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Re: abbreviations

for

From: ckrugman@sbcglobal.net
Date: May 27, 2010 5:18PM

The proper format for the acquired immune deficiency syndrome is "AIDS" in
all capital letters. This avoids any potential confusion.
Chuck
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Conley" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2010 9:11 AM
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] abbreviations


> The issue as I understood it (and I admit that my accessibility training
> is now a few years old, but the content of the site hasn't changed much,
> so I assume/hope it's all still relevant) is that the nature of the web
> allows for users to jump into a page without starting at the top, and so
> it's possible they would have missed that first expansion (each article
> has a table of contents with links to each h2, so if they wanted to they
> could skip the introduction).
>
> What I didn't realize then, and what my issue really is now, is that
> there are some acronyms ('Portable Document Format') that actually may
> be MORE confusing spelled out than in abbreviated form. Out of context I
> think AIDS could go either way (we're a rehab site, so communication
> aids, etc), but in an article about HIV and AIDS it seems unnecessary.
> (Originally my concerns were also for users with intellectual
> disabilities, but while we do provide less technical versions of complex
> articles on the whole these are still aimed at rehab professionals, so...)
>
> Thanks for everyone's responses so far. At least there isn't an
> overwhelming chorus of people telling me how wrong I've been all this
> time.
>
> Dan Conley
> Information Specialist
> Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and
> Exchange (CIRRIE)
> University at Buffalo, Health Sciences Library B6
> Phone: (716) 829-5728
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
> http://cirrie.buffalo.edu
>
> On 5/26/2010 11:48 AM, <EMAIL REMOVED> wrote:
>> Presumably it should depend on the common usage of the acronym.
>> Far more people are going to recognize "HIV/AIDS" than will
>> recognize "Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome".
>>
>> The standard practice for sighted users in formal documents would
>> be to define the term in the first usage along with the acronym,
>> and then use the acronym throughout. E.g.:
>>
>> "Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)".
>>
>> Surely that would also be best practice for screen reader users?
>>
>> -deborah
>>