data-rule-minlength="2" title="buga" name="firstname" id="firstname" />
 			<label id="errorFirstname" for="firstname" class="error">error for firstname</label>
-			<input type="text" class="{required:true}" title="buga" name="lastname" id="lastname" />
-			<input type="text" class="{required:true}" title="something" name="something" id="something" value="something" />
+			<input type="text" data-rule-required="true" title="buga" name="lastname" id="lastname" />
+			<input type="text" data-rule-required="true" title="something" name="something" id="something" value="something" />
 		</form>
 
 		<form id="testForm1clean">
@@ -71,22 +70,22 @@
 		</form>
 
 		<form id="userForm">
-			<input type="text" class="{required:true}" name="username" id="username" />
+			<input type="text" data-rule-required="true" name="username" id="username" />
 			<input type="submit" name="submitButton" value="submitButtonValue" />
 		</form>
 
 		<form id="signupForm" action="form.php">
-			<input id="user" name="user" title="Please enter your username (at least 3 characters)" class="{required:true,minlength:3}" />
-			<input type="password" name="password" id="password" class="{required:true,minlength:5}" />
+			<input id="user" name="user" title="Please enter your username (at least 3 characters)" data-rule-required="true" data-rule-minlength="3" />
+			<input type="password" name="password" id="password" data-rule-required="true" data-rule-minlength="5" />
 		</form>
 
 		<form id="testForm2">
-			<input class="{required:true}" type="radio" name="agree" id="agb" />
+			<input data-rule-required="true" type="radio" name="agree" id="agb" />
 			<label for="agree" id="agreeLabel" class="xerror">error for agb</label>
 		</form>
 
 		<form id="testForm3">
-			<select class="{required:true}" name="meal" id="meal" >
+			<select data-rule-required="true" name="meal" id="meal" >
 				<option value="">Please select...</option>
 				<option value="1">Food</option>
 				<option value="2">Milk</option>
@@ -101,22 +100,22 @@
 		</div>
 
 		<form id="testForm4">
-			<input class="{foo:true}" name="f1" id="f1" />
-			<input class="{bar:true}" name="f2" id="f2" />
+			<input data-rule-foo="true" name="f1" id="f1" />
+			<input data-rule-bar="true" name="f2" id="f2" />
 		</form>
 
 		<form id="testForm5">
-			<input class="{equalTo:'#x2'}" value="x" name="x1" id="x1" />
-			<input class="{equalTo:'#x1'}" value="y" name="x2" id="x2" />
+			<input data-rule-equalto="#x2" value="x" name="x1" id="x1" />
+			<input data-rule-equalto="#x1" value="y" name="x2" id="x2" />
 		</form>
 
 		<form id="testForm6">
-			<input class="{required:true,minlength:2}" type="checkbox" name="check" id="form6check1" />
+			<input data-rule-required="true" data-rule-minlength="2" type="checkbox" name="check" id="form6check1" />
 			<input type="checkbox" name="check" id="form6check2" />
 		</form>
 
 		<form id="testForm7">
-			<select class="{required:true,minlength:2}" name="selectf7" id="selectf7" multiple="multiple">
+			<select data-rule-required="true" data-rule-minlength="2" name="selectf7" id="selectf7" multiple="multiple">
 				<option id="optionxa" value="0">0</option>
 				<option id="optionxb" value="1">1</option>
 				<option id="optionxc" value="2">2</option>
@@ -131,12 +130,12 @@
 		</form>
 
 		<form id="testForm8">
-			<input id="form8input" class="{required:true,number:true,rangelength:[2,8]}" name="abc" />
+			<input id="form8input" data-rule-required="true" data-rule-number="true" data-rule-rangelength="2,8" name="abc" />
 			<input type="radio" name="radio1"/>
 		</form>
 
 		<form id="testForm9">
-			<input id="testEmail9" class="{required:true,email:true,messages:{required:'required',email:'email'}}" />
+			<input id="testEmail9" data-rule-required="true" data-rule-email="true" data-msg-required="required" data-msg-email="email" />
 		</form>
 
 		<form id="testForm10">
@@ -151,7 +150,11 @@
 
 		<form id="testForm12">
 			<!-- empty "type" attribute -->
-			<input name="testForm12text" id="testForm12text" class="{required:true}" />
+			<input name="testForm12text" id="testForm12text" data-rule-required="true" />
+		</form>
+
+		<form id="dataMessages">
+			<input name="dataMessagesName" id="dataMessagesName" class="required" data-msg-required="You must enter a value here" />
 		</form>
 
 		<form id="dataMessages">
@@ -256,7 +259,7 @@
 			<input id="v2-i3" name="v2-i3" class="url" />
 			<input id="v2-i4" name="v2-i4" class="required" minlength="2" />
 			<input id="v2-i5" name="v2-i5" class="required" minlength="2" maxlength="5" customMethod1="123" />
-			<input id="v2-i6" name="v2-i6" class="required customMethod2 {maxlength: 5}" minlength="2" />
+			<input id="v2-i6" name="v2-i6" class="required customMethod2" data-rule-maxlength="5" data-rule-minlength="2" />
 			<input id="v2-i7" name="v2-i7" />
 		</form>
 
diff --git a/test/rules.js b/test/rules.js
index 0b2f6d4..a8d5ac4 100644
--- a/test/rules.js
+++ b/test/rules.js
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ test("rules(), gurantee that required is at front", function() {
 		return result.join(" ");
 	}
 	equal( "required minlength", flatRules("#firstname") );
-	equal( "required maxlength minlength", flatRules("#v2-i6") );
+	equal( "required minlength maxlength", flatRules("#v2-i6") );
 	equal( "required maxlength", flatRules("#co_name") );
 
 	QUnit.reset();
diff --git a/test/test.js b/test/test.js
index c775202..269ecf7 100644
--- a/test/test.js
+++ b/test/test.js
@@ -713,7 +713,7 @@ test("validating multiple checkboxes with 'required'", function() {
 test("dynamic form", function() {
 	var counter = 0;
 	function add() {
-		$("<input class='{required:true}' name='list" + counter++ + "' />").appendTo("#testForm2");
+		$("<input data-rule-required='true' name='list" + counter++ + "' />").appendTo("#testForm2");
 	}
 	function errors(expected, message) {
 		equal(expected, v.size(), message );
@@ -856,7 +856,7 @@ test("successlist", function() {
 
 test("success isn't called for optional elements", function() {
 	expect(4);
-	equal( "", $("#firstname").removeClass().val() );
+	equal( "", $("#firstname").removeAttr("data-rule-required").removeAttr("data-rule-minlength").val() );
 	$("#something").remove();
 	$("#lastname").remove();
 	$("#errorFirstname").remove();
@@ -888,7 +888,7 @@ test("success callback with element", function() {
 
 test("all rules are evaluated even if one returns a dependency-mistmatch", function() {
 	expect(6);
-	equal( "", $("#firstname").removeClass().val() );
+	equal( "", $("#firstname").removeAttr("data-rule-required").removeAttr("data-rule-minlength").val() );
 	$("#lastname").remove();
 	$("#errorFirstname").remove();
 	$.validator.addMethod("custom1", function() {
