A lot of times when I write about the turtle projects that the Turtle Research and Rehabilitation Group carry out, I noticed that I spent quite a fair amount of time defining terms so that it is more laymen-friendly. I don’t quite mind the fact that it slows down the writing process because I enjoy what I’m doing. I enjoy describing and spreading the awareness on the work that we’re doing. But then, the process of explaining every term (sometimes every time I used it), e.g.endoscopy, adds a lot of unnecessary word-clutter to my posts :( And though this isn’t a subject-specific blog, I write about similar things and use similar terms, sometimes repeatedly.

But guess what? I stumbled upon this little WordPress glossary plug-in that enables me to add a glossary page and add the “more scientific” terms that might not be common knowledge to every reader. Heck! Even I didn’t know what those words meant before I started working on the turtle projects! *grins*

The plug-in gives WordPress users a very easy way to create and manage an online glossary of terms relevant to their website, e.g. scientific terms or words in your mother tongue or local language. The plug-in creates an initial master glossary page and automatically links to terms in posts. And all you have to do is add the words and definitions you’d like in your glossary.

However, there are a few things I’d like to see in this plug-in. For one, I’d appreciate the flexibility to insert the “glossary icon” before the word, instead of the default “after”. And since all images inserted in my blog will automatically be wrapped in a border, I’d like to be able to remove the border so that it doesn’t look weird and break my line height (see example above).

I know, I know.. Now I sound like a fussy-pot, no?

Anyway, if you liked what you see here, download the WordPress Glossary Plug-in and try it on your site! Especially so if you have a subject-specific blog – be it a food blog, a scientific blog – OR if you use a lot of local words (e.g. Malay language which only a small group of readers understand) in your blog.

Addendum (8 May 2007): The newest version is compatible with WordPress 2.1. And there are a few other options, e.g. you can choose NOT to display the icon (I have disabled it); or you can have your glossary terms double-underlined (like mine).