Re: proposed new definitions for abbreviation and acronym

Hi Becky

On 15/09/05, Becky_Gibson@notesdev.ibm.com
<Becky_Gibson@notesdev.ibm.com> wrote:
<bockquote>
In my search I found several online references that did not require that
acronyms be pronounceable (maybe all of them use Webster's as a source, I
didn't dig that deep). I actually prefer the more restrictive definition
but the rest of team B did not necessarily agree with me :).   And while I
didn't want to explicitly call it out, IE support is an issue, by using
the less restrictive definition of acronym authors can still mark acronyms
up using IE until it gets fixed.  I did think about adding a definition
for initialisms but that term is not used with WCAG so I didn't want to
introduce it.   I agree that all acronyms are abbreviations and future
proposals for GL 3.1 will suggest deprecating the HTML acronym technique
in favor of just abbreviation (another proposal that I suspect will be
controversial).
 
Can you suggest an alternative definition?
</blockquote>

I think the definitions should accurately reflect the generally
accepted meaning of the words, with the guide document illustrating
(or linking to) advisory techniques, such as writing out in full any
abbreviations in the main content the first time they're used, and
marking up subsequent abbreviations using the appropriate element.
Other techniques might suggest providing a glossary of abbreviations,
or glossary of terms that include abbreviations used in the content. I
definitely think the problem should be moved to techniques, rather
than redefining words.

Best regards,

Gez

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Received on Thursday, 15 September 2005 21:13:15 UTC