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Website Spelling
The forms website and web site are the most commonly used forms, the former
especially in British English. The Associated Press Style book, Reuters,
Microsoft, academia, book publishing, The Chicago Manual of Style, and
dictionaries such as Merriam-Webster use the two-word, initially capitalized
spelling Web site. This is because "Web" is not a general term but a short form
of World Wide Web. As with many newly created terms it may take some time before
a common spelling is finalizedThis controversy also applies to derivative terms
such as web page, web master, and web cam.
The Canadian Oxford Dictionary and the Canadian Press Style book list "website"
and "web page" as the preferred spellings. The Oxford English Dictionary began
using "website" as its standardized form in 2004.
Bill Walsh, the copy chief of The Washington Post's national desk, and one of
American English's foremost grammarians, argues for the two-word spelling with
capital W in his books Lapsing into a Comma and The Elephants of Style, and on
his site, the Slot.
According to the AP Stylebook from the Associated Press, which clarifies the
news organization's rules on grammar, spelling, punctuation and usage, the
proper spelling is Web site.[
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