[thesite] Eliminating jargon in articles

[Madhu Menon]

At 12:13 PM 11/9/2001, you wrote:
>Confusing. If I have to stop with each group of letters that's not a word
>and decide if it's an acronym or an abbreviation, it adds complexity without
>(as far as I know) adding value. But, does using both abbreviation and
>acronym add value that I'm missing?

Well... one elegant solution for this is to use the <acronym> tag only for 
the first instance of the acronym or abbreviation. So, you're talking about 
J2EE in article, use it only the first time it's mentioned.

As for when to add it, I would have to say, "use common sense". Like Adrian 
said, HTML, URL, HTTP etc. that come in the "things you better know before 
you become a web developer" category don't require explaining. Something 
like "802.11" or "NAT" *does*.

It also depends on your audience. If you're writing for a larger audience, 
it's to your credit if they understand you. If your audience is smaller and 
speak the jargon of the trade, you can do without the tags.

Madhu

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Madhu Menon
User Experience Consultant
e-mail: webguru at vsnl.net