July 5, 2007: Issue 195
NOTE: SIM style on Web site names changed in October 2007. See the new rules.
Site seeing, part I
Website names are proper nouns. When we name a website in body text, the first letter or a logical internal letter must be capped. (We don’t use quotation marks or italics.) Other internal letters may be capped as well. Because we don’t break up a site name with spaces, these capitalized letters help a reader process the name. That’s crucial if we expect her to enter the name in a Web browser.
Here are standard capitalizations for SIM websites:
AllPeopleQuilt.com
bhgScrapbooksEtc.com
DiabeticLivingOnline.com
DIYideas.com
HeartHealthyOnline.com
KitchenBathIdeas.com
RemodelingCenter.com
Sentence capitalization rules still apply: The first letter is always up, whether it’s the t in the, the m in Meredith, or the e in eBay.
In display type, key letters can be emphasized with a type treatment other than caps—weight or size, for instance:
allpeoplequilt.com
diyideas.com
Please note that we’re talking about site names, not URLs. When you list a complete Web address, include the www or http:// and don’t capitalize anything:
www.allpeoplequilt.com
www.diyideas.com
Next week: Redirects.
On SIMStylebook.com: Find more about handling website names.
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