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

Yahoo! (Editor), Chris Barr (Editor)

Book Description

Release date: July 6, 2010

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 site’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.

 

Editorial Reviews

Review

Advance Praise for THE YAHOO! STYLE GUIDE

“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

 

About the Author

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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (July 6, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031256984X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312569846
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,839 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #27 in Books > Education & Reference > Words, Language & Grammar > Reference
  • #32 in Books > Computers & Technology > Web Development & Design > Web Design
  • #69 in Books > Education & Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing > Writing Skills

More About the Author

"The Yahoo! Style Guide" was influenced by many past and present Yahoo! writers, editors, and content creators, and shaped by a core team of editors.

Chris Barr led the editors who wrote, edited, revised, proofread, copyedited, and otherwise made this guide possible. Chris became the founding editor in chief of CNET in 1995, during the formative years of Internet content standards. His editorial career spans 25 years.

Amy Weaver Dorning, who copyedits content across the Yahoo! network, provided solid ideas for shortening and simplifying longer passages of text and for streamlining steps in a process.

Heather Hutson managed the project, edits, and revisions with utmost skill and grace. She wrote the chapter on basic webpage coding, among other sections; kept us on track; and always strove for clarity.

Julie Wildhaber helped edit the whole shebang and wrote the chapters on audience, voice, and writing for the world, as well as sections of several other chapters, the guide's exercises, and many examples. Julie trains writers and editors at Yahoo!.

Karen Seriguchi compiled much of the punctuation chapter and, because of her familiarity with numerous other style guides, helped us make informed decisions that considered both traditional principles and online practices.

Laura Barcella, a Yahoo! copy editor, approached the text from a general reader's perspective, focusing on comprehension for a broad audience.

Maria Cianci asked lots of questions throughout the editing process and sought to cut, combine, and clarify information. Maria is a Yahoo! editor and an expert on user-interaction writing.

Marla Miyashiro is the precise copy editor and proofreader whose skill, thoughtfulness, and stamina improved the entire book as we brought the project to a close.

Michele Meyer lent her skills to editing several chapters and contributed many terms to the Yahoo! word list. With Yahoo! since 2004, Michele copyedits content across the Yahoo! network.

Naomi Lucks plunged into this complex project while it was in progress. She lent her outsider's eye and years of experience, including as a writer and developmental editor, to the tasks of shaping the chapters and helping to harmonize the voices of our contributors.

Tony Herr is our longtime technical editor who pored over the intricacies of Web coding and alerted us to the many ways it can trip up writers. He was instrumental in building this website.

Trystan L. Bass concentrated particularly on reviewing the guide's recommendations for writing user-interface text, always considering the website user experience. A Yahoo! editor since 2001, Trystan is an adamant defender of the serial comma.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Yahoo! Style Guide: Write Digital Content Everyone Will Read July 7, 2010

By Debbie Hemley

Format:Paperback

There's a lot of information packed into The Yahoo! Style Guide a new book from Yahoo!. While other style guides and manuals have kept the topics of writing, user-interface, webpage coding, and SEO separate-The Yahoo! Style Guide brings it all together-making it a one-stop-guide for every member of your digital team.

One of the most useful chapters in the book is on copywriting for search engine optimization (SEO), and includes tips about keywords, links, page titles and metatags. People and search engines don't scan pages in the exact same way but there are some similarities to keep in mind, e.g. both need to know: what a page is about, what's important, options for acquiring more information.

There are excellent suggestions too, about how to "write for the world." We're reminded that the Web is a worldwide medium and "site visitors probably come from more than one country and more than one culture. Collectively, they probably speak several languages. It's a good practice to make the text on your site clear to as many people as possible." Five best practices we're urged to put into practice are: 1) Keep the sentence structure simple, 2) Include "signposts": words that help readers see how the parts of a sentence relate, 3) Eliminate ambiguity, 4) Avoid uncommon words and nonliteral usages, and 5) Rewrite text that doesn't translate literally.

You can read through the style guide from beginning to end and use it as a reference when stumped with a punctuation question, wondering how to write a perfect title for your email newsletter or streamlined text for mobile devices. The book is filled with loads of great tips. One of my favorites is on editing with screen-reading software so you can hear the page read aloud to you.... (In Windows, Narrator or Ease of Use in Windows Vista and on the Mac, Text-to-Speech.)

