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Posted by Toby Inkster on 02/06/06 10:26
John Salerno wrote:
> Is it recommended to use <abbr> more than once for the same abbreviation
> on a page? Or should it just be used on the first occurrence?
Ideally (and I'm not saying that I do this myself) you'd expand the
abbreviation on its first usage, but on further usages just indicate that
it *is* an abbreviation, thus giving screen-readers a better chance at
spelling out initialisms, rather than trying to pronounce them as a word.
(I have no idea which readers are smart enough to take the hint though!)
Example:
first occurance: <abbr title="United Kingdom">UK</abbr>
later occurance: <abbr class="already-expanded">UK</abbr>
With:
<style type="text/css">
ABBR {
border-bottom: 1px dotted;
cursor: help;
}
ABBR.already-expanded {
border-bottom: 1px dotted silver;
cursor: inherit;
}
</style>
I'm sure that Jukka will suggest simply putting the abbreviation in
parentheses after its first use. This has its merits, particularly for
abbreviations that are both important to your message and unlikely to be
already known by the reader. The reader will see the expansion more
easily. Perhaps in such a case, it should be written as:
first occurance: <dfn>UK</dfn> (United Kingdom)
later occurance: <abbr class="already-expanded">UK</abbr>
You might even want to mix both the styles I've mentioned, using the first
for abbreviations that the user might be reasonably expected to already
know, or where the expension of the abbreviation is unimportant; and the
second style for abbreviations that require more explanation.
Other people may have better ideas.
--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
Contact Me ~ http://tobyinkster.co.uk/contact
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