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The <abbr> tag is useful to clarify abbreviations without hunting down external links for them.

Migrating this from: Link

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    Isn't most of geekdom <abbr>TLA</abbr> s? Where would it end... at the minimum, we'd need a keyboard shortcut too ;-p
    – Marc Gravell
    Nov 15, 2009 at 21:38
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    Right now I try to provide wikipedia articles on the TLA. It can be useful when you have (the inevitable with only three letters) acronim clash.
    – perbert
    Nov 15, 2009 at 22:55
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    Can <abbr Title="Have">haz</abbr> <abbr Title="Please">plz</abbr>?
    – Andrew Grimm
    Dec 10, 2010 at 6:51
  • See also What HTML tags are allowed on Stack Overflow, Server Fault, and Super User?.
    – outis
    Aug 24, 2011 at 19:40
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    So...where's the <abbr> tag?
    – Jeromy French
    Feb 21, 2013 at 1:36
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    Would really like to just say <abbr title="Liskov Substitution Principle">LSP</abbr> once in a post/answer, and then just use the short form LSP elsewhere in the body of the text. Either I'd get dinged by putting LSP in the answer and people would vote down ("What's LSP??"), or type the whole thing out and people would vote down (abbreviate to LSP)--it's a no-win situation. You want to cater to as many people as you can, but not everyone has the same amount of knowledge and/or experience. SE is about sharing knowledge, and this tag would help us to do that more effectively for all audiences.
    – fourpastmidnight
    Feb 20, 2016 at 19:01
  • What is the gist of it? perbert's answers demonstrates that the desired functionality is available (title attribute in the rendered HTML for the a (link) tag), but at the expense of having to use a link (internal or external)? Perhaps add a status- tag? Like status-completed if it is sufficient - "Indicates that the report has been resolved through the implementation of a feature or the fixing of a bug."
    – This_is_NOT_a_forum
    Dec 2, 2021 at 13:36
  • Or isn't it sufficient?
    – This_is_NOT_a_forum
    Dec 2, 2021 at 13:41
  • @fourpastmidnight If users are voting down a post for spelling out Liskov Substitution Principle (LSP) on first use and LSP on subsequent uses, maybe you need other users. (NB: I also want the abbr tag)
    – gerrit
    Nov 4, 2022 at 11:26
  • @gerrit And while one could do as you did, write it out long form (provide abbreviation in parenthesis), the <abbr title='' /> tag allows you to accomplish the same thing, and in most browsers today, providing a dashed underline and a different mouse cursor when hovering over it, to provide a tooltip for the full text of the abbreviation. And most importantly, the <abbr title='' /> tag is Accessibility friendly, as screen readers can be configured to always "talk out" the abbreviation instead of saying L-S-P. (And yes, I did see that you are in favor of this proposal. :) )
    – fourpastmidnight
    Nov 4, 2022 at 14:44

2 Answers 2

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<abbr Title="I Would Really Like To Have This">IWRLTHT</abbr>

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Honestly, if the abbreviation needs clarification, the external link is more useful IMO.

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    Don't you mean "TBH, if the abbr needs clarification, the EL is more useful IMO."?
    – Andrew Grimm
    Jan 7, 2011 at 2:30
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    Sites like EL&U will be using acronyms that are useful for the experts but are not part of the general lingo. Dictionaries, references and so on are often abbreviated; an abbr tag will help us teach users the new terms without requiring people to link or expand the same term dozens of times.
    – MrHen
    Apr 27, 2011 at 16:39
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    +1 External link + title would be good.
    – Time Traveling Bobby
    Feb 14, 2012 at 13:30
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    Hyperlinks and abbreviation tags are not mutually exclusive! I agree with @Time Traveling Bobby.
    – James Haigh
    Mar 10, 2015 at 4:09

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