A good way to fix those typos

You probably all do it, but it only just dawned on me...

[Receptional]

My "tip for the day" (or - Dixon - why didn't you do this on every web page for the last 10 years, you fool!)

I don't pretend to be much more than a newbie on how to write good copy. I can write - and I know about headlines and stuff - but one of my biggest problems is lazy finger typos. My right hand works quicker than my left, so I get letters the wrong way round and I have a penchant for capitalizing words for no good reason in the middle of a sentence.

I've also had to just make three corrections in the above paragraph, and they are just the ones I noticed.

So - when a colleague berated me yet again for posting web content with typos, I cut and pasted the web content into Word, to see the errors.

WELL - what a revelation! Of course, I am used to using Word correct Word documents, but web pages seem to get let loose without professional proof reading. I can't possibly add professional proof reading to my costs, but who needs to with Word?

It is so simple that I'm going to drag, cut and paste over all (well... lots) of my pages and I am seeing a typo or grammatical error on nearly every page. Try it yourself on one or two of your own pages. I bet I'm not alone.

[hunderdown]

Or if you work in DreamWeaver or a similar application, you can use the built-in spell-checker.

[Receptional]

My blunders were on a cms system mostly.

Luckily I am not allowed to play with most of my sites - my staff know just how bad my typos are.

[getxb]

Cant we include a auto spell checking/correction tool or stuff like that inside a cms system?

My tip:

1. Finish up your writing inside the cms
2. Copy and paste it in msWord
3. Do the corrections
4. Copy and paste it back

Regards,
getxb

[chunk_split]

I'm writing everything in MS Word first then doing a copy and past into Wordpress, my spelling, grammar and punctuation are shocking.

[willybfriendly]

4. Copy and paste it back

Careful here. You may end up pasting Word formatting code. Better to paste into notepad and then cut and past into the CMS.

WBF

[Steerpike]

I agree with Will, be careful cutting and pasting into a web textarea from word. Always paste it into a plain text editor first.

Why not download the google toolbar with built in spellchecker for forms?

Steerpike.

[getxb]

Oops I missed out that point chunk_split. Thanks for that.

Regards,
getxb

[garyr_h]

I use Open Office for this, but I make sure that the weird characters are turned off, that way ' will actually show up when I use it...

[bose]

I can't possibly add professional proof reading to my costs

Actually, I used to think along those lines too, but it changed rather quickly one day after I found out someone was really mad at me after getting just a one-liner "I will get back to you shortly" email from me.

Upon close examination I noticed (to my horror) that I had sent her a oneliner quick-note that read: "I will get back to you, Shorty." -and as my luck would have it she is actually vertically challenged.

Obviously, I was not paying close attention to how MSWord was auto-correcting/punctuating my email.

Needles to say, even thou I now poof reed all my stuff, I now dip down that a sleep-up is hound to boccur someday... ;)

[john_k]

I avoid the formatting issue by using Outlook instead of a word processor. I already have that set to plain text, so formatting gets stripped out anyway. It actually uses the Word spell checker and a new email window opens a lot faster than Word.

[joaquin112]

I can't possibly add professional proof reading to my costs

Actually, I used to think along those lines too, but it changed rather quickly one day after I found out someone was really mad at me after getting just a one-liner "I will get back to you shortly" email from me.

Upon close examination I noticed (to my horror) that I had sent her a oneliner quick-note that read: "I will get back to you, Shorty." -and as my luck would have it she is actually vertically challenged.

Obviously, I was not paying close attention to how MSWord was auto-correcting/punctuating my email.

Needles to say, even thou I now poof reed all my stuff, I now dip down that a sleep-up is hound to boccur someday...

You are hilarious

[bose]

You are hilarious

come again?! ;)
Aren't you gad I didn't let MSWord auto-correct the above sentence?

In all fairness, my voice recognition software does a whole lot more interesting goof-ups than what MSWord does. Judging from the "alternative words" it suggests for the names of some of the people I communicate with, I am beginning to think it has psychic abilities.

[lobo235]

There is also a free plug-in for IE that does spell checking of forms. I use it when I add pages using my CMS. The plug-in is called IESpell. Check it out if you haven't already.

[TammyJo]

I have to giggle...Microsoft Frontpage has the beautiful red underline to tell you when a word is missselped. ;)

[stormy]

If you use a Mac, you have a built-in spellchecker that works on (almost) every app, including web forms :-)

[solly]

You could have the computer read the text to you using the "Speak Text" Service (on a Mac) so your ears will notice the goof. I can read something 10 times but never see the mistake...until I hear it.

[pageoneresults]

Well, can we at least safely say that those of us using a WYSIWYG Editor are producing content that is typo free? I've been using Spell Check in FP as long as I can remember. Those squiggly red lines (when they appear) have become a mandatory part of development!

[Syzygy]

Well, can we at least safely say that those of us using a WYSIWYG Editor are producing content that is typo free?

Somehow I'd doubt it! Also, what about formatting and consistency of style? Do you double space, single space, or both? 'Single' or "double" speech marks - and for what? And you're consistent throughout - yes? Do you consistently punctuate after bullet points or not.

Do you use %, per cent, or percent? Your use of italics is consistent too? And what about numbers - especially those 1-10, or 1-100? Or do you prefer one to ten? Do you spell them out each time, or consistently use numerics? Do you do/this? Or / this? What about organisation? Are you organized?

