From owner-freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Jul 18 15:15:08 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 96DB516A4CF; Sun, 18 Jul 2004 15:15:08 +0000 (GMT) Received: from wonkity.com (wonkity.com [65.173.111.5]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 41B1F43D31; Sun, 18 Jul 2004 15:15:08 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from wonkity.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by wonkity.com (8.12.11/8.12.11) with ESMTP id i6IFF29E021210; Sun, 18 Jul 2004 09:15:02 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from localhost (wblock@localhost) by wonkity.com (8.12.11/8.12.11/Submit) with ESMTP id i6IFEwAQ021204; Sun, 18 Jul 2004 09:14:58 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2004 09:14:58 -0600 (MDT) From: Warren Block To: Leonard Zettel In-Reply-To: <200407181009.59919.zettel@acm.org> Message-ID: <20040718090746.D21197@wonkity.com> References: <20040713074042.GA5126@abigail.blackend.org> <20040718100224.GA84500@abigail.blackend.org> <200407181009.59919.zettel@acm.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.5.3 (wonkity.com [127.0.0.1]); Sun, 18 Jul 2004 09:15:02 -0600 (MDT) cc: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org cc: doc@freebsd.org cc: Ceri Davies cc: "Simon L. Nielsen" Subject: Re: Mouseover definitions for acronyms (was Re: RFC: initialisms and FDP) X-BeenThere: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Documentation project List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2004 15:15:08 -0000 On Sun, 18 Jul 2004, Leonard Zettel wrote: > In my opinion, the best thing to do with acronyms is minimize their use. > Remembering what NIS means puts an extra distracting burden on > the reader, especially if they are already struggling to assimilate a > lot of new concepts, which is likely the case, or they wouldn't > be reading the material in the first place. Acronyms and other forms of jargon have a purpose; for instance, an acronym is one "thing" to remember, rather than a phrase. > I am willing to concede that in some cases usage has extended to > the point where the acronym *is* the word (ftp comes to mind). Many of the acronyms for the glossary are like that. While I like the mouseover idea, I don't understand the need for multiple ones. Why not just have the first occurrence of a term be both a link to the glossary and also have the mouseover definition? (I say this having learned the hard way with tags. More than one is visually distracting.) -Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota USA