Guidelines on the current treatment of compound computer terms

· In the following list, the two-word forms (shown first) are still more common, but the one-word forms are starting to take hold.

file name OR: filename screen saver OR: screensaver

home page OR: homepage spell checker OR: spellchecker

menu bar OR: menubar voice mail OR: voicemail

· In the following list, the one-word forms (shown first) are more common, but the spaced or hyphenated forms are still being used.

barcode OR: bar code logoff (n.) OR: log-off

handheld OR: hand-held BUT: log off (v.)

hardwired OR: hard-wired logon (n.) OR: log-on

offline OR: off-line BUT: log on (v.)

offscreen OR: off-screen touchpad OR: touch pad

online OR: on-line touchscreen OR: touch screen

onscreen OR: on-screen wordwrap OR: word wrap

· c. In the following list, the two-word forms (shown first) are more common, but the hyphenated forms (which follow the standard rules) are also being used.

dot matrix printers OR: dot-matrix printers

local area networks OR: local-area networks

wide area networks OR: wide-area networks

· In the following list, the hyphenated forms (shown first) are more common, but the solid or spaced forms (if given) are used in materials aimed at industry insiders.

dot-com drop-down menu OR: dropdown menu

pop-up window pull-down menu OR: pulldown menu

read-only memory ink-jet printer OR: inkjet printer

write-only files random-access memory OR: random access memory

· The following compound words are solid except in a few special cases.

backup (n. & adj.) lookup (n.) trackball

BUT: back up (v.) BUT: look up (v.) trackpad

Desktop newsgroup uplink (n. & v.)

downlink (n. & v.) newsreader upload (n. & v.)

download (n. & v.) BUT: news server userid (derived from user ID)

keyword palmtop whois (derived from who is)

laptop toolbar workstation

Compound words beginning with Web are usually two words.

Web site Web server BUT: Webmaster

Web page Web browser Webcasting

Web surfer Web directory Webzine

Web index Web clipping Weblog

Web cam Web terminal Webinar

NOTE: The term Web site is still most commonly written as two words with a capital W. However, along with a few other Web compounds, it has started to appear as a solid word without an initial cap (website). In order to maintain a consistent style, it is better to retain the capital W until a majority of these terms (such as the World Wide Web and the Web) lose their initial cap as well.

· Compound words beginning with the prefix e are usually hyphenated.

e-banking e-credit e-tail OR: e-tailing

e-book e-currency e-text

e-business e-dress (an e-mail address) e-wallet

e-cash e-lance BUT: eBay

e-commerce e-learning eDonkey

e-conomy e-money eHarmony

The term e-mail can still be seen as E-mail (the original form of the word) and also as email (without the hyphen), but the hyphenated form is still the one most commonly used. In order to maintain a consistent style, it is better to retain the hyphen in e-mail until many of the other e words start to drop the hyphen as well.

· The prefix i (which refers to the Internet) appears both with and without a hyphen when it is attached to a base word.

iPod i-Lighter

iMac i-Newswire

iTunes i-flex solutions

iPhone i-Safe

iTools BUT: I-80 (here I stands for Interstate)

· The prefix m (which refers to the use of mobile phones) is usually followed by a hyphen when it is attached to a base word.

m-business m-commerce

GRAMMAR REVIEW