The Yahoo! Style Guide is also available online with a companion website and includes additional resources and updates. You'll find a good companion in The Yahoo! Style Guide. Read more ›

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Stylebook for the Online World July 24, 2010

By Bakari Chavanu VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

It has been a while since I actually read a style usage book. As a writer, I read and write constantly, so every book, article, website, brochure, email, and even utility bills I peruse are style manuals of sorts. I always notice what words and style conventions are used in texts I read.

But with the instantaneous pace of writing and publishing these days, there's much inconsistency when it comes to grammar and punctuation rules, word usage and style, readability standards, and just plane old clear concise writing. There's not a day go by that I don't read articles, including my own, that are in need of a copy editor to check for grammar errors and wordiness. Most bloggers and web content writers must write, edit, and proofread their work like lonely housewives in need of help with daily chores. It's nearly impossible to do it all effectively.

This is where The Yahoo! Style Guide can be useful. It's one of the only sourcebooks I know that is written--as it subtitle says--"for writing, editing, and creating content for the digital world." When I purchased the book, I thought I'd simply park it on a bookshelf near my work area, but as started scanning through it, I realized it would be useful for me as a writer to read it cover-to-cover. And quite surprisingly, it is actually a sourcebook that you can read in its entirety. Sure, there were some sections that I scanned because I was thoroughly familiar with the content, but for the most part, the book was not only a good refresher course, but it made me aware of some issues of usage and style that I need to keep an eye on when I write.

I particularly bookmarked a useful '"superfluous phrases" list, marking some of the extraneous and redundant words that sometimes crop up in my own writing.... I also like authors' suggestion for keeping a style word list, for keeping track of how you will use certain words (e.g., p.m. or pm, African-American or African American, screenshot, not screen shot.) The book ends with 40 pages of [...]own word list, which you will find quite consistent with word style usage across the net and in paper publications.

Another section I bookmarked is about using "consistent terminology for your calls to action" (e.g. edit, change, uncheck, deselect, IM, type or enter.) And every writer who post his/her work on the World Wide Web should read the chapter, "Be Inclusive, Write for the World." The authors of this Guide make good points about how people from different parts of world read words in English differently. They advise, "do not assume that you know who's reading your website." They give tips on writing for an audience that is not homogenous. For example, they talk about using "signposts" that help readers see how the parts of a sentence relate. They talk about producing gender-neutral copy, and avoiding slang and idioms that might be unfamiliar to many readers.

Easy to read examples are included on nearly ever page of the Guide, and some chapters conclude with exercises that reinforce the previously covered material.

I know there are other style books (such as the AP Stylebook and the Chicago Stylebook) have been around for quite some time, but this sourcebook should be the definitive guide for writing in general and web content writing in particular. Read more ›

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! July 22, 2010

By Nan Becklean

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you are thinking of working online--buy this book! It's current (unlike many other web-related books) and full of everything you need to know or learn! I am thrilled to have it and grateful to Yahoo for its existence. BTW--IMHO, this is NOT a book to read on your Kindle.
H.E.A.V.E.N.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars How To Create Your Own Web Style Guide with This Book September 7, 2010

By Carolyn Schrader, small business sustainability evangelist

Format:Paperback

The title is almost misleading - the book is about how you can and why you should create your own web style guide. Yes, it is by Yahoo and the examples are Yahoo, but the focus is not how to follow their guide, but how to develop your own voice with consistency.

The layout is sometimes cluttered, but the content is so fabulous that you can overlook it.

The book is full of current, topical information. The search engine optimization tips are comprehensive and easy to understand. There are chapters on writing user interface text, e-newsletters and streamlining text for mobile devices.

This book is an excellent reference for anyone writing or approving copy for websites.

23 of 32 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a remarkable book; very dry reading. November 2, 2010

By Erez Zukerman

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you've never read _anything_ about writing for the Web, this book may be okay for you.

But if you've read other books such as "Don't Make Me Think", you may find Yahoo's style guide extremely repetitious, tedious, and lacking in any innovative product.

Okay, I'm writing for a global audience. I should use simple language. I should not use gender-biased language, etc. etc.. I'm sorry, but this has all been said before. The main problem is that following this book recommendations will results in simple, understandable copy which is also extremely dry and devoid of "magic".

On the bright side, the book contains plenty of before and after examples, and may be used as an authoritative reference to show your boss on why you insist doing something in a certain way.

Also, I wouldn't get this for the Kindle: The book contains some tables which do not translate to the Kindl's screen very well, cannot be zoomed in, and are tiny and difficult to make out.