RE: Question on <abbr /> element use

Jens wrote:

> Well, I wonder what is recommended by both WAI and HTML WG 
> encountering a text where e.g. 'W3C' appears twice -- is it 
> recommended to use the <abbr /> element twice or is it 
> allowed to use it once, that means, the first time it occurs?
>
> [snip] 

Hi Jens,

How would you define the first time an abbrev occurs? The first time on a
page? What if you have additional navigation within the page that let's you
jump halfway? (very useful for people using screen readers). Or if a person
scans the headings to look for an interesting section starts reading halfway
down the page? (one of the reasons why we encourage using headings) Just a
few examples to demonstrate the first occurrence is in the eye of the
beholder.

Because an author can never know if the reader read the 'first' occurrence
of the abbreviation, the whole mentioning of 'first' was dropped from the
abbreviation checkpoints. This means we advise to always use the ABBR
element to explain the meaning of abbreviations, even if they appear more
than once on a single page.

Yvette Hoitink
CEO Heritas, Enschede, The Netherlands
E-mail: y.p.hoitink@heritas.nl

Received on Wednesday, 25 February 2004 09:11:36 UTC