Acronym vs. Abbreviation Jan05 '05
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# (2 of 4): Matthom
21 hours, 20 minutes after the fact. (Thu 06 Jan 2005, 6:59 AM CST)
Josh, are you referring to the definitions in the English language, or the HTML elements?
Because, you're right - they might differ a little.
I'm almost 100% positive that my definition (here) of the HTML elements are correct.
As far as the English language - I can't be so sure.
# (3 of 4): Joshua Street » joahua.com
1 day, 4 hours after the fact. (Thu 06 Jan 2005, 2:29 PM CST)
Well, I just briefly flicked over the W3C recommendations for XHTML 1.0, and couldn't see anything. I just checked a dictionary, and my (English language, not XHTML spec) definitions were correct:
Abbreviation
Acronym
I'm still unconvinced about the difference in spec terminology, but remain open to links.
Anyway, amidst this (kind of pointless, for all the practical difference it makes -- sorry for wasting time!) debate over terminology, in terms of actual usability I think it's best to define and redefine a term as much as is realistic rather than not too much -- another idea is to have an appendix of acronyms at the end of a (more lengthy) document, taking advantage of target hyperlinks from the content body. This allows you to not only define terms, but also give explanation/annotation as required.
Josh
# (4 of 4): Matthom
1 day, 8 hours after the fact. (Thu 06 Jan 2005, 5:53 PM CST)
The W3C has nothing on <acronym> or <abbr> elements?
I was thinking more about the English language definitions for each word, and you're right - an abbreviation is nothing like it is defined in HTML.
Maybe I'll try to find some links with better information...
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In the English language, there is a small, yet subtle difference between an acronym and an abbreviation, which can be applied to your HTML.
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# (1 of 4): Joshua Street » joahua.com
20 hours, 43 minutes after the fact. (Thu 06 Jan 2005, 6:22 AM CST)
I'd always drawn the distinction differently...
Acronyms correspond directly to letters (GUI - Graphical User Interface) whilst Abbreviations aren't so true to form -- take the example of abbrev. -- it's an abbreviation of abbreviation. As opposed to your approach of phonetics...
I'm too tired right now to think enough to find evidence either way, but I don't know I agree with you so far as the definitions go... sure, there's a difference, and as such it's important to use the different elements, but I'm (in a tired state) disputing your definitions... *shrug*