> Then, IMO ietf needs to define a set of XML tags and instead of 'well
defined' or valid HTML we will have 'valid' XML and it will be indexable
and the same every time, otherwise it won't render. :)
a fine idea and certanily doable, though it wouldn't allow people
to produce or read I-Ds any more easily than they can do so now.
tools for creatng (something resembling) HTML and for reading it
abound; tools for manipulating XML exist but are not as widely deployed.
The XML DTD is defined. You use the XML source to create ASCII which
becomes the acrchival format. The XML can be saved _aswell_ (just
like the postscript, nroff source or whatever).
sure, and it's a fine way to create an I-D if you have the tools.
but if you have the tools to create an XML document then you probably
also have the tools to create an I-D in ASCII. after all, I-Ds only
require line-wrapping and some boilerplate; last I knew, they didn't
even require pagination.
if you don't have the tools to create an I-D via either XML or ASCII,
you can probably get either kind of tools with about the same amount
of difficulty. they're available; you just have to know where to look,
and you have to learn how to use them.
I think the frustration that people experience is from having tools
already with which they are familar, and which (apparently) are quite
useful for producing other kinds of documents, but which are not
effective tools for producing I-Ds.
Keith