abbreviations, acronyms, and glossaries

Subject: abbreviations, acronyms, and glossaries
From: John -dot- Cornellier -at- PARIS -dot- IE -dot- PHILIPS -dot- COM
Date: Wed, 9 Jul 1997 14:26:42 +0200

When to use acronyms & abbreviations, and when to write out in full? Any general
guidelines?
Since my productivity isn't measured by the thickness of my manuals, I like to
be brief. I understand that one of the criteria for reading ease is average
word-length.
If an accronym or abbreviation exists for a name, then I spell it out the first
few times, then use the short form. (I'm talking about paper manuals here -
Winhelp has those nice little glossary popups).
Is it ever better to spell out in full? Maybe when there are too many new terms
and the user's brain runs out of EEPROM (memory)?
Explanations could be put in a glossary, but is there any evidence that people
read glossaries? I guess footnotes are no longer appropriate outside acedemia?
John -dot- Cornellier -at- paris -dot- ie -dot- philips -dot- com

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