WebDAV Introductory Materials

Carl-Uno Manros writes:

> I think the contribution illustrates how difficult it is for newcomers to
> understand the drafts that are being written in the IETF in general and
> perhaps the WEBDAV drafts in particular.
>
>
> Carl-Uno
>

I agree -- there is a definite tension, especially in writing 
specifications, between creating a concise specification, and giving a lot 
of introductory material.  While it might seem obvious to just keep adding 
a lot of introductory, problem framing material to a specification, this 
has the drawback that it increases the size of the specification. 
 Currently, the WebDAV spec. is at 82 pages (text version), including 3 
pages of change information, 4 pages of table of contents, 9 pages of 
introduction, 15.5 pages of examples, 2 pages of required text (copyright 
and IP, I-D header), 0.5 page of acknowledgements, and 1 page of author's 
addresses, leaving only 49 pages of "pure" specification. This indicates to 
me there is a non-trivial amount of "newcomer" information in the spec.

There is also an introductory article on WebDAV available via the WebDAV 
home page:

WebDAV WG Home Page:
http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/ietf/webdav/

Brief WebDAV Introduction:
http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/ietf/webdav/intro.html

WebDAV Introduction Article:
http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/ietf/webdav/intro/webdav_intro.pdf
http://www.ics.uci.edu/pub/ietf/webdav/intro/webdav_intro.ps

While the protocol would certainly benefit from a "Introduction to the 
WebDAV Protocol" document, and from a WebDAV "Frequently Asked Questions" 
document, I would claim we've gone farther than most working groups to 
bridge the gap between newcomers and oldtimers.  Still, if there are any 
volunteers to write these documents, please send me an email.

- Jim

Received on Thursday, 22 January 1998 14:37:41 UTC