[WSG] acronym and abbr and worms
There are two issues to do with abbreviations that have come up on list today: 1. the distinction between the abbr element and the abbr attribute 2. the difference between abbreviations and acronyms So, I thought I'd open the can of worms that Patrick mentioned earlier today - ISSUE 1. ELEMENT AND ATTRIBUTE - The abbr is confusing as it is both an HTML ELEMENT as well as an ATTRIBUTE. But more importantly, they have completely the opposite roles. With the ABBR HTML ELEMENT there is generally shortened visible text and the ABBR HTML ELEMENT is used to give more detailed assistive information. It is often used in conjunction with the title attribute. For example: abbr title=Cascading Style SheetsCSS/abbr With the abbr ATTRIBUTE you have longer visible text and the abbr ATTRIBUTE is used to give shorter assistive information. It can only be used with td and th elements. For example: th abbr=screwsLong pointy screws/th - ISSUE 2. TYPES OF ABBREVIATION - Abbreviation comes from the Late Latin word abbreviare (to shorten) which is related to brevi (short). While some people disagree, all methods of shortening words or phrases are subsets of abbreviation. Some of these subsets include: - Initialisms - Contractions - Acronyms Abbreviations - Defined as: A shortened form of a word or phrase used for brevity in place of the whole, consisting of the first letter, or the first few letters, followed by a period (full stop). Examples: - assoc. is an abbreviation for association Example marked up: abbr title=associationassoc/abbr Initialisms -- Defined as: An abbreviation pronounced as the names of the individual letters, and is formed only from the initial letter of constituent words. This distinction is supported by many dictionary definitions, but not by all. The first recorded use of the word initialism in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is in 1899. Examples: - USA is an initialism for United States of America - IE is an initialism for Internet Explorer - CSS is an initialism for Cascading Style Sheets - IRS is an initialism for Internal Revenue Service As there is no HTML initialism element, the content would be marked up with the abbr element. Example marked up: abbr title=Cascading Style SheetsCSS/abbr Contractions -- Contractions come in two forms. 1. Shortened form of a word which ends in the same letter as the word itself. 2. Short way to write two words as one by writing the two words together, leaving out one or more letters and replacing the missing letters by an apostrophe Examples: - Ave is a contraction of Avenue (type 1) - can't is a contraction of cannot (type 2) - won't is a contraction of will not (type 2) As there is no (X)HTML contraction element, the content would be marked up with the abbr element. However, it is probably very rare that anyone would want to specifically mark up a contracted word. Acronyms -- Acronyms are a subset of abbreviations, as they are still shortened words. However, they are more specific. An acronym is defined as a WORD formed from the initial letters of a multi-word name. The important point here is that an acronym must be a WORD - this means that the joined initial letters must be able to be pronounced. Examples: - OPAC is an acronym for Online Public Access Catalog - Qantas is an acronym for Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service - Modem is an acronym for Modulator-Demodulator Example marked up: acronym title=Radio Detection And Rangingradar/abbr Agree, disagree? Ahhh, I can see worms coming! Russ ** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list getting help **
RE: [WSG] acronym and abbr and worms
russ - maxdesign Acronyms -- Acronyms are a subset of abbreviations, as they are still shortened words. However, they are more specific. An acronym is defined as a WORD formed from the initial letters of a multi-word name. The important point here is that an acronym must be a WORD - this means that the joined initial letters must be able to be pronounced. And this is where the worms usually are...the requirement for pronouncability of the formed word. Certain developers (me included, I'm afraid) don't see this as a main sticking point, and would put initialisms into acronym, rather than abbreviation. We *could* start debating this again, but because: - acronyms are abbreviations, and therefore initialisms marked up as acronyms are therefore still abbreviations - the distinction of acronm and abbreviation is removed in XHTML2.0 (yes, I know...in 2021 when we'll finally be using it) - no current semantic tool makes any hard distinction between them I'd say it becomes an exercise in splitting hairs. The main key is consistency: whether you think initialisms are acronyms or abbreviations, choose a camp and stick with it. If, for instance, you consistently mark up HTML as acronym title=HyperText Markup LanguageHTML/acronym on all your pages, and later find out that you were wrong (once the gods of semantics appear to you in a dream, or something), you can still do a site-wide replace for it (or, heck, use XSLT to transform all your XHTML, whatever). However, for people who do like to split hairs, I'd take this one step further and say: does WORD imply pronouncability? Discuss... Patrick Patrick H. Lauke Webmaster / University of Salford http://www.salford.ac.uk ** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list getting help **
