Justication for the RFC-HTML Effort

• HTML is becoming the standard format for information representation on the Internet.

• The use of hyperlinks allows extraordinarily powerful, non-linear access to information spaces. This should be especially useful for the RFC series, which cross-reference each other extensively.

• Nearly every host on the Internet today has a Web browser, and almost all users are familiar with their function.

• HTML provides for a very rich presentation of content, including such features as headers, tables, emphasis, etc.

• The availability of text-based browsers such as Lynx allows Web access by those with fairly limited equipment, without reducing the quality of the rendering by graphical browsers.

• Many RFCs are already created using Web-based distributed authoring, and this seems only likely to grow as standards are created and tools improve. Thus, many RFCs are already written in HTML snd more seem likely to be in the future. The IETF should lead this process rather than be dragged along by it.

• Using "lynx -dump" and a little postprocessing, HTML RFCs can be rendered in a the "traditional" RFC plain ASCII text.

• HTML is an open standard, specified by the W3C.

(This is based on some meditations by Dan Kohn. I have reordered, lightly edited, and slightly amplified it.)