[Sigia-l] RE: Use of FAQ

[Bollaert, Jodi]

Adam,

My experience, and a common rule of thumb, is that you should spell out
acronyms the first time they are used, unless you are certain the audience
already knows what it means.  If your audience is non-expert, as you say,
they may not know what FAQ stands for.  If it's a navigation label, I
recommend spelling it out.  On the FAQ page, I would also spell it out in
the heading with "(FAQ)" in parentheses afterward if you're going to
reference "FAQ" elsewhere on the page.  If you're not going to reference it
again, then displaying the acronym may be unnecessary.  As an alternative,
you could also use shorter labels like "Help", "Tips", etc., especially if
the FAQs really aren't FAQs.

I wrote an article last year on this topic that you may also find helpful at
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/usability/library/us-faq/.

Good luck!

Jodi

*************************************
Jodi Bollaert
Compuware Professional Services
1-800-292-7432, ext. 10370
jodi.bollaert at compuware.com
 

> 
> If you're providing a Frequently Asked Questions page for a non-expert
> audience, do they understand the FAQ abbreviation? Would it 
> be better to
> present it as "FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions" or just FAQ 
> by itself?
> Has anyone observed this during testing?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Adam Doerr
> Senior Writer



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