question on negative density range

I've asked this question on the alternative process list a few days ago
but so far there has not been a response. So, I'm hoping members of
this newsgroup will share their experience and method.

While doing some testing of cyanotype emulsions I ran into difficulty
and started investigating recommended negative density ranges for
alternative processes. I was quite surprised at the variation I
discovered among authors of alt texts like Crawford, James, Farber,
Schaefer and so on. When I read and compared them critically, it became
apparent that these authors were not only quoting different ranges for
the various processes, they were also determining the "negative density
range" in different ways. If there is a standard, I certainly could not
discover it in the books I consulted (including Ilford's "Manual of
Photography").

One author took the negative density range to be from maximum black to
paper white, another from shadow areas with "slight texture" to
highlights with "slight texture" (which means Zones II-Zone VIII to me),
another from areas of tone less than the maximum extremes (Zones I-Zone
IX?), and another from the speed point (0.10 net density) to the net
density of zone VIII, etc. Ansel Adams in "The Negative" alludes to the
difference between Zone I-Zone VIII (1.30-0.10 = 1.20) as the range of
an ideal negative for printing with a normal (#2) contrast silver
gelatin print emulsion.

Like Adams and Schaefer, I'm inclined to take the difference between
Zone I and Zone VIII densities as the "negative density range." But, I
wonder what others do in practice. Any info you care to share in that
regard would be appreciated. In practice, how do you define and
determine the negative density range? If you determine the range
differently, what benefit do you reap?

Thanks for any info.

Joe Smigiel