- From: Christophe Strobbe <christophe.strobbe@esat.kuleuven.be>
- Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 09:58:21 +0200
- To: www-html@w3.org
Hi Osmo, At 22:54 18/10/2005, Osmo Saarikumpu wrote: >Christophe Strobbe wrote: > >>>At 19:53 18/10/2005, Osmo Saarikumpu wrote: > >>>I guess that I'd prefer every occurrence of an abbreviation expanded if >>>the other alternative would be not knowing it's meaning. > >>But that also applies to books, articles and other printed materials: the >>author has no control over where the user starts reading, but printed >>materials don't specify expansions of abbrevations at every occurrence. >>Similarly, if a user chooses to start reading in the middle of a >>document, it is his/her own responsibility if he/she skips expansions of >>abbreviations that are provided before his entry point into the document. > >I see a difference betwixt books, articles, etc. and the Web, as usually >printed materials are read in the order of appearance (and when not it's >by choice), but in the Web we follow links that may refer to targets in >the middle of documents or in sub pages of collections. If I follow a link >that targets a specific section of a document I'm not (at least >intentionally) skipping anything. I made the comparison between the Web and printed materials because printed materials can also refer to other printed materials (book A can say: "see chapter 5 in book B"). It is the reader's responsibility to decide if he wants to start reading from the proposed entry point or from the beginning of the document, both in print and on the Web. >If you provide the expansion of an abbreviation only in it's first >occurrence then you are employing a policy that does not (IMO) agree well >with hypertext. It agrees just as well with hypertext as with printed media. >Thus, the XHTML 2 view seems more suitable.[1] On rereading that section: "Such an attribute [=title or full] should be repeated each time the abbreviation is *defined* in the document" [emphasis added]. 'Defined' is not the same as 'used'. >Considerer also that WCAG 1.0 adds: >"Providing the expansion in the main body of the document also helps >document usability."[2] I agree that it helps but I don't agree that it should be required for every instance. I actually see no requirement to provide the expansion for every instance: once is enough to meet the letter of this checkpoint. Regards, Christophe Strobbe >[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/2005/WD-xhtml2-20050527/mod-text.html#sec_9.1. >[2] http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/#gl-abbreviated-and-foreign > >Regards, >Osmo -- Christophe Strobbe K.U.Leuven - Departement of Electrical Engineering - Research Group on Document Architectures Kasteelpark Arenberg 10 - 3001 Leuven-Heverlee - BELGIUM tel: +32 16 32 85 51 http://www.docarch.be/ Disclaimer: http://www.kuleuven.be/cwis/email_disclaimer.htm
Received on Wednesday, 19 October 2005 07:59:46 UTC