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Writing about Computers

The suggestions on this page are not "official"; they represent my and my colleagues' best guesses (although my own students are required to follow these guidelines). Dictionaries and handbooks haven't kept pace with the rapid changes in the computer world, and it may take several years for standards to develop.

Writing about Programs and Software

Despite the advice of some handbooks, do NOT underline or italicize the names of programs and software; simply capitalize. We don't underline Toyota or Nike; what's the difference? Whenever possible, include the numeric version of a software program.

DOS
UNIX
Windows 95 (no apostrophe)

Windows 3.x (refers to Windows 3.0, Windows 3.1, etc.)
WordPerfect 6.0
Microsoft Word 7.0 (on first reference; "Word" is confusing)

Miscellaneous Computer Terms

RAM
diskette
hard drive (two words; no hyphen)
CGI
PERL
C (no quote marks)
C+ (no quote marks)
mouse, mouses (for clarity, "computer mouse/s" is acceptable)
database (one word)
Control, Escape, F10 (capitalize keys on the keyboard)
Control/F1, Alt/F9, Shift/End, Control/Alt/Delete
reboot (no hyphen)
keystrokes (one word)

When writing instructions, use italics or font to indicate keystrokes. Examples:

At the prompt, hit Enter .
Control/Alt/Delete will reboot your machine.

Computer Verbs

double-click (hyphenated)
right-click (hyphenated)
an Internet link points to a URL/address
one opens a directory or folder
to park/unpark in Windows (alternatives to "minimize" and "maximize")
to resize a window

Keyboard Verbs: Hit, Punch, Press (type is awkward when followed by Enter or keys that didn't exist on typewriters, like End or F1).

Writing about the Internet

homepage (one word)
Web site (two words, capitalize "Web")
Web page (two words, capitalize "Web")
the Internet (capitalized)
the World Wide Web (capitalized)
e-mail (only capitalized for other reasons; not in and of itself)

Web Addresses (URLS):

http://www.eiu.edu/example.htm ("htm" vs. "html" is crucial!)

E-Mail Addresses:

misterjones@countingcrows.com

Note: for clarity, do not put e-mail or Web addresses in quotes; readers often attempt to include the quotation marks in the address.

Note: for clarity, it's best to find a way to keep an e-mail/Web address away from a subsequent punctuation mark like a period or comma. This is often difficult, however, and when confusion may result, you may be forced to include a SPACE BEFORE THE PUNCTUATION, as in:

My e-mail address is misterjones@countingcrows.com . (Here the reader will not confuse the period with a "dot" in the address).

Since UNIX- and DOS-based e-mail software don't represent italics or underlining, use underscore marks before and after text you want to be italicized or underlined:

Have you read _The Color Purple_?