"Web site" or "Website" ?

[Michael]

Which is the correct terminology

"Website" - one word, or
"Web site" - two words ????????????????

[Xenonic_Rob]

I've always wondered that myself.....

I use Web Site, because I think Website looks kinda weird
But I think the actual correct term is website.

On the subject, isn't it weird how the title of Microsoft's site is "Welcome to the Microsoft Home Page"? It's a SITE not a PAGE....just my thoughts anyhow

[kovan]

Defination:

Web site 
 
This definition is also listed under presence, site and Website. 

A Web site is a related collection of World Wide Web files 
that includes a beginning file called a home page. A 
company or an individual tells you how to get to their Web 
site by giving you the address of their home page. From the 
home page, you can get to all the other pages on their 
site. For example, the Web site for IBM has the home page 
address of http://www.ibm.com. (The home page 
address actually includes a specific file name like 
index.html but, as in IBM's case, when a standard default 
name is set up, users don't have to enter the file name.) 
IBM's home page address leads to thousands of pages. (But a 
Web site can also be just a few pages.) 


Since site implies a geographic place, a Web site can be 
confused with a Web server. A server is a computer that 
holds the files for one or more sites. A very large Web 
site may be spread over a number of servers in different 
geographic locations. IBM is a good example; its Web site 
consists of thousands of files spread out over many servers 
in world-wide locations. But a more typical example is 
probably the site you are looking at, whatis.com. We reside 
on a commercial space provider's server with a number of 
other sites that have nothing to do with Internet 
glossaries. 


A synonym and less frequently used term for Web site 
is "Web presence." That term seems to better express the 
idea that a site is not tied to specific geographic 
location, but is "somewhere in cyberspace." However, "Web 
site" seems to be used much more frequently. 



You can have multiple Web sites that cross-link to files on 
each others' sites or even share the same files. 

At least one publication is using the term "Website." We 
prefer Web site.

[Michael]

kovan: In conversational English I agree that they are the same thing. However, from the point of view of meta tag keywords and search engines, they are worlds apart - hence my question - I was not just looking for a discussion on semantics!!!

Does any know of any statistics on their relative usage?

Rob: I agree it is interesting that they use the phrase "home page". But it is Microsoft we are talking about here and they can do whatever they like - despite what any judge tells them!!!


Personally I use the 2 words - "web site".

[Juan Carlos Rey]

Hi, Mike. Here are the results for a quick search on Altavista: (copies/pasted, no cheating here)

word count: web site: 25574960; website: 18677026

Not a great difference, 57.8% vs. 42.2%

[Michael]

Hi Juan. Who is this Mike guy? I don't know him. My name is Michael.

Thanks for the stats. My observations (not conducted in any scientific manner!) would have led me to suggest around a 50/50 split, so your findings come as no surprise.

[Juan Carlos Rey]

I'm so sorry, Michael, I have the bad habit of renaming every one.

Respect to Altavista, themselves suggest to use their search capability and word count features as "spell check".

See ya!