<abbreviated-form>The <abbreviated-form> element represents a reference to a term
that might appear in an abbreviated form (often an acronym). The long and short forms of the
term are generally defined in a <glossentry> topic. Processors display
the referenced term when rendering an <abbreviated-form>
element.
<abbreviated-form> elementThe <abbreviated-form> element is intended to reference a
<glossentry> topic that contains both a term and an abbreviated
form of that term. The topic might also provide a surface
form that differs from the original term. The full term or surface form is rendered in introductory contexts where the term might be
unfamiliar to a reader or in other contexts where a precise term is appropriate. In other
contexts a processor substitutes the abbreviated form of the
term. Note that the definition of an introductory context will differ for every deliverable
format.
For instance, a process composing a book deliverable might
emit the surface form of a term on the first reference to the
<glossentry> topic within the book or for every reference within a
copyright or a warranty-related warning. A process generating an online page might emit the surface form as a hover tooltip on every
instance of the term.
<abbreviated-form> element. As described, the definition of
"introductory context" will vary based on the rendered format and processor.<glossentry> topic (or a
specialization of <glossentry>), the title of the topic SHOULD be displayed.<abbreviated-form> is located in an introductory
context, and the referenced topic contains a non-empty
<glossSurfaceForm> element, processors SHOULD render the contents of the
<glossSurfaceForm> element from the referenced
<glossentry> topic.<abbreviated-form> is located in an introductory
context, processors SHOULD render the contents of
the <glossterm> element from the referenced
<glossentry> topic.<glossentry> topic contains a non-empty
<glossAcronym> element, processors SHOULD render the abbreviated form of the term by displaying the contents of
the <glossAcronym> element from the referenced
<glossentry> topic.<glossterm> element from the referenced
<glossentry> topic.For instance, if an <abbreviated-form> element with the attribute
keyref="abs" provided the first occurrence of the ABS term within a book,
the sentence could be rendered as follows:
"The Anti-lock Brake System (ABS) will prevent the car from skidding in adverse weather conditions."
If the ABS term had appeared previously within the book, the same sentence could instead be rendered as follows:
"The ABS will prevent the car from skidding in adverse weather conditions."
See appendix for information about this element in OASIS document type shells.
+ topic/term abbrev-d/abbreviated-form
The term and acronym can be defined as follows, in a
<glossentry> topic. Note that the @id attribute of
the topic does not need to match the term or acronym.
<glossentry id="abs-definition">
<glossterm>Anti-lock Braking System</glossterm>
<glossBody>
<glossSurfaceForm>Anti-lock Braking System (ABS)</glossSurfaceForm>
<glossAlt>
<glossAcronym>ABS</glossAcronym>
</glossAlt>
</glossBody>
</glossentry>Note that there are three important elements for the purposes of rendering the
<abbreviated-form> element.
<glossSurfaceForm> element defines the term as it should be displayed
in an introductory context.<glossAcronym> element defines the acronym associated with this
term.<glossterm> element provides a fallback version of the term, which
will be displayed in situations where the preferred representation is unavailable. The <glossentry> topic will be added to a map in the following manner.
Again, the key (in this case "abs") does not need to match the term or acronym value.
<glossref keys="abs" href="antilock.dita"/>An author who wants to reference this topic can
do so by using the <abbreviated-form> element. The
@keyref attribute references the value defined on
the @keys attribute above.
<section>An <abbreviated-form keyref="abs"/> helps a
driver to stop. For this reason many find an
<abbreviated-form keyref="abs"/> useful.
</section>When rendered, the introductory usage of "abs" will display the surface form of the referenced term, while the later uses will display the acronym, as demonstrated here.
An Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) helps a driver to stop. For this reason many find an ABS useful.
The following attributes
are available on this element: Universal attribute group,
outputclass, and @keyref.