I wrote about this topic ages ago, but I justhad a very illuminating personal experience with this, and I feel likesharing it.

The one place that I pretty much have to use web-based editing iswriting replies to comments here on WanderingThoughts (unless I turna reply into an entry, which I do from time to time). Today I wasflailing away trying to write such a reply (on yesterday's entry ), and I just couldn't make things cometogether right; I

To condense and stereotype a great deal, there are three general ways ofcreating standards:

• invention , where you come up with something that seems good frommore or less scratch (ie, not feeling obliged to pay any attentionto existing practice, if there is any).

  The risk of this approach is getting your standard adopted in thefield; many invented standards fail dismally because no one isinterested in implementing them.

  The Atom syndication feed format is, I believe, an example of thisway.

• documentation , where

Here's a question: what would a 'modern' university email system looklike, one that's in line with the 'students already have online lives'theme of last entry ?

(Let's assume that our assignment is limited to designing the emailsystem, and thus we don't get to question or change what it's used for.)

Clearly, a lot of people will already have outside email addresses andmany of them will want to just forward their university email addressto their