# Capitalization question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 2, 2000, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalization-question/8007 "2000-03-02T20:17:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2000, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalization-question/8007/1 "2000-03-02T20:17:00Z")
Is it Web site or web site? I assume that the term comes from the World Wide Web, which I am fairly certain is capitalized. If that is true, than shouldn’t it be Web site? However, the term is frequently applied to non-www sites. In that case, it is making a reference to the network, the web of computers. Does the use switch back and forth? Any thoughts? Thanks! Rhythm… * * * Once in a while you can get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right… ---
**Author:** ![Spiritus\_Mundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Spiritus\_Mundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiritus_Mundi)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2000, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalization-question/8007/2 "2000-03-02T22:43:00Z")
web site ---
**Author:** ![eden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5f9b8f/32.png) [@eden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eden)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2000, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalization-question/8007/3 "2000-03-02T23:10:00Z")
FYI… The Internet and the World Wide Web are not interchangeable terms. The Internet represents the universe of networks linked together by compatible protocols. The WWW refers to Web Servers–specific machines in this universe–that convey HTML documents as users with browsers request them. The Web is really a subset of the Internet universe. All http sites are on the WWW, regardless of the existence of the www. before the domain. That said, I think capitalized and lowercase are both acceptable. There’s also some debate about web site vs. website. I see both of these frequently enough that I don’t really prefer one over the other. Not that you give a hoot, but that’s my two cents’ worth.