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Subject: Re: [dita-translation] Re: Acronym proposal
Hi Andrzej,
I will not be able to make today's call, so I wanted to clarify one point
in advance. It is entirely a technical matter and does not really impact
the actual proposal:
> The proposal is to create an <acronym> element which would be
>a specialized form of the '<data/>' element.
The acronym element itself should probably be specialized from <ph> (or
from <keyword> if DITA 1.2 enhancements allow keyword to nest elements).
This way it will be treated as a normal inline phrase content. One of the
nested elements would be specialized from phrase as well -- likely the
expanded version -- and the other would be specialized from <data>. By
default, processors hide the <data> element in the output because it is a
form of metadata. So, even a system that did not know how to recognize the
acronym element would still properly display one value and hide the other.
Thanks-
Robert D Anderson
IBM Authoring Tools Development
Chief Architect, DITA Open Toolkit
(507) 253-8787, T/L 553-8787
Andrzej Zydron
<azydron@xml-intl
.com> To
Andrzej Zydron
03/19/2007 08:59 <azydron@xml-intl.com>
AM cc
JoAnn Hackos
<joann.hackos@comtech-serv.com>,
dita-translation@lists.oasis-open.o
rg, mambrose@sdl.com,
bhertz@sdl.com, Bryan Schnabel
<bryan.s.schnabel@tek.com>, Charles
Pau/Cambridge/IBM@Lotus,
christian.lieske@sap.com,
dpooley@sdl.com, Dave A
Schell/Raleigh/IBM@IBMUS,
esrig-ia@esrig.com, fsasaki@w3.org,
rfletcher@sdl.com,
"Howard.Schwartz"
<Howard.Schwartz@trados.com>,
ishida@w3.org,
tony.jewtushenko@productinnovator.c
om, KARA@CA.IBM.COM,
ysavourel@translate.com
Subject
[dita-translation] Re: Acronym
proposal
Dear Fellow Committee Members,
This is the revised proposal after some very good feedback:
Acronyms are ubiquitous in technical documentation. Although there are
similarities between acronyms and the glossaries, from the localization
and presentation point of view acronyms are a special case. Acronyms
need to be expanded in the first encounter within a printed document. In
electronic published documents acronym definitions can also be made
available in the form of a hyper link or 'tool tip' mechanism.
For translation, acronym definitions need to be presented in the
nominative case, without any inflection. The best way of doing this
using an automated mechanism is to place the definition of the acronym
in parentheses immediately following the first occurrence of the
acronym, e.g.
Your vehicle is fitted with an ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) and 4WD
(Four Wheel Drive).
The proposal is to create an <acronym> element which would be a
specialized form of the '<data/>' element. The acronym resolution will
be via the conref attribute to the acronym text short and expanded
forms, e.g. <acronym conref="aconyms.dita#abs"/>. The entry in the
aconyms.dita file will be:
<acronym id="abs">
<expanded>Anti-lock Break System</expanded>
<short>ABS</short>
</acronym>
This allows for a different acronym for the target languages if required.
An alternative suggestion from Robert Anderson is to include in the
expanded form the short form declaration, e.g.:
<acronym id="ibm">
<expanded>International Business Machines (IBM)</expanded>
<short>IBM</short>
</acronym>
This provides more control over how the text is rendered to translators
and has much merit.
At compose time, when you are putting together the publication you can
print the full form the first time around, but in parentheses to get
around any potential problems when translating into inflected languages:
<p>The <acronym conref="aconyms.dita#abs"/> facility will
prevent the car from skidding.</p>
The first occurrence in the publication can be published as:
The Anti-lock Brake System (ABS) system will prevent the car from
skidding in adverse weather conditions.
Subsequent instances can then be rendered as:
The ABS system will provide the driver with feedback via the brake pedal.
Acronyms can cause problems for inflected languages. In these instances
for inflected languages the publishing software may use the reverse form
for the first instance:
The ABS (Anti-lock Brake System) system....
This is perfectly acceptable for inflected languages and gets around
having a case neutral nominative rendition of the acronym definition in
parentheses.
Best Regards,
AZ
--
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