TamWiki

Online Advice About Online Style

From: Crawford Kilian [ckilian@NOSPAMSPAMSPAMSPAMEGGSANDSPAMhubcap.mlnet.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 1998 3:18 PM
To: online-writing@planetarynews.com
Subject: Re: Why must I 'check out' a Web site?

Charles J. Burns,charlesb@NOSPAMITYSPAMSPAMHASHBROWNSANDSPAMmediainfo.com,Internet writes:
This raises what (to me, at any rate) are interesting (and related) issues:

Style in on-line writing: how it differs from traditional writing conventions for the printed page. How do things one can only do-line (like hyperlinks or text which changes as a result of a mouse rollover, for example) affect the author's turn of phrase, choice of words, or focus?

AND

The standardization (or current lack thereof) of Internet (and here I've really put the cart before the horse: does one capitalize Internet when writing about the greater Internet as an entity? I do, and it seems that most writers do as well) terminology both in material written for on-line and print publication.

Are there any official 'standards' beyond some loosely accepted conventions (like the aforementioned capitalization issue, and the use of a dash in e-mail), and who decides what they are?

Anybody want to comment? I'm particularly interested in any on-line guides to 'Internet Style' or definitive lists of proper 'usage' and orthography of Internet and on-line terminology that OWLers may have found.

CK:

Here's a 'Jump Page' from my forthcoming Write for the Web, which includes URLs for Jutta Degener's super pages--she doesn't like 'check out' and says 'Internet' deserves a capital I, if only to distinguish the global Net from local networks of networks (internets).

Jump Page: Online Advice About Online Style

Here are some pages that offer good advice about writing for the Web. Such pages usually offer still more links to additional resources. You can also find more by using search engines and phrases like 'Webstyle' or 'Webwriting' or 'Writing for the Web'.

Tim Berners-Lee's CERN Style Guide:
http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/Introduction.html

Jakob Nielsen:
http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/

Jutta Degener on writing and editing for the Web:
http://kbs.cs.tu-berlin.de/~jutta/index.html
http://kbs.cs.tu-berlin.de/~jutta/ht/writing.html

Yale Center for Advanced Instructional Media: Web Style Guide
http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/contents.html

Joe Gillespie's Web Page Design for Designers
http://www.wpdfd.com/wpdhome.htm

Jeffrey Zeldman's Ask Dr. Web:
http://www.zeldman.com/faq.html

Web Pages That Suck
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/

Webmaster - Web Writing Style Resources
http://www.cio.com/summaries/web/content/

David Siegel's Net Tips for Writers & Designers (Web Wonk)
http://www.dsiegel.com/tips/index.html

World Wide Web Unleashed (Web enhancement for print book)
http://www.december.com/works/wwwu.html

Creating Killer Websites Online (Web enhancement for print book)
http://killersites.com/

Crawford Kilian ckilian@NOSPAMSPAMSPAMGREENEGGSBACONHAMANDSPAMhubcap.mlnet.com
http://www.capcollege.bc.ca/magic/cmns/crofpers.html
Fiction Writer's Page:
http://www.capcollege.bc.ca/magic/cmns/fwp.html

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