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Re: Use of abbr for the scientiifc equivalent of a vernacular name

for

From: Dan Conley
Date: Apr 30, 2008 6:30AM

I think abbreviation tags should only be used for abbreviations. If
you'd like to get tooltip popups, another option would be to enclose it
in a span tag with a title, and then style the css to display a dotted
underline like abbreviations do. So, <span title="Passer
domesticus">House Sparrow</span>.

I'm not sure how screen readers would handle this, though, but it seems
to be at least slightly better.

Dan Conley
Information Specialist
Center for International Information Research and Exchange (CIRRIE)
University at Buffalo, Health Sciences Library B6
Phone: (716) 829-3900 x145
<EMAIL REMOVED>
http://cirrie.buffalo.edu

Tim Beadle wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 1:02 PM, Andy Mabbett < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>> Can anyone see any accessibility issues with this pattern:
>>
>> <abbr title="Passer domesticus">House Sparrow</abbr>
>>
>> I suspect the former, but would like confirmation; or otherwise, preferably.
>>
>> Perhaps we need a <pseudonym> element? ;-)
>
> It's surely a similar problem to the abbr datetime pattern in
> Microformats? Anyone who has configured abbreviation expansion will
> hear the Latin name, rather than the English one, and may be confused.
>
> Could you make it a user-configurable option? i.e. "Display species
> names in Latin" / "Display species names in English".
>
> Tim
>