Is anyone else bothered by the lack of grammar on websites?

Many nice looking sites have text that would make a third grader wince.

[lizzie]

I was considering signing on with a highly recommended webhosting service for a reseller account but the content on their site was so full of run on sentences, phrases that were meant to be sentences but were not, incorrect verbs and various other jumbles of jibberish that I couldn't bring myself to deal with them. What was the most horrifying aspect of this for me was that there were several testimonials prominently displayed on the home page from satisfied customers and oddly enough these all had exactly the same types of continuous grammatical errors. I think this was <snip>. I see this all over the internet. I find it puzzling that someone would go to the trouble and expense of having a beautiful site made and fill it with such horrible text that even a third grade student would be shocked. Does anyone else find this disturbing?

[edited by: engine at 7:24 pm (utc) on Jan. 11, 2004]
[edit reason] no specifics [/edit]

[anallawalla]

This thread has illustrated perfectly that many people cannot spell, yet they can communicate their views well. They will usually take more care with web site copy but not always.

When a large company has a typo on its site, we could assume that some employee or contractor stuffed up. It does not imply that the same standards apply to its products, even though we may be tempted to say so. When a one-person business has sloppy English on its site, it depends on the product in question.

If the site offers copy-editing services, then its own copy needs to be impeccable. Any other company that values professionalism will demand perfection and have processes in place to oversee compliance. Its senior staff may well have sloppy personal standards when it comes to writing - I strongly suspect that language perfectionists are a dwindling commodity. I was briefly a senior editor at Unisys but I am glad that I returned to the marketing world; there are more exciting pursuits than editing.

However, many site creators (typically small business owners) have skills other than in grammar, punctuation and spelling. Their customers, visitors (or forum participants) are seldom as interested in the page copy as they are in the content. Frankly, most cannot tell which is the correct spelling: grammer/grammar, mispelling/misspelling; seperate/separate, possessive it's/its and so on.

Some can spell perfectly, but they don't adhere to a consistent style. Few people know the rules of capitalisation, or the differences between US English and English spellings, split infinitives, dangling modifiers, anthropomorphisms, serial commas, and the like. It doesn't matter, really. :)

[contentmaster]

It is ironic how site owners give so much importance to good design and layout and are totally careless about good copy.....
Isn't it time people realise that unless your site content is good and reads well....your site, no matter how pretty, will not keep visiotrs hooked.....

[ememi]

I'd say contentmaster has hit the nail on the head from my perspective. I encounter people every day in development fora who more or less obsess over tiny details of their website display. But they just don't seem to care about the quality of their copy.

I think anallawalla (and some others in this thread) have a point, but I wouldn't take it too far. Yes, a small error here or there either won't matter to most or simply won't be noticed. But, as lizzie described in the first post here, a site "... so full of run-on [hyphenated as an adjective ;) ] sentences, phrases that were meant to be sentences but were not, incorrect verbs and various other jumbles of jibberish ..." will, I expect, raise questions in the minds of many potential customers.

Of course, most sites no doubt fall somewhere between these two extremes. As I stated in my earlier post here, I have come to the conclusion that there must be psychological factors involved in decisons to ignore this concern--ones that are in my opinion quite irrational and self-defeating.

(Fwiw, I'd also hyphenate "nice looking" in this thread's subtitle, but I'm known in some quarters as The Hyphen King. I suppose a few other appellations have been applied as well.)

[percentages]

I have a site that states in big, bold letters:

"Please only complete this form if you would like to be contacted by a representative."

Can someone please point out the bad grammar in that sentence. It seems to confuse the visitors? 30%+ of the respondents claim they were "just looking" and didn't want to be contacted?

Perhaps the problem is multi-fold. A large percentage of site owners can't write and a large percentage of site visitors can't read. ;)

That's no excuse for bad grammar, spelling or layout of course. :)

My experience is that the web is becoming a "click happy" place. Good verbiage has value with some visitors, but quite frankly my dears....most don't give a d**n.

The ship of quality is sinking, but I personally think that is more a reflection of modern life than anything else.

"Text Me" if you disagree ;)

[georgeek]

percentages try leaving out "only".

