1485522 - Consider removing the third ("Comments") column from the specification tables

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Developer Documentation Graveyard :: General, enhancement, P2)

Description

[Eric Shepherd [:sheppy]]

The last column in spec tables, Comment (sometimes Note), is most frequently either empty or something unhelpful like "Initial specification". The information is also frequently incorrect or out of date.

mike5w3c and I were talking in IRC this evening and we think it's worth seriously considering removing that column entirely. Its usefulness is minimal. The most frequently useful information found in there is just as easily conveyed elsewhere, and even then, the information is only sort of useful.

Removing this column would simplify workflow slightly, but more importantly would make layout cleaner and would avoid the problems of having this useless or wrong information lingering about.

Comment 1

[Eric Shepherd [:sheppy]]

Information from discussion at our triage meeting:

* Update the templates for pages to no longer include the third column.

* Update meta documentation that discusses spec tables to leave out the third column.

* New pages should no longer include the third column.

* Existing pages should be updated to remove the column as the pages are updated.

* Any information that's relevant should be moved elsewhere, but there's never or almost never anything useful there. Even information like "This spec update adds features X and Y" is not useful and belongs in the browser compatibility tables if anything.

Comment 2

[Chris Mills [:cmills]]

I'm closing this; now being tracked as https://github.com/mdn/sprints/issues/979