<abbrev>

Abbreviation or Acronym

Abbreviation, acronym, or emoticon used in the text of a document, possibly including an expansion of the acronym.

Remarks

Placement: The <abbrev> element is intended for marking abbreviations in running text, and not for the documentation of common abbreviations in a list of symbols and abbreviated terms.
Usage: Although an abbreviation is typically a few capitalized letters (“NIH”, “WHO”, “UN”, or “GAO”), emoticons (“;-)”) can also be tagged as abbreviations (“smile-wink”).
Linking: The linking attributes (with the standard XLink attributes) may be used to provide a live link to an expansion, definition, or additional explanation.
Accessibility: Sometimes an <abbrev> needs to be pronounced in a way that is not reflected in its content or its tagging. The @alt attribute can be used to record the pronunciation for screen readers and other accessibility devices. For example, the abbreviation “WHO” might be better pronounced as “World Health Organization” or as “W.H.O.” than as “who”as the word would normally be. The @alt attribute can also be used to provide the textual interpretation of a symbol such as an emoticon (for “;-)” use “alt="smile-wink"”).

Attributes

Model Description

Any combination of:

This element may be contained in:

Example 1

For an abbreviation:
...
<p>... The first time an abbreviation is used in text, 
it shall be placed in parentheses and shall be preceded 
by the word or term spelled out in full (for example, 
circuit (<abbrev>ckt</abbrev>), frequency converter 
(<abbrev>freq conv</abbrev>), and maximum working pressure 
(<abbrev>mwp</abbrev>)). ...</p>
...

Example 2

For an acronym:
...
<list-item>
 <label>f.</label>
 <p>Replacement of the DoD Index of Specifications and 
  Standards (<abbrev>DoDISS</abbrev>) with the Acquisition 
  Streamlining and Standardization Information System 
  (<abbrev alt="A.S.S.I.S.T.">ASSIST</abbrev>) database.</p>
</list-item>
...