About the Book

Reviews and Endorsements

"...thoroughly covers all the usual matters one would expect in a print style guide--grammar, punctuation, usage, difficult words, and so on--but with a special emphasis on the needs of digital content. ... If you are involved with creating digital or online content, 'The Yahoo! Style Guide' belongs on your reference shelf."
--From the review by Patrick Lufkin in the May 2011 issue of "Technical Communication," the journal of the Society for Technical Communication
"I think every organization would do well to have at least one copy of the Yahoo guide because it covers topics that are undertreated in, or simply missing from, other guides."
--From the review by Wendalyn Nichols in the December 2010-January 2011 issue of Copyediting
"Journalists who care about where their industry is headed will want to own [a copy of 'The Yahoo! Style Guide'], both for the concise advice it offers and for the underlying message it conveys."
--From "The Write Stuff: Has Yahoo created an AP stylebook for the digital age?" by Bill Grueskin, Columbia Journalism Review, August 12, 2010
"The Yahoo Style Guide fills a big gap in providing online communication consistency and clarity ... it discusses how to keep information short, pertinent and attractive."
--From "Yahoo Style Guide: Finding a Consistent, Concise Voice Online," by Oliver Marks, ZDNet, September 12, 2010
"Unlike the AP stylebook, which is written in the tone of an unyielding grammar teacher, with rules pronounced from on high, Yahoo's guide is imbued with a keen consciousness of content users as well as content creators."
--From "The Write Stuff: Has Yahoo created an AP stylebook for the digital age?" by Bill Grueskin, Columbia Journalism Review, August 12, 2010
"If you run a website or a blog, you owe it to your readers to give this book a shot."
--From "'Yahoo! Style Guide' offers useful tips for Web users," by Harry Levins, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 8, 2010
"If you are accustomed to writing for offline publications or just for work, the Yahoo guide is a god send. If you are thinking about starting to blog, this is a must read."
--From "The Yahoo Style Guide Is a Blogging Cheat Sheet," by Alex Wilhelm, The Next Web, June 28, 2010
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 rulemaker. Its guide is a one-stop shop for those publishing on the Web.
Constance Hale
Author of "Wired Style" and "Sin and Syntax"; editor of sinandsyntax.com
"The Yahoo! Style Guide" is a complete and straightforward guide to search engine optimization, basic HTML, website design, and that mother of all multimedia skills--clear, concise, and engaging writing for the Web.
Barbara Kingsley-Wilson
Lecturer/media adviser, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, California State University, Long Beach
"The Yahoo! Style Guide" is a map through the minefields that stand between communicators in the digital world and their audiences. The guide is well-organized and easy to use. It is an ideal companion text for writing courses…As an educator, I genuinely appreciate that "The Yahoo! Style Guide" continuously reminds the users that communicating with people is the ultimate purpose of mastering the mechanics and tools for creating useful, compelling content for the digital world.
Phillip Dixon
Journalism chair, Howard University
Good writing never goes out of style, but with the help of Yahoo!'s new style guide we can now teach writing for the Web, confident that our students can maximize their success.
William Briggs, EdD
Director, School of Journalism & Mass Communications, San Jose State University
"The Yahoo! Style Guide" represents a long overdue and logical evolution in news writing that incorporates top-quality traditional techniques used in broadcast news and AP print style with 21st-century adaptations for contemporary visual approaches.
Bob Rucker
Professor, San Jose State University
Chris Barr and his cohorts at Yahoo! take a practical and intelligent approach to online style. "The Yahoo! Style Guide" finally sets the standards for online writing that have been missing for 15 years.
William Sledzik
Associate professor, Kent State University
"The Yahoo! Style Guide" proposes an important and vital structure to online writing that is currently in short supply for media educators. From presentation and voice to HTML and search engine optimization, Chris Barr and his editors provide concise, useful suggestions. As a textbook for class or desk copy for editors, "The Yahoo! Style Guide" brings together fundamentals for new media producers. Though overdue, this reference clarifies what needs to be done to build better content in the amorphous, shifting online media landscape.
Jacob Groshek
Assistant professor, Erasmus University
I think it is exactly the right time for this kind of guide. We have been teaching Web writing for many years, but without one specific text. It is such a pleasure to have all the user-friendly information in one place. Kudos to Yahoo! for pulling this together.
Amy Eisman
Director of Writing Programs, American University
Excellent and eminently useful book with many compelling examples of rewrites. While rewriting content for usability will hugely increase a website’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, PhD
Principal, Nielsen Norman Group; author, "Eyetracking Web Usability"
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
Co-founder and editor in chief, the Huffington Post