Review of Media Type Specifications and Registration Procedures - draft-freed-media-type-regs-00

Dear authors,

This is a review of the Media Type Specifications and Registration
Procedures - draft-freed-media-type-regs-00 [1] document.

3.1: The abbreviation "IESG" (for Internet Engineering Steering Group)
was not introduced. While it's well-known, it might still make sense
to introduce it.

3.1: One occurrence of "can't" should be replaced by "cannot" for
consistency reasons.

3.2: It is unclear who "they" are in "Changes to the specification
will be made at their request, as discussed in subsequent sections.":
are "they" the product vendors, or whoever needs to interchange files
associated with the particular product?

3.3: For consistency reasons "ietf-types list" should be replaced by
"ietf-types@iana.org mailing list", just as in 3.2.

4.2: Albeit type and subtype names are case-insensitive, "Type and
subtype names beginning with "X-" " should probably use a lowercase
"x-", in consistence with 3.4. It should also mention "x.", the other
variant (it is mentioned afterwards, but without quotes).

4.2.1: This section talks about parameters, however, parameters are
only introduced in 4.3. Add a reference to 4.3.
4.2.1: "that allow the arbitrary mixing of text segments with opposite
writing directions" might sound better if "opposite" was replaced by a
sentence with "bi-directional text", or "right-to-left text".
4.2.1: "from such unreadable data as images, audio, or text
represented in an unreadable form" could mention the term "binary
data".

4.2.5: "This does not mean, however, that any application program name
may be used freely as a subtype of "application"." OK, but what are
the constraints then?
4.2.5: One occurrence of "application/PostScript" should probably be
replaced by "application/postscript" as in other sections.

4.2.8: There is no link to RFC3023, whereas all other RFCs are linked to.
4.2.8: Probably +xml, +der, +fastinfoset, and +json should each be
enclosed in quotes.
4.2.8: +suffix should be enclosed in quotes consistently.
4.2.8: "The primary guideline for whether a structured type name
suffix should be registerable is that it be) described by a
readily-available description". There is a ')' too much.

4.3: "Similar behavior is encouraged for media types registered in the
vendor or personal trees but is not required.". There is a missing
comma before "but".

4.4: "isn't" should be replaced by "is not" in consistence with all
other occurrences.
4.4: "The deposited specifications will meet the same criteria as
those required to register a well-known TCP port". There should be a
link to the document that specifies this process.

4.8: "The content consists of unrestricted sequence of octets." should
probably be "The content consists of unrestricted sequences of
octets.".

4.12: "Notice of a potential media type registration in the standards
tree MUST be sent to the "ietf-types@iana.org" mailing list for
review.". The email address should probably not be enclosed in quotes,
in consistence with other email addresses.

4.12.3: "A web form for registration requests is also available"
should probably be "A Web form for registration requests is also
available".

4.12.7: The last bullet point is repeated in flow text directly after
the bullet point. Copy and paste error?
4.12.7: The flow text contains the additional phrase "The IESG
determines whether or not a given organization qualifies as a
standards body.". Therein, "standards body" should probably replaced
by "Standards Body", as in the other sections.

4.12.8: "The owner of a media type may pass responsibility to another
person or agency by informing the IANA and the ietf-types list", the
email address should be spelled out, in consistence with other
sections.

4.13: 1): "Check IANA's registry of media type name suffixes", there
should be a link to this registry.
4.13: 5) "(or pointer to document containing it)" should be "(or
pointer to the document containing it)".
4.13: 1) [the one at the end]: "IANA checks the current registry for a
entry with the same name" should be "IANA checks the current registry
for an entry with the same name".
4.13: 5) [the one at the end]: "If Expert Review recommends
registration registration" should be ""If Expert Review recommends
registration" (double "registration").

Best,
Thomas Steiner for the Media Fragments Working Group [2]

[1] http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-freed-media-type-regs-00
[2] http://www.w3.org/2008/WebVideo/Fragments/

-- 
Thomas Steiner, Research Scientist, Google Inc.
http://blog.tomayac.com, http://twitter.com/tomayac

Received on Wednesday, 7 September 2011 10:01:42 UTC