Re: [ACTION-27] Clarify the document structure to differentiate normative and non normative issues related to each data category

Thanks for the comment, Phil. Actually the story is a bit different.

"Normative" means: this is a part of the document that defines the
standard. Implementors have to read this to create implementations. If the
document defines conformance clauses that allow for sub-parts to be
implemented, when implementors can say "we will implement the following
parts: ...". Example, based on the conformance clauses at
http://www.w3.org/TR/its/#conformance-product-processing-expectations
An implementation can say "I implement ITS 1.0, the 'Translate' data
category, locally, that is a 'translate' attribute in XML content".

"Informative" means: this part does not contain text defining the standard.
It contains only explanatory material.

To give another example of the difference: at
http://www.w3.org/TR/its/#basic-concepts-selection
there is an informative section describing what "selection" means in ITS
1.0.
At
http://www.w3.org/TR/its/#datacategory-locations
there is the normative definition of "selection".

The latter text is harder to read for users, but contains the details for
implementors.

One further difference between "normative" and "informative" is that
normally only in "normative" text you find RFC 2119
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt
keywords like MUST, MUST NOT, SHOULD, SHOULD NOT.

So, what does this mean for

http://www.w3.org/International/multilingualweb/lt/wiki/MetadataStandardDraft

Mainly: The "best practices" section will not contain something for
implementors of the standard, only explanatory material.

Hope that helps - if not let me know,

Felix


Am 21. März 2012 21:01 schrieb Phil Ritchie <philr@vistatec.ie>:

> Felix
>
> I think part of the clarification (for the standards-newbies) was that
> "Normative" is required whilst "Informative" is recommended/optional.
>
> Phil
>
>
>
> On 21 Mar 2012, at 18:43, "Felix Sasaki" <fsasaki@w3.org> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I had an action item related to normative and informative sections of the
> "standard" draft. I tried to implement this very simple at
>
>
> http://www.w3.org/International/multilingualweb/lt/wiki/MetadataStandardDraft
>
> Adding the statement "This section is informative" to the Introduction and
> to a "Best Practices" section, and "This section is normative" to the "Data
> categories" section. Comments welcome.
>
> Best,
>
> Felix
>
> --
> Felix Sasaki
> DFKI / W3C Fellow
>
>
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-- 
Felix Sasaki
DFKI / W3C Fellow