Re: Friendly Specs (was Re: Modularization of XHTML B.3.4.2)

> What kind of improvement would you and Jan Roland Eriksson like to
> see? Would you care to point out a good model?
>

I don't have any comments on the way the specs are written. I would like to
see more examples integrated with the spec. People like me, understand from
pattern matching with examples and then read that part of the spec.

The non-normative XML Schema Part 0: Primer
http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-0/ does a good job on that kind of
integration.

The Modularization of XHTML does NOT seem to have any examples
http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml-modularization/Overview.html

The Scalable Vector Graphics draft does a good job of integrating not only
examples but also pictures on what the result should look like.
http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WD-SVG-19991203/index.html

In the end, it comes down to who the target audience is for the spec. Is it
only the theoretical CS guys ? Or should this list include web developers
(who don't understand what a DTD is), browser/application developers which
now includes kids trying to patch/fix bugs in Mozilla and other open source
applications, etc.

Examples do increase the size of the spec, but the advantages of getting
more folks in the loop at an early stage is good. If all the web developers
would be a more integral part of the development process, this would lead to
a stronger, more standards based web.[We could use a more interactive
document where parts of the document get hidden/displayed based on user
requests]

Finally, I think the W3C is going in the right direction with some of the
specs. It needs to extend this 'innovation' to other working groups.

Thx,
Ashvil

Received on Sunday, 9 April 2000 12:46:47 UTC