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Acronyms

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From: Rachel
Date: Dec 10, 2002 5:02PM

Hi WebAimers,

I?m pretty new to Section 508 issues and I appreciate
your help.

I am helping develop page templates for a site that
will be updated by authors who don?t know HTML (using
a CMS with a very basic built-in WYSIWIG HTML editor).

I know that the authors will be using lots of acronyms
in their content. I don?t think the authors will have
the capability or patience to add a <acronym
title="spelled out version of the acronym goes here">
tag to every acronym they use. But I think some of
them might be able to handle adding a simple <acronym>
tag by hand.

I?m thinking of suggesting the following to the
authors:

The first time you mention a name on the page, spell
it out and follow it with the acronym in parentheses.
Example:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Thereafter, you can use the acronym.

OPTIONAL:

Every time you write an acronym, write <acronym>
before it and </acronym> after it. Example:
Environmental Protection Agency
(<acronym>EPA</acronym>)

(The purpose of this option is to assist screen
readers in pronouncing the acronym correctly. In the
site CSS file, we'll define the style of the acronym
tag as { speak: spell-out })

QUESTION:

Does anyone see any problems with this approach? Does
anyone have any better solutions?

Thanks,
Rachel Sengers


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