Date: Fri, 9 Jul 2004 12:52:07 -0400 From: Bill Moran <wmoran@potentialtech.com> To: Ceri Davies <ceri@FreeBSD.org> Cc: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Acronyms believed harmful Message-ID: <20040709125207.66591fc2.wmoran@potentialtech.com> In-Reply-To: <20040709160642.GB29928@submonkey.net> References: <200407091038.52304.zettel@acm.org> <20040709160642.GB29928@submonkey.net>
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Ceri Davies <ceri@FreeBSD.org> wrote: > On Fri, Jul 09, 2004 at 10:38:52AM -0400, Leonard Zettel wrote: > > > Things like DTD are not English, they > > are jargon! They place an unnecessary > > burden on the reader. This burden > > falls most heavily on newbies and > > (I would imagine) people to whom > > English is a second (or third or fourth) > > language - exactly the people who > > most need the help of clear documentation. > > > > At a minimum I plead for the following rule: > > all uses of acronyms in any document > > should include the term fully spelled out > > at the first appearance of said acronym. > > Well, there's a work in progress(ish) to have the first use of an > acronym expand to a link to it's entry in the glossary. This can't > happen until the glossary is full. Help to fill it. I was going to _try_ to spend some time contributing to this over the weekend. Before I start, I have a policy question: If we look at tech terms that are NOT FreeBSD-specific (such as DTD) should the FreeBSD glossary contain a full definition, or possibly a link to another source? -- Bill Moran Potential Technologies http://www.potentialtech.com
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