On Thu, Feb 22, 2001 at 08:05:42AM -0800, Stephen McHenry wrote:
At 05:04 AM 2/22/2001, David C Lawrence wrote:
Also, why isn't HTML an accepted format for Internet Drafts, pretty
much everyone on the planet should be able to read an HTML file (even
using Lynx on a terminal)?
and that goes for pdf too, given that the irs uses it too :)
It isn't accepted because flat, plain ASCII text is by far the most
portable format on the planet and beyond. For example, there are
plenty of IETFers who still read the drafts in email, and still use
email clients that don't handle HTML natively.
It is easiest to work with when you are on a "dumb" device. Pretty
much any program that can handle text at all can handle unadorned
ASCII, but HTML can be much more of a nuisance.
Am I the only one that finds a certain bit of irony in the fact that the
last IETF conference provided "peek at the future" style networking - i.e.,
11MB 802.11 wireless throughout the entire hotel, so that people could
literally walk from one end of the hotel to the other with laptop perched
in the crook of one arm while using the other to do e-mail, web browsing
etc...
but if you were using it on a non-MS world you will have known that
life still isn't perfect when it comes to wireless interoperability.
The IETF is about _interoperability_, not the latest and greatest
feature set.
...AND that these are the same people with archaic browsers and
e-mail clients that can't handle recent advances in technology - even to
the point of using "dumb" devices that can only handle ASCII?
Its not that we have dumb devices, its that the OUTPUT of others
peopls devices aren't interoperable enough to utilizied by ANY device.
This strikes me a little like the pilot of the space shuttle who still uses
an outhouse at home...
But if that shuttle pilot were on an alien ship that had no concept of
restrooms at all then you're left with whatever works...
BTW, I use Marshall's xml2rfc stuff (RFC 2629) and it works perfectly.
I can maintain my documents just like I do my code and then I can
output it to both text and HTML (I hear nroff is coming soon).
IMHO, the one great advantage to using ASCII documents is that
it greatly cuts down on artwork in documents. If it really needs
a picture then the author has to pass a pretty high bar to get it in
the document. I don't want to read RFCs that act more like Powerpoint
presentations....
-MM
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