NOT.7:10 - Architectural Rationale

The unit of redesign is the reader’s operation on meaningful content. Appearance matters through what it makes available, distinguishable or changeable in that operation. This lets the method apply to formulae, diagrams, programs and other notations without prescribing one visual style.

Meaning preservation and ease of use answer different questions. A transformation can preserve the result while making its construction harder to inspect. Conversely, a helpful explanation may add missing content. Keeping those contributions separate permits a fair comparison without forbidding useful combined repairs.

An activity-relative choice also avoids inventing a universal quality scale. The existing characterization and contribution methods compare the relevant gains and burdens. Notational engineering supplies the constructions and the operation-level differences those methods need.