Here is a magic ideal model link that has given me some valuable insight:
http://photo.tutsplus.com/articles/theory/light-photography-exposure-and-tonal-range-considerations/
Notably that article and the one on zone system on same website contain numerous errors. The zone system per Ansel Adams is not mere applying 10 zones, which was what he did for B&W photography. The scale contain a certain number of even stops, and the number of stops in the scale was dependent on the media he used (B&W, slides vs Polaroid Land Prints all were able to capture differing contrast range, or DR). He differentiated zones in the scene, the negative and the print, and applied the zone system there different depending on the media used. There are in fact many articles and books published that do not speak of the zone system correctly, and in particular in relation to digital photography.
The Negative is the original source and the very best I have read on tonal values and zone system. Going into that literature though is an advanced step.
In essence, the author thus is even not quite correct on the visualization part... Notably the one thing that matters most in digital photography is where we place our highlight end, including (if there is) a transition into highlights before clipping. At same time what we have on our opposing end to make sure we capture the scene within the DR of the sensor. We can always move all rest around in post per say.
And, no... contrary to the article all digital cameras are not limited to 5 stops of DR nowadays... no. Technology has advanced over the last ten years... thereby - depending on DR of a scene vs. latitude of sensor - the need for ETTR can at times nowadays be questioned.
...just sayin' Ya might wanna learn how to use ACR 7.x and LR 4.x to get the best end result.
All respect, but I would instead highly recommend Capture One Pro. I prior used Camara RAW and found that and Photoshop made me think too much technical, as opposed to photographically when processing an image. The choice of RAW processor is of course an individual choice. Personally I do find Capture One Pro far superior, not only in because it maintain my brain photographic but because I reach far better results with my pictures.
Best regards,
Anders