need a new tag

I'm writing some web pages which are intended as companion material 
to a hands-on course which teaches people about computers. (There are 
12 courses in all, covering topics like email, Excel etc.)

I'm attempting to use plain language and some people attending the 
courses will not have English as a primary language. Most will also 
be beginners on computers.

As these are "technical" courses I need to use and explain jargon. At 
the moment I'm doing that by means of extra "Tips" in the text and 
with links to a Glossary page. However, I need more.

Consider this text:

"Click in cell B3 (ie Power for January) and enter 30 then press Tab. 
Notice how the text label January lines up with the left of the cell, 
while the number 30 aligns to the right."

I originally wrote "aligns to the left", but in the interests of 
making the content more accessible I replaced that with "lines up 
with the left". Now I need to talk about "aligns to the right" and 
want to use that term. After all, people need to learn the jargon too.

Ideally what I'd like to do is add a Title attribute to "aligns" 
which explains the word, but I need an actual tag to be able to use 
Title. (I am aware that not all browsers can use the Title 
attribute.) Acronym and Abbreviation are both not correct for this. 
I'd rather like a "vocabulary" tag, and it seems to me this touches 
much more widely on being able to make web pages accessible to those 
needing extra explanation of terminology, as per the guidelines:

>Using clear and simple language promotes effective communication. 
>Access to written information can be difficult for people who have 
>cognitive or learning disabilities. Using clear and simple language 
>also benefits people whose first language differs from your own, 
>including those people who communicate primarily in sign language.


Any suggestions?

Cheers,

Miraz
-- 
Miraz Jordan | miraz@firstbite.co.nz | http://www.firstbite.co.nz

Received on Wednesday, 9 May 2001 18:53:44 UTC