- From: Lisa Dusseault <lisa@osafoundation.org>
- Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 09:41:56 -0800
- To: Julian Reschke <julian.reschke@gmx.de>
- Cc: "'WebDAV (WebDAV WG)'" <w3c-dist-auth@w3.org>, Geoffrey M Clemm <geoffrey.clemm@us.ibm.com>
I'm proposing optimizing the spec for the average reader who reads carefully (even when I read as carefully as I can, I do not remember every detail of the specification). I know that the reader eventually gets it when a spec is well-written because of experience, both with myself and with others, with well-written specs and badly-written specs. Besides, I've never advocated simple repetition. Mostly we've been talking about making requirements explicit, rather than have them "fall out" of the model. That's more than just repetition, it's more even than rephrasing -- it helps people with poor memories but also people who have different conscious or unconscious assumptions when they read the model description. Lisa On Dec 2, 2004, at 12:47 AM, Julian Reschke wrote: > Lisa Dusseault wrote: > >> ... >> short-term memory I have forgotten the details of what was already >> said. I also tend to read quickly and sometimes skip over details. >> Other readers fall along this range but I'm guessing Julian would be >> at nearly one extreme of fine memory/detail and me (I've always >> supposed) somewhere in the middle. >> ... > > Are you seriously proposing optimizing specs for readers who read > quickly and skip over details? What makes you think that if stuff gets > repeated this type of reader will get it? > > Best regards, Julian > > -- > <green/>bytes GmbH -- http://www.greenbytes.de -- tel:+492512807760
Received on Thursday, 2 December 2004 17:42:20 UTC