"Please complete this form if you would like to be contacted by a representative."

[ememi]

Or perhaps move and highlight it.

"Please complete this form ONLY if you would like to be contacted by a representative."

I'd say you're not really looking to modify "complete," but rather the clause "Please complete this form ..." Fwiw, I figure you're right that respondents simply aren't reading very carefully.

[contentmaster]

Or perhaps move and highlight it.
"Please complete this form ONLY if you would like to be contacted by a representative."

I agree!..percentages ..try using this instead although i don't think you can totally eliminate the chances of people still misunderstanding what you're saying....i have faced this only too often....

i have placed a nice looking pic above the order form stating exactly how much the item costs...still people fill in the form and on being contacted state that : "oh, but i don't want to buy it, i filled it in just like that!" Can you honestly believe that......but it is happening.....:(
I really don't think one can eliminate such cases....we can only try making things as clear as we possibly can.......and hope we're making sense!

[kevinpate]

>Please only complete this form if you would
>like to be contacted by a representative.

Perhaps reverse the phrase order, placing the focus on the result of the customer's action, not on the action itself:

If you desire to be contacted by a sales representative, please complete this form.

[ememi]

On second thought, "only" modifies "if"--all the more reason to move it.

[claus]

How's about this real-world example:

This stands all layout of printed sheets prohibition against breach the law activity, otherwise the result is complacent, and this stand not negative any law duty.

The information and procedure that this stand service can at any time terminate, and this stand to provide to invite the right of reservation source version.

I'm not sure what to think about it or how to interpret it - the rest of the text on that page was not using a western character set. The page was quite nice looking.

[iamlost]

This forum is hosted on a computer. Each post is input by a computer and is displayed by a computer. Between each of these computers are yet others, large and small, each relying on strict rules of grammar to communicate.

Grammar is necessary. We laugh with claus at his translation example, but without grammar there would be no humour for there would be nothing out of place. Many languages have extremely strict grammar that is very different from that of English. English being a conglomeration of languages is actually very fluid in its accepted sentence structure, sort of like the w3c standards. This fluidity makes it very difficult to use well, sort of like the w3c standards.

Spelling is important, coherent content is important, design layout is important, many things are important; grammar is critical. Think of the browser versions as people from various linguistic backgrounds; think of the w3c standards as grammar; think of IE as those of you who dismiss the importance of good grammar. Does a little metaphor help the grammar go down?

Is poor grammar rampant in web site content: yes. Is poor grammar rampant in everyday life: yes. Is grammar producing a population differentiation by implying educational status: yes. Is it better to rich or poor, healthy or sick, literate or ignorant?

That certain persons, whose livelihood requires strict grammatically correct code driven computers and networks, think their portion of the web is indifferent to grammar is amusing; that they are part of this forum generally and this thread specifically is hopeful.

Disclaimer: The preceding may be subject to errata in spelling, grammar, and logic. Readability and comprehension may vary depending on the skill, knowledge, understanding, tolerance, and wisdom of the reader.

[401khelp]

Well Amen to that iamlost! Well said.

[claus]

>> grammar is critical
I'm not sure i recall this telegram example properly, but even punctuation can be:

[b](Q)[/b] Prisoner: Release or decapitate?
[b](A)[/b] prisoner release not decapitate

Now, which one of these is the intended A:

[b](1)[/b] Prisoner: Release not, decapitate.
[b](2)[/b] Prisoner: Release, not decapitate.

[rogerd]

Claus, your example reminds me of the old example of a classified employment ad for a "heavy truck driver". While clearly the firm was looking for someone to drive large trucks, the ad was printed with "truck driver" in larger type, implying that the firm might be seeking an overweight individual. :)

This thread is wandering a bit, but there seem to be two camps - those who feel that proper grammar is important to convey professionalism and build credibility, and those who feel grammar is overrated.

Perhaps one reason for this divide is a differing perception of what good grammar actually is. I'd agree with the second group if we are talking about errors that only a language professor or professional editor might notice (though I'd still try to avoid them!); on the other hand, I can't imagine that anyone here would accept a site with truly egregious grammar (and perhaps spelling) errors as professional.