Simplify the text and separate the W3C politics

This is in response to a request for comments on "The Architecture of the 
World Wide Web" Working Draft 9 December 2003 
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-webarch-20031209/>.

The document could be split into a smaller one which just describes the 
architecture and a larger one which gives the explanation and justification.

The language used could be simplified up to make the document shorter and 
easier to understand. For example it is not necessary to refer to "this 
travel scenario" within the example used, as the reader will see that from 
the context. There is no reason to detail more than once that a request 
will return a "representation of the resource".

Much of the justification for the architecture in the document is difficult 
to understand on its own. It appears to be a byproduct of an internal W3C 
debate over where the web should go. It would be better if that debate 
happened outside the standards-type document.

However, the real test of such a document is how useful it is in practice. 
As an example in 2003 I taught students at the Australian National 
University how to design iMode web pages 
<http://www.tomw.net.au/2004/wd.html#L1198>. In 2004 I was thinking of 
showing them how to do XHTML-MP web pages. Will the "The Architecture of 
the World Wide Web" help decide if XHTML-MP is a useful technology? Will it 
help in designing better wireless web technology?



Tom Worthington FACS tom.worthington@tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd ABN: 17 088 714 309
http://www.tomw.net.au PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617
Visiting Fellow, Computer Science, Australian National University
Publications Director, Australian Computer Society

Received on Tuesday, 30 December 2003 18:41:08 UTC