- From: Kynn Bartlett <kynn-edapta@idyllmtn.com>
- Date: Mon, 05 Feb 2001 08:05:29 -0800
- To: "Bailey, Bruce" <Bruce_Bailey@ed.gov>
- Cc: "'w3c-wai-ig@w3.org'" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>, "'sean@mysterylights.com'" <sean@mysterylights.com>
At 07:10 AM 2/5/2001 , Bailey, Bruce wrote: >Okay, I'm confused! The result of one of those "thousand times before" >discussion lead me quite clearly to understand that, in actual practice, the >ONLY difference between ABBR and ACRONYM is that the latter should be read >(mentally, or out loud) as a word and that the former should be spelled out. That's what common sense might tell you, but read the HTML 4.01 spec; it's not how the spec defines (by implication) the difference. According to HTML 4.01 specification (with appropriate interpretation): * ABBR is a general-purpose tag for indicating a shortened version of textual content, of any kind. For example, it's fair to label <ABBR title="abbreviation">ABBR</ABBR> ("ABBR" is an abbreviated form of abbreviation), as well as <ABBR title="World Wide Web">WWW</ABBR> ("WWW" is an abbreviated form of World Wide Web.) Examples of "abbreviations" from the 4.01 specifications: - WWW - HTTP - M. - Inc. - et al. - etc. - SNCF - Doña - abbr. * ACRONYM is a specific type of abbreviated form; it is (apparently) intended to mark up initialisms -- words formed from the first (or first few) letters of a string of words. There is no requirement that these be pronounced "as words" instead of "as strings of letters." Examples of "acronyms" according to HTML 4.01: - GmbH - NATO - F.B.I. * The ABBR and ACRONYM elements do _not_ imply any specific pronunciations; this is clearly stated in the HTML 4.01 spec as follows: "Note that abbreviations and acronyms often have idiosyncratic pronunciations. For example, while "IRS" and "BBC" are typically pronounced letter by letter, "NATO" and "UNESCO" are pronounced phonetically. Still other abbreviated forms (e.g., "URI" and "SQL") are spelled out by some people and pronounced as words by other people. When necessary, authors should use style sheets to specify the pronunciation of an abbreviated form." So what are the implications of this? 1. ABBR is more general and less confusing. 2. ACRONYM really should be INITIAL. 3. The distinction between "abbreviated form" and "initialism" is not useful in any meaningful way. 4. It's probably better to use ABBR and pretend as if ACRONYM were deprecated since ABBR is general purpose and since ACRONYM doesn't do what most people think it _should_ do. --Kynn Kynn Bartlett Sr. Engineering Product Leader Team Edapta Reef North America Tel +1 909-674-5225 ___________________________________ BUSINESS IS DYNAMIC. TAKE CONTROL. ___________________________________ http://www.reef.com
Received on Monday, 5 February 2001 12:23:27 UTC