- From: Liam R. E. Quin <liam@fromoldbooks.org>
- Date: Tue, 15 Dec 2020 16:39:36 -0500
- To: "W3C Credentials CG (Public List)" <public-credentials@w3.org>
On Tue, 2020-12-15 at 10:15 +0000, George Lund wrote: > > Clarity of language is even more important when communicating with > people whose first language isn't English, not less so - the > "symbols" thing is just wrong I think. In any given situation there are likely to be places where Dave Winer's "rules" don't apply. He was writing for a particular sort of standardisation (of RSS) at a particular time. When it comes to language and clarity, a lot depends on the state of maturity of the tech being standardized. A new spec needs adoption, or it helps no-one. So, the shorter and eaiser to read the spec, the better. Later on, when there are multiple implementations, increasing interpoerablity is often more important than increasing adoption, and then you need a spec that uses more precise language. At that point, it becomes important to introduce each section very clearly before getting into the previse wording. This is one reason why i always advised Working Groups to steer clear of a "primer": you hear people say, "Oh, we can explain tha tin the primer later" and write incomprehensible prose. But if a spec needs a primer, it sounds more complex to outsiders, too. Instead, make the spec itself include clear prose. Liam -- Liam Quin, https://www.delightfulcomputing.com/ Available for XML/Document/Information Architecture/XSLT/ XSL/XQuery/Web/Text Processing/A11Y training, work & consulting. Barefoot Web-slave, antique illustrations: http://www.fromoldbooks.org
Received on Tuesday, 15 December 2020 21:40:11 UTC