When I
created Canadian Poker Monthly in 1996 I wrote a style guide for my writers.
None of them paid any attention to it but there was an actual guide – two whole
pages. Therein documented was my greatest contribution to journalism and the
written word. It has been widely ignored and little noted but I feel certain
that this is only because nobody knows about it. I give it to you now. Take it.
Spread the word. Let this be my legacy…
Yesterday I
had occasion to email John Ivison, Andrew Coyne, and Christie
Blatchford all at the Naional Post, as well as Jeffrey Simpson at the Globe and
Mail. Their email addresses are what you would expect:
Pretty standard
stuff. But, did you know that email addresses and website addresses are not case
sensitive?
Back in 1996 I
started capitalizing the first word in names, initials, and words in digital
addresses. It makes these things much easier to read. Not to mention long
hashtags.
There. Isn't that better? Nicely deciphered at a glance.
Just stop writing long
strings of characters in all lower case. Throw in some capitalization. It’s easier to read. A lot easier. #DoAwayWithLongHashtagsThatAreAllLowerCase.
This also avoids
the awkward need to never use a web address to start a sentence. Now you no
longer have to write, “You can buy books at amazon.com.” Instead you can write,
“Amazon.com sells books.” Voila! As a side note, don’t capitalize “com” “ca” “org”
or whatever just ... well just because it looks funny. Trust me on that one.
And another thing,
stop capitalizing “internet.” It’s not a specific thing. Capitalizing “internet”
is like capitalizing “highway.”
How are you getting
to Toronto? Are you going to drive on the Highway? All of the actual proper
noun highways are interconnected into, oh I don’t know, you might call it a network
of highways. An internet of highways. Specific stretches might be proper nouns
(Highway 416) but the whole network is not. A highway. It’s like the internet
(don’t let the “the” throw you off).
When future generations write I hope they remember my contribution.
#ScharfWasn'tThatStupidAfterAll.
No comments:
Post a Comment