Mouseover definitions for acronyms (was Re: RFC: initialisms and FDP)

[Warren Block]

On Sun, 18 Jul 2004, Leonard Zettel wrote:

> In my opinion, the best thing to do with acronyms is minimize their use.
> Remembering what NIS means puts an extra distracting burden on
> the reader, especially if they are already struggling to assimilate a
> lot of new concepts, which is likely the case, or they wouldn't
> be reading the material in the first place.

Acronyms and other forms of jargon have a purpose; for instance, an 
acronym is one "thing" to remember, rather than a phrase.

> I am willing to concede that in some cases usage has extended to
> the point where the acronym *is* the word (ftp comes to mind).

Many of the acronyms for the glossary are like that.

While I like the mouseover idea, I don't understand the need for 
multiple ones.  Why not just have the first occurrence of a term be both 
a link to the glossary and also have the mouseover definition?

(I say this having learned the hard way with <application> tags.  More 
than one is visually distracting.)

-Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota USA