The Motive Web Design Glossary
initialism
An initialism is a phrase or multi-word name that has been abbreviated to the first letter of each word, and is pronounced as a series of individual letters.
For example HTML (the computer language used to author webpages), is an initialism of HyperText Markup Language, and is pronounced: “H-T-M-L”.
Initialism are often used in email to soften the tone of communication (in a character-count-conscious manner).
Common initialisms
Warning: Some content may be disagreeable to certain viewers. Reader discretion is advised.
- 2LD
- second-level domain: the part of a website address that identifies the community; in New Zealand examples include:
.co,.gen, and.net - AFAIC
- as far as I’m concerned
- AFAIK
- as far as I know
- BCC
- blind carbon copy (email): do not disclose the email addresses in this field to others receiving the email
- BTW
- by the way
- CC
- carbon copy (email): also send this email to the following addresses (disclosing the email addresses to all others receiving the email)
- CC
- conditional comment (code): a proprietary feature of IE that uses a declaration inside an HTML comment to deliver code only to IE browsers; can be restricted to a browser version or range of versions (see hack)
- CSS
- Cascading Style Sheets: a computer language used to control the visual aspects (presentation) of web content, including layout, colour, typefaces, etc.
- DDMMYY
- day-day, month-month, year-year: indicating the required input values for a date in the format of numbers for day month and year values (with a placeholder zero for single-digits). For example the 3 May 2006 would be entered as: ‘030506’. The year value is also often requested as a four-digit value: DDMMYYYY
- dHTML
- dynamic HTML: using JavaScript to change webpage display, often referred to when discussing drop-down or fly-out navigation lists
- FWIW
- for what it’s worth
- FOUC
- flash of unstyled content: when a webpage HTML loads before its stylesheet due to IE’s implementation of the @import directive. Initially content is shown using the browser default styles, when the stylesheet loads the webpage is redrawn or ‘flashes’.
- GWG
- [New Zealand] Government Web Guidelines: Guidelines for the management and design of New Zealand public sector websites.
- HTML
- HyperText Markup Language: a computer language used to write (author) webpages.
- HTH
- hope this helps/hope that helps
- IE
- (Microsoft) Internet Explorer web browser
- IMHO
- in my humble opinion
- IMO
- in my [less humble] opinion
- IR
- image replacement: a technique for replacing HTML-text with an image, often using CSS
- KHTML
- Konqueror HTML layout engine: used (among others) by the Apple Safari browser
- LOL
- laugh out loud
- NN
- Netscape Navigator web browser
- NDA
- Non-disclosure agreement: a legally-binding document signed prior to a forming a formal business relationship; often setting out the terms under which information has been provided by the client to the contractor, and the confidentiality requirements associated with accepting a contract
- OT
- off-topic: the response does not relate to the original point being discussed
- PIE
- Position is Everything: A website for website designers/developers focusing on CSS and JavaScript. The moniker is a reference to achieving webpage layout without using HTML tables.
- PITA
- pain in the ass
- TLD
- top-level domain: either the country code (ccTLD) or generic (gTLD) part of a web address
- TIA
- thanks in advance
- UAT
- user acceptance testing: often the final stage of software development where a program is trialed by end-users.
- UCE
- unsolicited commercial email; also referred to as ‘spam’
- W3C
- World Wide Web Consortium: An independent international organisation that
develops specifications, guidelines, software, and tools to lead the Web to its full potential
. - WAI
- Web Accessibility Initiative: a taskforce of the W3C focused on enabling equal access to web content for people with disabilities
- WCAG
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines: Principles, checkpoints and techniques for making web content accessible to people with disabilities; created by the W3C WAI
- WWW
- World Wide Web: the content of, and the links created between, webpages; often pronounced, using a truncated spoken form of the letter ‘w’, as “dub-dub-dub”
- YMMV
- your mileage may vary: the advice/opinion provided is likely to be subject to variation, either as a result of context, technical constraint or personal preference
References and further reading
- Hacker Writing Style (Eric Raymond, The Jargon File)
Exploring the impact of computer programming on written language (style and grammar). - Styling abbreviations and acronyms (Mozilla Developer Center)
For accessibility purposes, abbreviations and acronym elements can be expanded by adding atitleattribute. Thetitleattribute may be read by a screen reader in place of the abbreviation. (As good practice an abbreviation or acronym should be written in full the first time it appears in the body copy of a webpage.) The addition of thetitleattribute will change how the element is rendered, adding a dotted underline. For sighted uses this dotted underline is readily confused for a hyperlink and can impeding reading/scanning.
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