I found this interesting item via a Slashdot article. For the most part, Wired (rss) will no longer capitalize the “I“ in Internet, the “W“ in web (unless the full “World Wide Web“ is used), or the “N“ in net. The Slashdot article asks, “ Is this the next logical step after ditching ‘e-mail’ in favor of ‘email’?” Wired says that the move should not be interpreted as some kind of symbolic demotion. The article states that it is more of a stylistic reality check and they are just placing the medium squarely where it belongs: on an equal footing with radio, television and Gutenberg’s wonderful innovation, moveable type.
I find this interesting because several days ago I was led to this: the Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications. I will repeat what someone else (I forget where I found the link!) had mentioned: too bad it hasn’t been updated in almost 2 years. I downloaded the document and found this nifty item among others:
Use log on to to refer to connecting to a network and log off from (or simply log off) to refer to disconnecting from a network. Do not use log in, login, log onto, log off of, logout, sign off, or sign on. An exception is when other terms are dictated by the interface.
Use logon only as an adjective, as in “logon password,” not as a noun.
Hmmm. I always preferred “email” over “e-mail” and I never liked the terms “logon” and “log on”, preferring “login” and “log in” instead.
Does this mean that these tech terms are now part of our everyday syntax and are subject to multiple spellings, pronunciation, and usage?
(funny - as I was doing a spell check before publishing this my spell checker highlighted “logon” as a misspelling and offered “login” as the logical correct term)