Subject: Re: BCPs and STDs

From: Bob Braden <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 14:09:07 -0700 (PDT)

*> 
  *> It would be nice if there was button (or menu time or some such 
  *> graphic widget) that said "BCP" that pointed to 
  *> http://www.rfc-editor.org/bcp-index.html.
  *> 
  *> Similarly for STD and FYI.

Ed,

Thanks for that suggestion.

Note that your change would reduce the task of reaching the BCP index
from two clicks to one click (You can currently go "RFC Database" ->
"BCP Index").  This shortcut did not seem worthwhile, but we will
reconsider this decision.

  *> 
  *> 
  *> >Note that you can simply enter "BCPxxxx" to the RFC Editor search engine, and
  *> >it will display that BCP (and its RFC #).
  *> 
  *> Sure, but, well, having drilled into many folks heads that DNS does 
  *> look ups and not searches, using a search engine to find a document 
  *> by number seems like using sledgehammer to hand a picture. ;)

That seems like an extreme view.  In practice (and the RFC Editor uses
these web pages A LOT), we find that the search engine provides a very
convenient common point for many purposes.  What it does not do
effectively is answer questions like, "What are all the BCPs", or
"What are the current standards-track protocol specs"?  Either of these
is answered directly from another link on the Database page.

Thanks,

RFC Editor/bb

  *> -- 
  *> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
  *> Edward Lewis                                                +1-571-434-5468
  *> NeuStar
  *> 
  *> If you knew what I was thinking, you'd understand what I was saying.
  *> 

_______________________________________________
Ietf mailing list
[email-masked]
https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf

---

From: Iljitsch van Beijnum <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 23:47:02 +0200

On 18-aug-2005, at 23:09, Bob Braden wrote:

> In practice (and the RFC Editor uses

Yes, but how is someone who doesn't know that supposed to learn that  
fact?

You really need to put everything that people may be looking for on a  
single page and point to that page with big, bright arrows. Or better  
yet, make that page your homepage. Or better yet, make that page the  
IETF homepage. It's very strange that the list of IETF standards  
isn't kept on the IETF site.

---

From: Jeffrey Hutzelman <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 21:00:07 -0400

On Thursday, August 18, 2005 11:47:02 PM +0200 Iljitsch van Beijnum 
<[email-masked]> wrote:

> IETF homepage. It's very strange that the list of IETF standards  isn't
> kept on the IETF site.

Not really.  IETF standards are published and archived by another 
organization, which also provides the resources for archiving and 
distributing those documents.

What would be strange, if it were true, would be that there isn't an easy 
way to access IETF standards from the IETF web site.  Fortunately, that's 
not the case.  The _very first_ thing on the IETF site, even before things 
like the IETF logo, is a search box.  I've found that to be extremely 
useful.  It finds internet-drafts and published RFC's based on full or 
partial filenames, titles, content, RFC/BCP/STD numbers, etc.

The original message which started this thread was from someone looking for 
indexes so he could do things like look up an STD or BCP and find out its 
name and maybe get a link to the document.  He gave this example:

> It's a lot easier, when all you might have is a hand held device, to be
> able to click though links to see even just the title of a document when
> someone asks "what do you think of BCP 58?"

If I go to www.ietf.org and type "BCP 58" (including quotes) into the 
search box, the first hit is the document itself (RFC3233).  The second hit 
is the tombstone with the publication announcement; the excerpt includes 
the title of the document, "Defining the IETF".

If instead I type "BCP 58" without the quotes, RFC3233 becomes the second 
hit instead of the first.

If I type "BCP58", I get the BCP directory index.

-- Jeffrey T. Hutzelman (N3NHS) <[email-masked]>
   Sr. Research Systems Programmer
   School of Computer Science - Research Computing Facility
   Carnegie Mellon University - Pittsburgh, PA