Re: Question on abbreviations (fwd)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Anne Pemberton" <apembert@crosslink.net>
> Do you really think it's more
> efficient to have a dictionary on every machine intead of central
> dictionaries located on the web?

No. Which is why I suggested that the user agent point to a dictionary (or
dictionaries) of the user's choice, which could be stored locally or
remotely. Browser makers would probably look into local dictionaries to
prevent unnecessary round-trips to the web (not to mention server loads).

> I truly shudder at the idea of
> all users creating their own dictionaries.

I never suggested that. I do, however, shudder at the idea of all content
providers creating dictionaries, especially when their acronyms are outside
of their own abilities to adequately define.

> My thought is that the content providers should be responsible for
content,
> whether it's linearizing tables, defining unique terms or illustrating
> their concepts and/or alt tagging the non-text portions of the content.
> It's all part of the package of what the content provider should be doing.

When you said "unique terms", that's where I agree with you -- and have been
agreeing with you since the start of this. What they should not be
responsible for is terminology that is better stored in a central repository
of the user's choice. The way this is solved, however, is with the best use
of technology, not by turning the entire content-providing community on its
head.

-
m

Received on Friday, 29 December 2000 12:52:40 UTC