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Re: ABBR vs. just spelling it out.

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From: Christian Heilmann
Date: Mar 22, 2006 10:00AM


> Can you explain why you feel that acronyms and abbreviations are a content
> type requiring specific markup but there is no requirement for complex words
> to likewise be defined each time they appear? Which disabled populations
> need acronym expansions but don't need word definitions?

Poor example. A word like "selfindulgence" or "flamebait" does make
sense, even if I don't necessarily understand it, however an acronym
like IA could be "Interaction Architect", "Information Architecture"
or "International Alcoholism" depending on the context it is used in.
Same for abbreviations like "int", which could be international,
intentional, integer or intrinsic to name just a few.