[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] RE: Improved writing -- who's going to pay for it?
It's good to know that one can send suggestions to the editor of a spec and help create a better text that way. However, if w3c standards are in danger of not being widely accepted/adopted because the specifications are not readable, our suggestions may not be enough. If the w3c really wants to improve the writing quality (read: understandability) of their specs, they should decide what their main target audience is, figure out their writing standards, and use technical writers, if not to actually write the specifications, then at least to do a thorough review. And maybe it's a good idea to split specifications up in normative docs (target audience: developers who implement the spec), written by the same editors that write the specs today, with review input from tech writers, and informative docs (target audience: users of the standard described in the spec), written by tech authors with the normative document as input. These informative docs could be sort of like the XML Schema part 0: primer. Better if it would try more to rephrase the often difficult to read normative statements in parts 1 and 2. Another idea could be to have the informative docs in the form of explanatory comments on the actual spec document, like Tim Bray's Annotated XML. It's very often a problem to find resources (i.e. money) for this kind of thing. It's a matter of deciding that good documentation is a prerequisite for success. Which in this case it could well be. Linda Len Bullard wrote: > Yes. The most helpful thing when writing > is having other intelligent eyes read it. > Those who prepare edits according to > some procedure, eg > > o Text of Spec: Exact quote with address (version, para number, page > number) > > o Problem with Text: precision precision precision (if you > don't like > the concept, that isn't an editorial issue) > > o Suggested Fix: Precise text replacement. > > Send these to the editor and you can almost always > guarantee a good response. Do it more than once > and you may be drafted into the committee. Don't > expect an immediate reply. Sometimes you are sending > to someone under a deluge of work and if they > manage to send a "thanks" that means they read it. > Also, they will receive the same comments for the > same sections. They may disagree and they are the > editor. > > The standards world is always looking for a few good eyes.
|
PURCHASE STYLUS STUDIO ONLINE TODAY!Purchasing Stylus Studio from our online shop is Easy, Secure and Value Priced! Download The World's Best XML IDE!Accelerate XML development with our award-winning XML IDE - Download a free trial today! Subscribe in XML format
|