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Web style issues

The Web is a very new medium and people are still working out how to use it effectively. It differs from conventional media in many ways and there are a number of issues that you should be aware of before publishing on the Web. Obviously any set of style guidelines is subjective and what works for some people may be anathema to others.

In general, it is better to recognise and work within the limitations of the Web rather than to try to circumvent them. Browsers differ markedly in the way they display documents; the Web is changing fast and any ad hoc modifications you make now to solve a problem in a specific way, might easily end up causing more problems in the long term, when new standards are introduced.

It is very easy to create and publish documents on the Web but the onus is on you to ensure the quality of your material. Of course, in a commercial or institutional environment there may well be rules about house style, which you have to apply. The style rules you choose to follow do, of course, depend on the nature of the material being published. Tim Berners Lee argues the case quite cogently for the publication of information in a rough form, if it is only likely to be of interest to very few people. In his style guide he points out that sometimes there may be circumstances in which it makes sense not to bother with editing a document before publication, but he recommends that the references make explicit the poor quality of the document to avoid disappointing people. Often there is information that only exists for a fleeting moment in your mind. It may be useful to someone somewhere and it might be better to write it down in a Web document before you forget it, but it isn't important enough in itself to worry about the form or style.

It is good practice to sign your documents and indicate when they were last revised. Most current browsers give no indication of this.

• The structuring of information
• Use of links
• Control over presentation
• International cultural differences
• Other style guidelines

Spinning the Web by Andrew Ford
© 1995 International Thomson Publishing
© 2002 Andrew Ford and Ford & Mason Ltd
Note: this HTML document was generated in December 1994 directly from the LaTeX source files using LaTeX2HTML. It was formatted into our standard page layout using the Template Toolkit. The document is mainly of historical interest as obviously many of the sites mentioned have long since disappeared.