Erratum for http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/

In section 9.2.1, it says:

 > Western languages make extensive use of acronyms such as "GmbH",
 > "NATO", and "F.B.I.", as well as abbreviations like "M.", "Inc.",
 > "et al.", "etc.".

"GmbH" and "FBI" are not acronyms.

It goes on to say:

 > For example, while "IRS" and "BBC" are typically pronounced letter by
 > letter, "NATO" and "UNESCO" are pronounced phonetically.

That is the difference between an acronym and an initialism. "NATO" and 
"UNESCO" would be suitable for <acronym>, whereas "IRS" and "BBC" should 
not be put inside <acronym>, because they are not acronyms (<abbr> must 
be used instead). Neither are the other examples acronyms, URI and SQL 
(unless perhaps there really are people somewhere in the world who 
pronounce URI "you-ree").

I'm not just being pedantic, anyone reading the spec as it stands would 
be seriously misled about the proper use of <abbr> vs <acronym>.

I note that unfortunately <acronym> seems to have disappeared in HTML5.

Received on Friday, 3 September 2010 14:02:58 UTC