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Subject:RE: Spelling out acronyms at first mention From:"Sarah Bane" <Sarah -dot- Bane -at- spectrumretail -dot- com> To:<Gilda_Spitz -at- markham -dot- longview -dot- ca>, "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 12 Oct 2000 12:01:27 -0500
Gilda_Spitz -at- markham -dot- longview -dot- ca asks:
~|>In the "good old days" of books only, the rule regarding
~|>acronyms used to
~|>be:
~|>
~|>- Spell out an acronym at first mention - for example, "see
~|>your database
~|>administrator (DBA)".
~|>- Subsequently use the acronym only - for example, "see your DBA".
~|>
~|>But when you write text for an online help system, you can't
~|>assume that
~|>users will read the "first" text first. So what do you with
~|>the concept of
~|>"first mention"?
~|>I'd be curious to hear what people do about this.
Gilda,
Could you make each potentially unclear use of the acronym clickable, so
that a click would display the spelled-out expression?
Sarah Bane
Technical Writer, ProphetLine, Inc.
and Associate Instructor, Westark College
sarah -dot- bane -at- spectrumretail -dot- com
sbane -at- systema -dot- westark -dot- edu
Opinions expressed are my own and not endorsed by ProphetLine or by
Westark.
