Missouri S&T uses a combination of Wired and Associated Press styles when writing about the Internet. Because most of our audiences are Internet-savvy, we feel more comfortable embracing the less formal style of Wired as opposed to the conservative approach of the Associated Press Stylebook.

Below are some commonly used Internet terms:

blog. Acceptable on all references. Originally a shortening of the word weblog, blog is now commonly used. Avoid overuse of the term and similar buzzwords (i.e., blogosphere).

email. Always lowercase, not hyphenated. Acceptable on all references.  In keeping with online conventions, all Missouri S&T email addresses should be written in lowercase, as follows:

joeminer@mst.edu

Not:

JoeMiner@mst.edu

gateway. The term used to describe Missouri S&T’s main website. “Missouri S&T’s gateway is www.mst.edu.” Use “website” instead of “gateway” when writing to audiences unfamiliar with the latter term.

homepage. Always lowercase. Should be written as one word.

Internet. Always capitalized. Write “the Internet” when referring to the global network of computers. (Wired recently changed its style guide to lowercase “internet,” but the majority of news organizations continue to capitalize the term.)

online. Always lowercase. One word, both as a noun (“Missouri S&T students like to communicate online”) and an adjective (“Online communications is becoming more popular with college students everywhere”).

URL. The address of a site on the web. Acceptable on all references. Do not use “Uniform Resource Locator.”  For general audiences, it’s better to write “web address” instead. “Missouri S&T’s new web address is www.mst.edu.” Writing “http://” before the web address is no longer necessary.

web. Always lowercase.

website. One word, lowercase. Preferred use for referring to a specific site on the World Wide Web. “http://” is no longer necessary. Just write “www.mst.edu” or “news.mst.edu.”

World Wide Web. This is the most common spelling, and the one we’ll use until a better one comes along. Use “the web” for less formal writing.

For more information on Internet terms, refer to Wired Style: Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age, by Constance Hale and Jessie Scanlon.