I can't escape the feeling that this discussion of using markup language
editing to produce RFCs, is a bit upside down.
I'm much more concerned with draft writers having to deal with markup
syntax than I am about drafters trying to put a page break in a sensible
location, or format their text in a readable fashion.
The latter is not a problem that consumes a lot of energy, neither do I
believe that drafters concern with readability is a matter that causes the
RFC production center a lot of headache. So why is this a matter of
concern?
I honestly think people waste a lot more time trying to figure out how to
properly form correct markup syntax, than they do with format tweaking.
My experience has been the exact opposite. Markup syntax is a known quantity
that is easily accomodated, especially if you use a markup-aware editor. The
editor I use closes elements automatically, provides constant syntax checks,
and lets me toggle sections of the document in and out of view.
It's been a very long time since I've given any real thought to the supposed
difficulties of dealing with markup syntax.
But page breaks... I have on more occasions than I care to recall spent a
swacking big chunk of time adjusting them. Fix one widow, an orphan appears
somewhere else. And yes, I realize this is not really necessary for I-Ds, but
when the breaks are really bad I just can't help but try and fix them.
In my ideal world, where XML would work at its best, drafters would
concentrate on writing text in a fashion that could be captured into XML
(or any functional markup language), making XML the output of the editing
process rather than the input.
Brian Reid once came up with a nice term for what results when this goal is
pursued to it's logical conclusion: What You Get is What You Deserve.
That way it would not hurt the drafters if the XML syntax was extended to
capture both content and format, making it a complete input to the
rendering process.
Given the rather primitive structure of RFCs, writing such editor seem not
to be such a grim task. I'm even tempted to provide one in the next major
version of NroffEdit, where you could choose nroff and/or XML as markup,
but never bother with it when writing your draft.
The task may not be grim, but the end results of such exercises - and there
have been a lot of them - usually are.
Ned
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