- From: Anne Pemberton <apembert@crosslink.net>
- Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2000 15:02:23 -0800
- To: "Matt May" <mcmay@bestkungfu.com>
- Cc: "WAI GL" <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Matt, AP is a nice stylebook to use, but it was written for paper publications not the web. Stylebooks will disagree on these issues, but no matter the outcome, they are still directives for print. On a newspaper, expanding URL (Universal Resource Locator) every time it's used would make reading very difficult. On the other hand, clicking to the definition or expansion whenever the user pleases, then clicking back, going back and forth as desired, can make reading easier. It may be true that URL is so universally used that the expansion would lead to more confusion, in which case, use the definition for URL "web address" or more formally "Internet address" and be done with it. FBI may be universally known to American adults, but offers nary a clue to a youngster or someone from another English-speaking country. Online dictionaries exist, and I have on occassion seen pages that link to dictionary definitions for specific terms, but it is rarely done. For some sites, such as the WAI, definitions are needed that may not fit dictionary terms but fit the use made of the term in the guidelines (e.g. the word "style"). But the online dictionaries and encyclopedia are there, and if they can be linked from sites, we are already much of the way there. The rules can be simple: either link to an outside source, or put in your own definitions on a site/page, but do give the user a chance to understand you. Anne Anne L. Pemberton http://www.pen.k12.va.us/Pav/Academy1 http://www.erols.com/stevepem/Homeschooling apembert@crosslink.net Enabling Support Foundation http://www.enabling.org
Received on Thursday, 28 December 2000 15:08:51 UTC