Q. We are debating in our office how to refer to our website when the URL appears at the beginning of the sentence. Would we capitalize the first letter (i.e., Www.abcd.com [address changed for this forum]) or not (i.e., www.abcd.com)? Are there any conventions around dropping the “www” (i.e., abcd.com)? If so, would we capitalize the first letter (i.e., Abcd.com)? What about all caps (i.e., ABCD.COM or WWW.ABCD.COM)?
A. We’d never write “Www”; instead, we’d rewrite. And if you’re referring to a website in running text, it’s sometimes okay to drop the “www” and capitalize the rest in a logical manner. For example, you can write about Apple.com or NYTimes.com. For more information and examples, see CMOS 8.191.