Yes, use the <ABBR> tag in HTML. (Apologies for top-posting, on mobile at airport) On May 22, 2013 8:07 AM, "Lodewijk" <lodew...@effeietsanders.org> wrote:
> I think what is even more helpful to people, is to avoid abbreviations as > much as possible, or explain them. For example: > * Up-Goer 5 (but there was a link next to it - which allows you to guess > what it means) > * SMOG (the stuff that is in the air, right?) > * FKT > > Usually this kind of abbreviations (without in-text explanation) makes > texts much harder to read. Even a link to an explanation is usually less > helpful than a few words of what it actually is (especially when reading > offline - yes, that world still exists). > > Anyway, aside from that, I think Quim has a point that jargon is much more > dangerous than complicated words. However, don't underestimate the amount > of non-native volunteers. I have all too often heard at meetings that > people felt insecure to participate in a discussion because they felt it > was above their level. Some native speakers have the habit of going all > wild with complicated words (this is not too common, gladly) and then you > realize that texts with long sentences with lots of long complicated words > are much harder to understand, even if you understand each word by itself. > > So this score thing Sumana linked to might indeed be helpful, but probably > only at longer texts. At short texts there is not enough critical mass to > be precise. > > Lodewijk > > > 2013/5/22 MZMcBride <z...@mzmcbride.com> > > > Sumana Harihareswara wrote: > > >When you're trying to write a blog.wikimedia.org entry or > > >wikitech-ambassadors email about a technical topic, but you want to make > > >sure nontechnical Wikimedians can read it, is there an automated check > > >you can run through? > > > > I'd recommend doing what we do on the wiki to make topics easier or more > > accessible: include a lot of links. The blog is worryingly low on links > in > > each post, given that it's the blog of Wikimedia, king of [[links]]. > > Perhaps linking needs to be made easier in WordPress? > > > > I'm not sure there's much else to be said other than "avoid the use of > > (unexplained) jargon and write clearly and concisely." > > > > The Wikimedia blog is made up of several sub-blogs. The tech blog seems > > like it would inherently be more... technical than the community blog or > > the fundraising blog. Unless the larger issue is the audience question. > > That's a bit of a rabbit hole, though. > > > > MZMcBride > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
