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Best Practices for Acronym tag

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From: Pajak, Arthur
Date: May 19, 2005 10:10AM

Hi, Everyone.

I'm new to the list and new at my job and I was recently discussing the
acronym tag during a meeting. I know how to implement it, but I'm
curious about best practices. I've read that it's best practice to use
it only for the first instance of the acronym. I agree with the spirit
of this guideline, but it sometimes looks a little strange to me in
practice. Consider this sentence, for example:

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established in 1949 in
support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, D.C., on
April 4, 1949.

It seems a little strange to me to use the <acronym> tag on "NATO" when
it is spelled out just before it. Should it be used in a case like this?
Our web writing style guide already says that acronyms should be spelled
out on their first instance, so I'm wondering if I should recommend that
the <acronym> tag be used as well. It could have an effect on the dozens
of HTML-challenged writers we have. Does it benefit those who use screen
readers to have it spelled out before AND surrounded by an <acronym>
tag?

A follow-up question... How do screen readers handle multiple instances
of the acronym? If you use the acronym tag on the first instance, will
the screen reader remember the title of that same acronym later on the
page?

Thanks very much.
--
Artie Pajak
Usability Specialist
Blink-TritonLink Web Portals
University of California, San Diego