Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2001 18:32:59 +0100 From: Mark Ovens <marko@freebsd.org> To: Nik Clayton <nik@freebsd.org> Cc: John Murphy <jfm@blueyonder.co.uk>, doc@freebsd.org Subject: Re: <acronym> Message-ID: <20010817183259.B275@parish> In-Reply-To: <20010817091230.A59279@clan.nothing-going-on.org>; from nik@freebsd.org on Fri, Aug 17, 2001 at 09:12:30AM %2B0100 References: <hinont8fhal36o8pusq5c3jvc9t2thmdll@4ax.com> <20010817091230.A59279@clan.nothing-going-on.org>
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On Fri, Aug 17, 2001 at 09:12:30AM +0100, Nik Clayton wrote: > On Fri, Aug 17, 2001 at 01:16:13AM +0100, John Murphy wrote: > > I am impressed. It is a good way to write a book :) > > > > However: I'm stuck on the <acronym> tag. I first saw it around IDE, > > then found it not around BIOS or SCSI etc. 'twould seem to me that > > these, and more, are unequivocal throughout the Manual and could, > > therefore, be treated as part of the final process. Else I could easily > > acronymize (sorry), the occurrences I find. > > > > I think i'm confused, because i tend to say I de E, buyos, skuzy. The > > latter two seem more acronymy than the first... (I used to say Lie > > Nux!) > > An acronym is anything formed from (typically the initial) letters from > a phrase. ...that forms a word (either real or contrived), so BIOS and SCSI are acronyms, but IDE isn't (unless you pronounce it "eyed"), and neither is PCI, IBM, etc. c.f. OED acronym. /'aekranim/ n. word made from initial letters of other words. > So BIOS, SCSI, RAID, and IDE are all acronyms. An > abbreviation is a shortened form of a word. > > > Abbreviation tag anyone? > > There is an <abbrev> element. . . > > As to whether we use the elements or not -- there's no "formal" policy on > this. My personal opinion is that we have, through general usage, evolved > a core set of elements that we use in the documentation -- things like > <filename>, <replaceable>, <username>, the &man.foo.x; entities, and so on. > If a document is submitted that doesn't use these elements where appropriate > then I'd try to add it to the mark up before committing it. > > Then there are "non-core" elements. <acronym> and <abbrev> fall in to > this category. They are nice to have, but it's not a showstopper if > they're not used when they should be. But they do add to the value in > the text (because then we can produce tables of acronyms, allowing > readers to see where acronyms like "IDE" are used in the text), so if > you, or anyone else, wants to tighten up the mark up in text that you're > looking at then you should feel free to do so. > > N > -- > FreeBSD: The Power to Serve http://www.freebsd.org/ > FreeBSD Documentation Project http://www.freebsd.org/docproj/ > > --- 15B8 3FFC DDB4 34B0 AA5F 94B7 93A8 0764 2C37 E375 --- -- 4.4 - The number of the Beastie ________________________________________________________________ 51.44°N FreeBSD - The Power To Serve http://www.freebsd.org 2.057°W My Webpage http://ukug.uk.freebsd.org/~mark mailto:marko@freebsd.org http://www.radan.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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