This document was written in the early days of the web (1992), defining such terms as "webmaster", the "www.xxx.com" convention, and a few basic points which are just as valid today.  It has not been updated to discuss recent developments in HTML., and is out of date in many places, except for the addition of a few new pages, with given dates.

Style Guide for online hypertext

This guide is designed to help you create a WWW hypertext database that effectively communicates your knowledge to the reader. It has been prepared in the light of comments by readers, and many demands by providers of online documentation. Some of the points made may be influenced by personal preference, and some may be common sense, but a collection of points has been demanded, and so here it is.

The guide is designed to be read sequentially, but feel free to depart from this. The sections are as follows:

• Introduction
• Etiquette for server administrators
• Overall structure of a work
  • Structure for the reader
  • Trees
  • Document size
  • To refer or to copy
• Within each document
  • Sign it!
  • Give its status
  • Give links into context
  • A good title
  • Don't format for a particular browser
  • Using standard HTML (1997)
  • Use style sheets (1997)
  • Think about printing it
  • Keep it readable
  • Don't mention the mechanics
• Making your pages bookmarkable (2004)
• Cool URIs don't change (1998)
• Publishing data (2006)

• Allowing input - forms and editing

• Test your document
• Ramblings: Related but more random thoughts. Under construction.
  • Acceptable Content
  • Educational hypertext and the "why" link
  • Why one should provide why links
• Background reading
• Reader comments

The above lists all the parts of this guide except for individual reader comments.

This document is open to comment!

Suggestions are strongly invited, if you think of anything mail it to timbl@w3.org, mentioning the Style Guide for Online Hypertext or its URL. I'm also interested in the URLs of other style guides, corporate house style guides, or your favorite book on style (hypertext or otherwise).