Re: lispref/text.texi "Saving Properties"

[Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>]

      For example, when you
    ! write a buffer to a file, delete the buffer, and read that file back
    ! into a new buffer, here is what happens at the lowest levels:
    ! 

That order is counterintuitive, since it is the reverse of the order in which
things are really normally done.  I suggest you describe reading first,
and then describe writing.

I think there is no need for the outer @itemize level.

    !   Generally, conversion starts with one thing and ends with something
    ! else.

Conversion starts with one representation and produces another
representation.

    !   In contrast, when reading, the annotations intermixed with the text
    ! are handled immediately.  @code{insert-file-contents} sets point to the
    ! beginning of some text to be converted, then calls the conversion
    ! functions with the length of that text.  These functions should always
    ! return with point at the beginning of the inserted text.

This approach makes sense for reading because annotations removed by
the first converter can't be mistakenly processed by a later converter.

I think it would be better to discuss format-alist first, because it is
a more general feature.