The Yahoo! Style Guide The Ultimate Sourcebook for Writing, Editing, and Creating Content for the Digital World

by Yahoo!; Barr, Chris

• ISBN13: 9780312569846
• ISBN10: 031256984X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-07-06
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Summary

WWW may be an acronym for the World Wide Web, but no one could fault you for thinking it stands for wild, wild West. The rapid growth of the Web has meant having to rely on style guides intended for print publishing, but these guides do not address the new challenges of communicating online. Enter The Yahoo! Style Guide. From Yahoo!, a leader in online content and one of the most visited Internet destinations in the world, comes the definitive reference on the essential elements of Web style for writers, editors, bloggers, and students. With topics that range from the basics of grammar and punctuation to Web-specific ways to improve your writing, this comprehensive resource will help you:

- Shape your text for online reading

- Construct clear and compelling copy

- Write eye-catching and effective headings- Develop your siters"s unique voice

- Streamline text for mobile users

- Optimize webpages to boost your chances of appearing in search results

- Create better blogs and newsletters- Learn easy fixes for your writing mistakes

- Write clear user-interface text

This essential sourcebook—based on internal editorial practices that have helped Yahoo! writers and editors for the last fifteen years—is now at your fingertips.

“Yahoo!’s editors have given the rules of the writing road a smart and timely reboot. It’s Strunk and White for the online world.”- Arianna Huffington, cofounder and editor in chief, The Huffington Post

“Excellent and eminently useful book with many compelling examples of rewrites. While rewriting content for usability will hugely increase a Web site’s business value, the word list alone can save you the cost of the book by eliminating wasted time arguing over proper usage.” - Jakob Nielsen, Ph.D., principal, Nielsen Norman Group, and author of Eyetracking Web Usability

“Yahoo! confounded the copy editors when it put unbridled excitement in its name. Back in 1996, for the first edition of Wired Style, we decided such idiosyncrasies were part of digital-age style. Today, with The Yahoo! Style Guide, the Web publisher has gone from renegade to rule maker. Its guide is a one-stop shop for those publishing on the Web.” - Constance Hale, author of Wired Style and Sin and Syntax and editor of sinandsyntax.com

Author Biography

The Yahoo! Style Guide is the work of many Yahoo! contributors, including past and present editors within Yahoo!’s editorial department, led by Chris Barr, senior editorial director. Find The Yahoo! Style Guide online at http://styleguide.yahoo.com.

Table of Contents

I-WRITE FOR AN ONLINE AUDIENCE
1. Write for the Web
2. Identify Your Audience
3. Define Your Voice
4. Construct Clear, Compelling Copy

 

II-SPEAK TO YOUR ENTIRE AUDIENCE
5. Be Inclusive, Write for the World
6. Make Your Site Accessible to

 

III-WRITE UI TEXT, EMAIL, AND MOBILE-FRIENDLY CONTENT
7. Write Clear User-Interface Text
8. Write Engaging Email and Newsletters
9. Streamline Text for Mobile Devices

 

IV-MANAGE THE MECHANICS
10. Punctuate Proficiently
11. Treat Abbreviations, Capitalization, and Titles Consistently
12. Apply a Consistent Style for Numbers

 

V-CLEAN UP YOUR COPY
13. Shorten and Strengthen Sentences
14. Avoid Common Pitfalls in Word Choice, Grammar, and Spelling
15. Proofread and Test Before You Publish

 

VI-RESOURCES
16. Get Familiar with Basic Webpage Coding
17. Optimize Your Site for Search Engines
18. Understand the Basics of U.S. Law for Online Content
19. Keep a Word List

 

Exercise Answer Keys 
Acknowledgments  
Notes    
Selected Bibliography                                          
Index