Avoid abbreviations and acronyms

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When in doubt, spell it out.

The advantage of improved clarity far outweighs the disadvantage of longer text. The use of too many abbreviations and acronyms is one of the most frequent reasons why readers fail to understand manuals and dislike reading them.

Abbreviate terms only if they appear in narrow table cells or other tight spaces.

Use acronyms only:

if the acronym is also used in other materials that you can’t change

if the acronym is also used in the user interface of your product

if you’re sure that all readers know the meaning of the acronym

if you need to use the term that the acronym stands for very often

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If you can’t avoid using an acronym

When you use an acronym, spell it out the first time, and then add the acronym in parentheses.

In a printed manual, the “first time” is the page with the lowest page number.

In online help, the “first time” is the topic that will be used either the earliest or the most frequently.

When spelling out the acronym, don’t capitalize the words that make up the acronym unless the spelled-out form is a proper noun.

Yes:

original equipment manufacturer (OEM)

Yes:

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

If the pronunciation of an acronym isn’t evident, provide a hint.

Yes:

WYSIWYG (pronounced “wiz-zee-wig”)

Yes:

W3C (W three C)

Use capital letters without periods (exception: some geographic names).

Yes:

USB

Yes:

XML

Yes:

EU

Yes:

U.S.

Yes:

U.K.

To form the plural of an acronym, add a lowercase s without an apostrophe.

Yes:

PCs

Yes:

CPUs

Use an apostrophe only if you need to form a possessive of an acronym.

Yes:

the OEM’s products

Don’t include a generic term after an acronym if one of the acronym’s letters stands for the same term.

No:

HTML language

(Note: the letter L already stands for the word language because HTML is the acronym for Hypertext Markup Language.)

Yes:

HTML

Yes:

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)

 

Handling common abbreviations

In English, there are a number of common Latin abbreviations for frequently used word and phrases, such as “i.e.” for “that is” or “e.g.” for “for example.”

Even though these Latin abbreviations are very common, avoid them when possible. Many readers don’t know which words these terms abbreviate or they confuse the abbreviations. In particular, “i.e.” and “e.g.” are often confused.

Usually, the few extra characters needed to spell out the words are a good investment in clarity. Use Latin abbreviations only in situations where there isn’t enough space to spell out the words, such as in narrow table columns.

Instead of …

use …

i.e.

that is, in other words

e.g.

for example

etc.

and so on

Note: It’s OK to use etc. for most audiences because it can’t be confused with any other abbreviation.

et al.

and others

cf.

compare

viz.

namely

vs., v.

versus, as opposed to

Note: It’s acceptable to use vs. in headings.