Writing for the Web

Yahoo has released a style guide for web writing - in print. (The irony of the fact that it's a book is not lost on me, but of course they are entitled to make money...) However, there are a number of good bits of information available on the web site for the book. For example, web readers are more likely than print readers to scan a page before they decide whether to devote any more time to the page, so short sentences work best. There is also a word list which dictates how to spell, capitalize, or punctuate technology terms. For example, email is the preferred form, but e-commerce, e-reader, and other e- words are still hyphenated.

Post No Bills

Here's a great visual pun. The text says "post no bills" - which is to say, don't put any advertisements here - but it's accompanied by stenciled pictures of four well known Bills - Murphy, Gates, Clinton, and Cosby. The pictures can be found around Toronto and are apparently the work of a graffiti artist. I found this page from a post in the Word A Day newsletter. Need help increasing your vocabulary? Sign up for their five-days-per-week email and learn new words. The theme for this week is words that look like one part of speech but are another. Today's word is contumely, which is actually a noun.