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Subject:Re: Re[2]: your mail From:nburns -at- NOAO -dot- EDU Date:Tue, 26 Oct 1993 10:24:51 MST
Re: on-line vs. online
I just checked a few other sources to see what the common usage is:
1. The 1993 Proceedings of the Society for Technical Communication lists
"online" in its index, and the proceeding papers on online used the word
without the hyphen.
2. William Horton uses "online" in his book, "The Art of Presenting
Information Graphically and Online," and in his column in the "STC
Technical Communication" journal, "The Wired Word: Designing Online
Documentation."
3. Edmond Weiss uses "online" in his book, "How to Write Usable User
Documentation."
All of which contradicts the American Heritage Dictionary's listing (which
is grammatically correct), but supports other TECHWR-L comments about
omitting the hyphen for reasons of common usage and readability.
Nancy Burns
National Solar Observatory, Tucson, AZ
nburns -at- noao -dot- edu
