the usefulness of a link depends on where the reference is used - I, for example, reference RFCs very frequently in expert reports in patent cases where everything is still paper-based so the references need to work when printed on paper Scott > On Dec 1, 2019, at 3:45 PM, Brian E Carpenter <brian.e.carpenter@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Scott, > > On 02-Dec-19 09:36, Scott O. Bradner wrote: >> >> >>> On Dec 1, 2019, at 3:33 PM, Brian E Carpenter <brian.e.carpenter@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >>> >>> On 02-Dec-19 08:09, John Levine wrote: >>>> In article <1a1726cf-70a0-019d-1138-c5e22f258d4d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> you write: >>>>> I thought the format was a compromise between US Letter format, A4 >>>>> format, and printers. >>>> >>>> I thought it was 72 characters because that's how many you got on a >>>> punch card, leaving 8 for the sequence number. >>> >>> Keith is right and it was one of Postel+Reynolds's wiser decisions. The only case where it goes wrong is with software or printers that fail to recognise the FF (form feed) character correctly. >>> >>> Phill is correct that it wastes some white space; that's the price of fitting into both paper sizes. When I print drafts, which is rarely, I do it "booklet" style which limits waste paper considerably. >>> >>> As we discussed 3 years ago, numbered pagination is useful in a printable format but irrelevant in a screen-only format. >> >> except for references - section numbers are frequently far too far apart when you want to point someone to a particular >> chunk of text > > Yes. I sometimes use page numbers for that reason, like https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3056#page-15 (random example with no significance). For new-format HTML, any internal <xref/> should generate a link. > > Brian > >> >> Scott >> >>> >>> Can we stop now? >>> >>> Brian >>>> >>>>> What would be parochial would be to assume that nobody in the world >>>>> needs to print RFCs using mechanical printers any more - that everyone >>>>> in the world should have laser printers, ample power for their fusers, >>>>> and a generous supply of suitable paper and toner - >>>> >>>> I think that if you price all the printers made in the past decade or >>>> two, you'll find that there are a lot of laser and inkjet printers and >>>> close to nothing else, certainly nothing restricted to fixed pitch >>>> text. The only mechanical printers I recall seeing in recent years >>>> are antique Okidata dot matrix units printing whatever it is they >>>> print at airport gates. >>>> >>>> R's, >>>> John >>>> >>>> >>> >> >>
