# Acronym glossary plugin?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/acronym-glossary-plugin/25676
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [February 25, 2015, 3:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/acronym-glossary-plugin/25676 "2015-02-25T15:05:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@downey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/downey)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2015, 3:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/acronym-glossary-plugin/25676/1 "2015-02-25T15:05:46Z")
Just was thinking that some communities might benefit from an acronym expander. i.e., Automatically create a link when a matched acronym or other term appears in a post that would give a hover tip or other such UI junk that would explain what the term means.
We probably wouldn’t use this because we try hard to avoid jargon, but I’ve seen it elsewhere and found it useful. So maybe someone will be interested in picking this up and running with it. 😉
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### Author:  [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/acronym-glossary-plugin/25676/2 "2015-02-25T21:53:21Z")
A problem might be that some acronyms depend on context.
That is, depending on the “field” - medical, web dev, electronics etc.
the same acronym would mean different things.
eg. ESR
> **[What does ESR stand for?](https://www.abbreviations.com/ESR)**
>
> Looking for the definition of ESR? Find out what is the full meaning of ESR on Abbreviations.com! 'Electron Spin Resonance' is one option -- get in to view more @ The Web's largest and most authoritative acronyms and abbreviations resource.
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### Author:  [@downey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/downey)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/acronym-glossary-plugin/25676/3 "2015-02-25T22:13:40Z")
Yes, this would need to be maintained by the community, admin, etc., for sure.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2015, 12:38am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/acronym-glossary-plugin/25676/4 "2015-02-26T00:38:15Z")
I believe the HTML tag already works for this?
What does HTML mean?
`What does HTML mean?`
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### Author:  [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2015, 1:04am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/acronym-glossary-plugin/25676/5 "2015-02-26T01:04:28Z")
I often emulate what I’ve seen in technical articles, expanding the first time only eg.
“If you put the data into CSV - **C** omma **S** eparated **V** alues - files then you can use PHP’s CSV functions”
Of course this requires the poster to have the thought to do so, but it works (or _should_)
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### Author:  [@downey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/downey)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/acronym-glossary-plugin/25676/6 "2015-02-26T14:50:00Z")
> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> I believe the HTML tag already works for this?
Yes, it does … the idea here is to **automatically** wrap those words that match pre-determined acronyms/terms, rather than rely on someone to do it manually. Indeed, the problem to solve is people using those terms but forgetting to kindly expand them, as @Mittineague does. :-).
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### Author:  [@erlend\_sh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/erlend_sh)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2016, 3:46pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/acronym-glossary-plugin/25676/7 "2016-02-12T15:46:02Z")
This now exists as a plugin:
> [@Abbreviations and acronyms plugin](https://meta.discourse.org/t/abbreviations-and-acronyms-plugin/38501):
>
> I participate in a community where there are enthusiasts with lots of knowledge and newbies with not that much knowledge. It has become a habit that experts use lots of acronyms and abbreviations to refer to common terms, or famous webpages or to name known brands in their field of expertise, sometimes they use only initials when referring to famous people in the field, etc. This is not a problem for the oldest participants in the community, but some new people are having a hard time reading som…
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### Author:  [@erlend\_sh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/erlend_sh)
#### Post date: [February 12, 2016, 3:46pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/acronym-glossary-plugin/25676/8 "2016-02-12T15:46:06Z")