Measurements... you're certain that you always put 5lbs? Or is it 5 lbs? Ellipsis? Hmm..... What's the time? Is it 16.50, 16:50, 4.50pm, 4.50 pm, perhaps it's 10 to five? And what's the date? April 3rd? Monday April 3rd? Monday 3rd of April? 03/04/06? 04/03/2006? 03/04/06?

You are consistent, right?

Syzygy

[delphian]

I have been doing the exact same thing when it comes to writing copy. Generally I will start by writing the copy in a plain text editor (notepad,pico,textarea), then when finished copy it into word to fix spelling.

I know it may sound a little lazy at first, but it has proven to be the most efficient means of fixing spelling errors.

It is so easy to use the context sensitive spelling suggestions, and also the thesaurus, so I may look more intelligent then I really am.

PS, just fixed two spelling errors with word.

[jcmoon]

But what of those of us that don't use WYSIWYG editors? I note that there are Firefox extentions that'll spellcheck your entries into web forms, but being a webmaster, I want something more than that. My ideal would be to click a button or something and see a dialog box showing mis-spelt words on the page I'm viewing.

Is this just a pipe dream?

[lobo235]

There are services that you can pay for that will do that. Jspell comes to mind as one of them. They are quite pricey though so it may not be worth the money.

[jomaxx]

Well, can we at least safely say that those of us using a WYSIWYG Editor are producing content that is typo free?

I don't see it mentioned yet in the thread but spellcheck will catch few if any cases where the typo is a valid word. I see this fairly often in my local newspaper which seems to have given up on proofreading now that they have a computer to do it for them. I almost never see invalid words; I frequently see word A where they obviously intended word B.

BTW, what ever happened to true grammar checkers? I ran articles through an old MS-DOS one about 15 years ago, but they never really caught on. Are they ready for prime time and worth owning?

[Idris]

I tend to do similar (and that even includes long forum posts).

Of course the best thing to do would be to aquire the knowledge, but I tend to just take the easy way out (I tend to notice how bad my written English hasa gotten when I have to hand write and have to think about stuff I'd normally just turn over to a spell checker).

Using word also doesn't help fix general english errors and you can end up replacing words inccorrecly.

[Receptional]

Word does Grammer two - that's the green stuff all over my pages!

It would have picked up the "two" above...

[rohitj]

you make it seem as if being consistent is hard--whomever just tried to make that checklist on the second page. I have three words for you--cascading style sheets. Combine that with a spellchecker and a brief review for grammatical issues and you're good to go.

[Beagle]

What a fun thread! I've been a proofreader and/or copy editor (usually along with a few other titles at the same time) for more than [not "over"] 25 years.

One of the first things I do when I get a new computer is turn off the "check spelling while typing": I'm going to do a spell check when I'm finished, so why be annoyed while I'm typing? I also turn off the grammar [not "grammer"] check completely; I don't think it's bragging to say that I do a better job than it does. (Hey, the rest of you can talk about your keywords ranking at #1; I'll probably never be able to do that, so I have to have something!)

The WYSIWYG editor I use does have a spell checker, but I sometimes copy and paste into Word to do a word count. I don't actually use that copy of the text, so I don't have to worry about formatting.

BTW, it should be "whoever just tried to make that checklist on the second page," not "whomever..."; it's subjective case. I'm very consistent with anything that's going to be used professionally. On my personal stuff, I tend to slip in some British punctuation because it makes more sense to me than the American system. My spelling, though, is pure American; I can't see the purpose of all those extra letters. ;-) I'm trying to wean myself from double spaces after full stops, so I'm occasionally a little inconsistent there.

For anyone who hasn't read Eats, Shoots and Leaves, I highly recommend it. It's so hilarious that you don't notice you're learning something. You don't often see a book on punctuation hit the bestseller lists.

[Syzygy]

you make it seem as if being consistent is hard... I have three words for you--cascading style sheets. Combine that with a spellchecker and a brief review for grammatical issues and you're good to go.

Ah, sorted. No need for anything like The Economist Style Guide then. Amazing what can be achieved in the 21st Century...

Wait, is that 21st Century, 21^st Century, 21st century, twenty-first century, twentyfirst-century or perhaps 21st C?

;-)

Syzygy

[Beagle]

Wait, is that 21st Century, 21st Century, 21st century, twenty-first century, twentyfirst-century or perhaps 21st C?

And did it start on 1 January 2000 or 1 January 2001? Or would that be January 1, 2001; 1 Jan 2001; 01/01/2001...?

FWIW, at my day job the quoted question would end "...twentyfirst-century, or perhaps 21st C?" Scientific journals love that Oxford comma! OTOH, I've tried slipping through "...twentyfirst-century or, perhaps, 21st C?" but it got stopped for being "too pretentious." 8-) Or is that 'too pretentious'? On my personal website, I get wild and crazy and ditch the Oxford comma - such freedom!

It's news to me, too, that cascading style sheets take care of that kind of style. What a world we live in. ;-)

ETA: But, see, now I feel like a hand coder in a conversation with some FP users. We each have our own areas of expertise. I have to either build a very basic website or have someone else build it for me, because I'm not a coding expert. OTOH, one of my smaller, very basic websites is about grammar. The doctors I work for on my day job aren't grammar and spelling experts; that's why they pay me (just as I'd have to hire someone to build a more complex website). Knowing when to use MSH2 and when to use MSH2 makes a whole lotta difference when you're talking about genetics.

[comittech]

I like to use the Google toolbar's built in spell checker to check my spelling.