2012.04.06

There's an awful lot of jargon used in this line of work.
My professional pages are chock full of them: "OJB", "Struts",
"BPM" -- it can all be very confusing for the non-programming 
oriented visitor. 

Having said this, I don't want to expand all the acronyms, 
either. Recruiters who find their way to your site might be 
looking specifically for those acronyms (and may not know -- 
or care -- for what the acronym stands). 

************************************************************
UPDATE (2016.10.11) I've been meaning to update this file
for a while... ever since I found the abbreviation tag.
Read this: http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_abbr.asp
The abbr tag does EXACTLY the same thing I developed below,
although I'm sure the abbr tag is accounted for in screen
readers and so forth where this probably isn't as friendly.
If you insist on avoiding the abbr tag, read on. And I
apologize for not knowing about this sooner.
************************************************************

I found a gentle way to explain the concepts without
removing the jargon in a combination of CSS and plain' ol' HTML 
titles.

========
1. HTML
========

The first step was to surround the term with simple HTML -- 
specifically, an anchor with title and class attributes.


<a class="" title="">SSRS</a>


The attributes will do our heavy lifting for us. In the title
attribute, place the description for the term. 


title="SQL Server Reporting Services"

=======
2. CSS
=======

The second step is our CSS, in which I chose to do two things:
change the cursor to the "help" cursor and modify the text
decoration to show this is a link of a different kind. Behold 
the "define" class:


.define {
		cursor:help;
}
		a .define {
			text-decoration:none;	//erase the original decoration
		}
		.define:hover {
			text-decoration:none;	//display a dashed "underline"
			border-bottom:1px dashed;
		}

=======================
3. PUT IT ALL TOGETHER
=======================		
		
Finally, name the "define" class in our completed HTML:


<a class="define" title="SQL Server Reporting Services">SSRS</a>


Now when your user sees your jargon, a simple mouse-over will:
-  Change the cursor 
-  Reveal a dashed "underline"
-  Display the term's description.

That should be it for now! Feel free to contact me using the 
site's contact form if you have questions. Feel free to use the 
code in your projects. A shout out in your project would be 
thoughtful. Also, drop me a line and let me know how you might 
have tweaked things to better suit your needs. Finally, I wouldn't 
profess to be THE expert on matters represented in my code -- so 
drop me a line if you have constructive suggestions, too. 
I'd like to hear from you!
  

Best,

halfgk


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