RE: [WSG] acronym and abbr and worms
Patrick: However, for people who do like to split hairs, I'd take this one step further and say: does WORD imply pronouncability? Discuss... er.. pronouncability? Apparently under US law it is completely acceptable for a name to be spelt Brown yet pronounced Smith. Generally speaking acronyms and initialised abbreviations are slowly becoming synonymous. English is a living language and as such words may change meaning with time. For example gay. But enough of the pedantry. ;) mike 2k:)2 Mike Foskett Web Standards, Accessibility Testing Consultant Multimedia Publishing and Production British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) Milburn Hill Road, Science Park, Coventry CV4 7JJ Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: 02476 416994 Ext 3342 [Tuesday - Thursday] Fax: 02476 411410 www.becta.org.uk -Original Message- From: Patrick Lauke [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 17 March 2005 11:45 To: wsg@webstandardsgroup.org Subject: RE: [WSG] acronym and abbr and worms russ - maxdesign Acronyms -- Acronyms are a subset of abbreviations, as they are still shortened words. However, they are more specific. An acronym is defined as a WORD formed from the initial letters of a multi-word name. The important point here is that an acronym must be a WORD - this means that the joined initial letters must be able to be pronounced. And this is where the worms usually are...the requirement for pronouncability of the formed word. Certain developers (me included, I'm afraid) don't see this as a main sticking point, and would put initialisms into acronym, rather than abbreviation. We *could* start debating this again, but because: - acronyms are abbreviations, and therefore initialisms marked up as acronyms are therefore still abbreviations - the distinction of acronm and abbreviation is removed in XHTML2.0 (yes, I know...in 2021 when we'll finally be using it) - no current semantic tool makes any hard distinction between them I'd say it becomes an exercise in splitting hairs. The main key is consistency: whether you think initialisms are acronyms or abbreviations, choose a camp and stick with it. If, for instance, you consistently mark up HTML as acronym title=HyperText Markup LanguageHTML/acronym on all your pages, and later find out that you were wrong (once the gods of semantics appear to you in a dream, or something), you can still do a site-wide replace for it (or, heck, use XSLT to transform all your XHTML, whatever). However, for people who do like to split hairs, I'd take this one step further and say: does WORD imply pronouncability? Discuss... Patrick Patrick H. Lauke Webmaster / University of Salford http://www.salford.ac.uk ** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list getting help ** ** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses. www.mimesweeper.com ** ** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list getting help **
Re: [WSG] acronym and abbr and worms
On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 12:35:40 -, Mike Foskett [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Apparently under US law it is completely acceptable for a name to be spelt Brown yet pronounced Smith. Which might go some way to explaining my confusion upon finding out that the name Choire was pronounced Cory, and just goes to show that you can never assume how things are going to be pronounced by people, never mind by access tech software! But enough of the pedantry. Pedantry is like chocolate. There's no such thing as enough. :) pix http://www.pixeldiva.co.uk ** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list getting help **
Re: [WSG] acronym and abbr and worms
Pedantry is like chocolate. There's no such thing as enough. :) lol pix, thats so true! Shaun Johnson IT Technician Waddesdon CE School [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email has been sent from the Buckinghamshire LEA system if you have cause for complaint regarding the content of this email please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] ** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list getting help **
