Rich: You asked for comments on User-Friendliness of standards.
My own personal preferences are as follows: I like to use a standard that has all of the information on a certain issue close together in the document. For example, I do not find it friendly when a standard has a section separate from the main body of the document which contains the national deviations, and then another section which contains the changes due to a certain amendment, etc. I would prefer to see a standard which allows me to look at a particular clause and see at that point all of the requirements including all amendments and deviations, etc. I also appreciate being able to see at that point what text has been deleted due to an amendment as well as what has been added. I could add that where there are official interpretations or explanations of the requirements, I would prefer that those be included in the same clause, again so that I can open the standard to one point and see all of the information relating the requirements of that clause (or subclause). Beyond that it would also be helpful if the standard was organized in a manner which was logical and intuitive such that it allowed one to be able to look at the table of contents with a specific question in mind and easily determine where to turn to in the standard to see the requirements that relate to that specific question. However, what seems logical and intuitive may vary from person to person depending on their experience and the environment they work in. To a certain degree, each standard (or family of standards) seems to have its own particular terms and organizational logic. I am not sure that we can ever really get away from the need to become somewhat familiar with a particular standard before its organizational structure can seem logical and intuitive. However, I would still hope that as a new standard is developed that there would be some consideration given to structuring it in a manner that allows those using the standard later (who had no involvement with its development and the intent or rationale behind the organization) to easily find the information they are looking for. Just my opinion, I too would be interested to see how others feel about this. Richard Payne Tektronix, Inc. [email protected]
