Elearning (capitalized) is WMU's online learning system. The generic term e-learning is hyphenated and not capitalized.
email — no hyphen, not capitalized. Similar terms such as e-book and e-commerce are hyphenated.
email addresses —Use all lowercase for email addresses and use official wmich.edu individual and office email addresses for all University communication.
home page — Internet term referring to the main page in a website. Two words, not capitalized.
Internet — Proper noun, always capitalized. Second references to “the Net,” capitalized, are acceptable.
intranet — A communication network within an organization or group. Not capitalized. Note there are hundreds of intranets at WMU, but there is only one worldwide Internet.
offline, online — One word, no hyphen, not capitalized.
login, logon, logout, logoff — One word, no hyphen, not capitalized. If you use login, use logout; if you use logon, use logoff.
URL — Uniform Resource Locator (also Universal Resource Locator), a Web address. The term “Web address” is preferred in University writing. URL is acceptable. See Web addresses.
Web — When referring to the World Wide Web, Web is a proper noun and is capitalized. Hint: In terms such as Web page, where Web is a separate word, Web is capitalized; but words such as webcam, webmail and website are common nouns and are not capitalized.
Web addresses — Also known as URLs (see URL). Web addresses are case sensitive. The prefix http:// should not be included when listing a Web address in a correspondence, publication or other printed material.
Web page — Two words, no hyphen. Web is always capitalized.
website —One word, not capitalized.
webcam — One word, not capitalized.
Several of the following suggestions require working with your Web manager to develop Web addresses (URLs) that are “marketable,” which is to say, “easy to remember.” Think in terms of toll free telephone numbers. To help you remember a toll free number, a company might choose something that relates to their business, such as “Call toll free 800 YOUR CAR.” Corporations are also careful to select URLs that are easy to remember and relate to their name or business. The Web address of the National Football League is www.nfl.com, or simply nfl.com.
Not every page in a Web site needs to have a marketable Web address, only the ones you intend to publish. For those pages or sub-directories that have hard-to-remember Web addresses, try to find another way to link the reader to the information.
Avoid publishing temporary URLs of pages that will be removed soon.
In general, it is best if you can link to the information from your office’s or department’s home page and offer the home page URL for more information.
List the shortest URL possible that will get the reader to the desired information.
Use common English words and intuitive abbreviations when creating URLs.
Work with your Web manager to create directory names that are descriptive and helpful in marketing your website. Use easy to pronounce, easy to remember, easy to spell, English language words.
| Haworth College of Business | wmich.edu/business |
| University Libraries | wmich.edu/library |
| School of Music | wmich.edu/music |
| Homecoming | wmich.edu/homecoming |
If you know the root directory www.wmich.edu or have it book marked, and if you know how to spell “homecoming,” you will probably remember the Web address for homecoming.