Is it Web site or website?
Future Perfect's "Is it Web site or website?" states:
Since the World Wide Web is a proper noun, we use initial upper-case letters, as we would with your surname, for example.
As for writing ‘Web site’ as one word, it is true that this is seen a great deal, but then, so is the spelling ‘recieve’ which is just plain wrong!
I disagree. Languages change over time, and I think 'website' has now become the accepted spelling. A Google search for 'website' returns almost 3 billion results, including the official website of the British Monarchy. If 'website' is good enough for Her Majesty, it's good enough for me :-)
What do you think?
As for writing ‘Web site’ as one word, it is true that this is seen a great deal, but then, so is the spelling ‘recieve’ which is just plain wrong!
They do not actually provide an argument against website as one word. The fact that orthographical errors exist at all is not exactly compelling evidence. Consider this evidence:
Obviously, similar compound words exist, both in terms of use and official definition: streetcar, doorman, jailhouse. There are hundreds of these.
As VonC mentioned, both "website" and "Web site" are offered in most dictionaries.
Regarding capitalization, many words derived from proper nouns do not retain capitalization, e.g. narcissist, sodomy, atlas, echo, siren. This was touched on previously regarding days of the week.
I think it is safe to say that website is clearly used hands-down more often than Web site, so I think it should certainly be regarded as at least a valid variant. (And it is, by most authorities on standard English.)
website is at least mentioned in American Heritage Dictionary.
Its definition actually mentions "webpage"!
The Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition 2009 does include:
World English Dictionary
website (ˈwɛbˌsaɪt)— n
a group of connected pages on the World Wide Web containing information on a particular subject
To my mind, "web site" has its roots in the metaphor of the web as a place (along with the web-usage of terms like "addresss" and "home"). As that conceptualization becomes less useful (especially as younger generations are raised with the web being a much greater portion of the fabric of their lives) the importance of terms that directly reflect the place metaphor diminishes.
As such, "website" is not just acceptable but preferable.