Re: On XML and $EDITORs (Re: Things that used to be clear (was ...)) "Living Documents") side meeting at IETF105.)

[Keith Moore <[e-mail]>]

On 7/10/19 12:31 PM, Nico Williams wrote:

>> would be nice if there were a standard format we could use, but I
> XML is standard;

Ah.  That explains why every time I try to write a new RFC, the required 
format has changed in an incompatible way.

Presuming that XML is good for something, I'm not actually sure what it 
is.   It's not good for user input.    It's not a good final-form 
document format.  It's not good as an intermediate format for WYSIWYG 
editors.   Apparently it's not good at being a long-term stable 
intermediate format either (though perhaps it could be if people just 
accepted that it's going to be ugly and resisted the temptation to make 
it prettier.)

I suppose it's good at being able to be translated into other formats 
that are equally bad or worse.  Progress?

Keith