Hyphens are underused, misused and underappreciated. To my mind, they bring clarity and intent to your words and ideas, specifically those which you wish to tie together. Grammar Monkeys offers more on the “why” of hyphens.
But I can understand why people are intimidated by them, not to mention the crazy tendency of English to hyphenate everything initially before backing off on much of it (base-ball, to-morrow, etc.).
So, to help, the Dotted i offers some guidelines — with examples! — on hyphens. Take a look, say hello. Then go follow the site on Twitter.
James daSilva 