You say ‘tomato,’ I say ‘Web site.’ Does it matter how we write it?
In the long run, no. But then, as Keynes said, “In the long run we are all dead.” In the meantime, it helps to follow a couple of simple rules. And on a Web site, it’s always important to be consistent.
In the first place, it should always be the Internet, with a capital I, and the Web, with a capital W. These are the names of specific things, like the Alamo—which always has a capital A. Or like the Monument, if you’re referring to that particular building in London, and not any old monument.
The World-Wide Web is not any old web—not a spider’s web, nor the tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive. So it should always be the Web.
As far as Web site and website go, it probably only matters to be consistent. What I do is use Web site as a noun, when I’m referring to a site itself, and website as an adjective.
If you have a better idea, please let me know! If I like it I might even offer a prize—such as a period of free hosting on Web Costa Blanca…
