Proper spelling: Website or Web site?
If you’re in the same field as me, or interested in becoming an Internet Entrepreneur, then there is a very high probability that you type the word web site Web site website Website daily. But do you spell it correctly?
After meeting with the Small Business Development Center at my alma mater (more on that later), I was advised on several ways to bulletproof my business plan for the newly formed Schultz Media Network, LLC. While rewriting a section, I noticed that I used the word, Website, about a million times, but I wasn’t even sure if I was spelling it right. Eager for a break, and wanting to get to the bottom of it, I decided to do some digging.
Dictionary.com stated that the uncapitalized word, website, is gaining ground just as email is over the once commonly used E-mail: The transition from World Wide Web site to Web site to website as a single uncapitalized word mirrors the development of other technological expressions which have tended to take unhyphenated forms as they become more familiar. Thus email is gaining ground over the forms E-mail and e-mail, especially in texts that are more technologically oriented. Similarly, there is an increasing preference for closed forms like homepage, online, and printout.
Merriam-Webster prefers Web site but doesn’t give any explanation why.
Webmater Techniques believes that the correct usage is Website stating that “Website is not a compound noun…” Because it is a proper noun, it would be one word with a capital “W”.
Lastly, the frequent one-stop shop for all answers on the Internet, Wikipedia had no clear answer either, citing several sources that all have officially adopted different spellings.
Do whatever you want! There was no strong consensus for any of them. How do you spell it?
I go through this all the time myself. It mostly depends on who my audience is. For a tech savvy audience, I’ll use website. For non-tech people, I use Web Site.
I’m not exactly sure why I do it this way, but that’s the strategy I’ve adopted.
How about Web-Sight ;-) ? I say we run on the side of innovation and break away from the shackles of common word affiliation!!!
Let me use good old object-oriented approach to explain what I use. ;-)
I personally use “web site”. The words “web” nor “web site” are certainly not a proper noun as it has been widely accepted for non-specific instances. The similar happened to “internet”.
Whether to write the two together or not - there isn’t any consensus and probably we will not see it soon (if ever). It’s too spread to tell and language is a flexible concept adapting to its use in practice. Personally, I do not write “web” and “site” together because of flexibility. I mean, “web site” is a special case of a “site”. There is also a FTP site. I think the word “site” has been added as a convenience alias for non-technical crowd.
Cheers
Shonzilla
If you’re a journalist, the AP (Associated Press) style is officially Web site. Capital W! Lowercase s!
I usually use website, I don’t know why though.
MS Word spell checker is both fine with “website” and “web site” too
I have to agree with Derek. Can’t go wrong with AP. “Web site” is the proper spelling with the ‘W’ being capitalized. Use this spelling and others will question themselves. ;)