Lynch and Horton's Web Style Guide should be a wiki.

While I have nothing against the publication of such a style guide, one needs to keep in mind that the World Wide Web is such a dynamic communication medium. That to try and bottle it would be futile. Why? Because things change. Take technology for example. When the Web developed to accommodate visual images that animated, bandwidth was a serous problem. Today it is less so. So you'll see more and more Web pages employing Flash produced Web sites.

Secondly, lifestyles change. All you have to do is take a look at fashion design to know that people's tastes change. To try and say that design should be this way or that way can only assume that it would applicable for only a short period of time. Along with changes in lifestyles, are generations. Echo boomers are coming of age -- this is the group who has never known a world without a Sony Walkman, Cable TV, or even cell phones. Think how grammar has changed with the introduction of emoticons and SMS.

Thirdly, the Internet and the Web covers the world and cultures vary. We often make the mistake that when we design Web sites, we are designing solely for the U.S. market. Text written in American English could have different connotations in other countries. When I first came to the U.S. someone asked me "How are you doing?" And I answered "How am I doing what?"

If a Web Style Guide were a Wiki, it would serve as a space where changes, not just those taking place in the U.S., could be captured. Someone in China could share Web design styles that target that specific population. As a Wiki, the style guide becomes a dynamic reference, that can change along with the advancement of technology, lifestyles, and culture.