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Acronyms and Abbreviations
ISSUE:
The occurance of acronyms and abbreviations on a Web page may be problematic for some visitors. Screen-readers may attempt to pronounce acronyms and abbreviations — these pronunciations may be misleading or unintelligible to the screen-reader user. Individuals with information tracking impairments may have difficulty determining the text to which an acronym or abbreviation refers. In general, visitors may simply be unfamiliar with acronyms and abbreviations commonly used by an institution, organization or other entity.
It is important that the first occurrence of an acronym in the body of a document be preceded by the full title to which the acronym refers. As visitors navigate towards the end of a Web page, the text to which an acronym refers may scroll from view or be inaccessible to users of some adaptive technologies. Repeated exposure to the full name of an institution, organization or other entity can be beneficial — visitors will be more likely to remember the name and share it with friends and associates.
STANDARD:
- The first occurrence of an acronym on a page must be preceded by the full title to which the acronym refers.
- Avoid the use of acronyms and abbreviations in link text.
- Do not use acronyms and abbreviations in the alternative text for Images or other non-text elements.
EXAMPLE:
When used as part of a link, the <ACRONYM> and <ABBR> elements may be used to denote and expand acronyms and abbreviations. The <ACRONYM> tag will cause the specified title to be read by a screen-reader and visibly displayed when a mouse pointer is placed on the link containing the acronym. The <ABBR> tag does not visibly display the specified title - the expanded text is read by screen-readers only.
Note: The <ACRONYM> and <ABBR> elements are part of the HTML 4.0 specifications and will only be interpreted by browsers that support the HTML 4.0 standards.
<a href="http://www1.umn.edu/twincities/"><ACRONYM title="University of Minnesota, Twin cities ">UMN TC</ACRONYM></a>
NOTE: The blank space between the final character and the closing quotation mark in the acronym title is necessary to prevent the title and the acronym from being read as a single word by screen-readers.
