Wired Style: Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age

This is one of my all-time favorite style guides. Compact, up-to-date, informational yet fun to read. Wired Style answers questions that apparently never occurred to Strunk and White (or to Chicago Manual of Style). The answers are not as prescriptive as those in some style guides, but are written more like "guides" that reveal the thought processes behind the suggestions.

If you're not careful, reading this book could make you feel pretty hip, pretty web-savvy, and maybe even a little superior; but you might feel a little dirty when it's all over.First off, and most importantly, Wired Style isn't a style book. Strunk & White for the web, it ain't. That book hasn't been written yet. Wired Style is certainly written in the Wired style, but it provides mostly definitions and few examples of usage.Wired Style *is* funny sometimes, witty sometimes and condescending often. It may help you learn a fair bit about the web. I could even say it's an engaging read. But it's not gonna help you become a better writer, which is what style guides are intended to do. A better-informed writer? OK.So, essentially, Wired Style is, you know, it's pretty snazzy, rad, awesome, boss. It's da bomb. It's way cool. (Sorry, I guess you get the point.) Which means it'll sound pretty out-dated within a few years. But it makes for a light, fun, superiority complex-inducing read right now.For those concerned with "e-mail" versus "email," "web site" versus "website" and other similar dilemmas, just strive for consistency in your own writing. Also, hyphens usually disappear over time, so if you're typing "email" instead of "e-mail," you're just ahead of the curve; we'll probably all be writing it that way eventually.

It's as bad as the most vitriolic say it is. It's as cool as the most vehement insist it is. But it's WIRED--end of story.WIRED is the de facto arbiter of digital language. The mag has positioned itself squarely between geeks and the rest of us who live in the world they make. No other wide-circulation publication (that I know of) displays both extreme hi-tech savvy and a genuine open hand to those without technical expertise.Hate them for their arrogance, their presumption, their questionable taste, their bizarre concepts of organization, but they've got the floor. What'cha gonna do?

As an editor of an online publication, I find myself picking up Wired Style again and again. It has great definitions for terms that frequently come up. Want to know what open source is? Or asynchronous transfer mode? There's also cute stuff in there, like who coined the word nerd (Dr. Seuss). I'm not sure I would pick this book up just to read, but if you're in a position where you need to look up terms quickly, this is the best out there in the high-tech arena.

As an editor of an online publication, I find myself picking up Wired Style again and again. It has great definitions for terms that frequently come up. Want to know what open source is? Or asynchronous transfer mode? There's also cute stuff in there, like who coined the word nerd (Dr. Seuss). I'm not sure I would pick this book up just to read, but if you're in a position where you need to look up terms quickly, this is the best out there in the high-tech arena.

Very helpful tips for writing URLs, and so on. Techno-journalism can break the rules more confidently. <grin> As for email, PC Magazine uses a hyphen; Wired doesn't. Is it a draw? A conundrum? Fortunately, WiredStyle does its informative best to enliven the debate on such and other topics de l'heure.