[Bug 17450] New: This specification is bloody awful. It looks like it's been designed for the subset of computer programmers that get off on the sort of jargon-ridden computer documentation that only other hardcore computer programmers can read. In more everyday language

https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=17450

           Summary: This specification is bloody awful. It looks like it's
                    been designed for the subset of computer programmers
                    that get off on the sort of jargon-ridden computer
                    documentation that only other hardcore computer
                    programmers can read.  In more everyday language
           Product: HTML WG
           Version: unspecified
          Platform: Other
               URL: http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/#top
        OS/Version: other
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P3
         Component: HTML Microdata (editor: Ian Hickson)
        AssignedTo: ian@hixie.ch
        ReportedBy: contributor@whatwg.org
         QAContact: public-html-bugzilla@w3.org
                CC: mike@w3.org, public-html-wg-issue-tracking@w3.org,
                    public-html@w3.org


Specification: http://dev.w3.org/html5/md/
Multipage: http://www.whatwg.org/C#top
Complete: http://www.whatwg.org/c#top

Comment:
This specification is bloody awful.

It looks like it's been designed for the subset of computer programmers that
get off on the sort of jargon-ridden computer documentation that only other
hardcore computer programmers can read. 

In more everyday language, this is what's known as "programmer-wank".

Writing webpages is no longer an activity confined to the ranks of people with
degrees in cybernetics. Little old ladies now write webpages to advertise
their church fairs. If you want those people to write webpages that are more
search-engine friendly, and that use more metadata, then you have to make an 
effort to make both the code and the documentation more readable and more
accessible to a wider public. So far, this microdata effort fails miserably in
that respect.  

"This section is non-normative". ??? 
If people can't write clear English, using a reasonable vocabulary, then they
probably shouldn't be writing webpages for the public. And if they don't
understand how to use language in a way that most people can understand, then
they probably shouldn't be defining specifications and standards for how
information is communicated.

The web badly needs a microdata standard, but this isn't it. You should
probably tear it up and start again. Next time, please try to do it properly,
otherwise we'll just have to abandon the W3C and hand the job over to an
outside party.

Posted from: 188.29.112.212
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Received on Saturday, 9 June 2012 09:30:12 UTC