By: Fire
This article was originally done for one of my sites a few weeks back,
but
since it is still in the process of moving, I decided to revise it and
send
it in as a Lemures File. Hope you enjoy.
So, there I am on a Monday evening, sifting through the new Anipike
sites.
I go to a website, and what do I get on the front page? "Hey! Wellcome
to
my page!"
While this may not seem like a big thing, it gets much worse. MUCH.
Especially when you get to pages with a lot of information. Here you
may see
such things as "Welll, my names KErry and I live in Ssoutn
Dakotaa!!!111" or
"Aruka and Miuchuru are SAilors Uranus and Nepptune?" In case you're
wondering, I have come across many a page with errors like this. I
wouldn't
be writing this otherwise. A few typos won't hurt anyone, but once you
see
things like this repetitively, they really start to get annoying.
It makes you wonder. Are these people younger than the say they are?
That
could be the answer. I can honestly say that I've seen some sites with
worse grammar then my uncle when he's drunk. More questions: Are these
people just ignorant? Do they type so fast that they don't notice the
misspellings? Can they use a damned spellchecker? Do they even know
what
one is? Sure, looking at an entire page of HTML for a long period of
time
can do something to the brain and/or eyes (I myself can only go 30
minutes
without having to take a break), but you CAN open it up in a browser
and
check it! Geeze...
The only thing worse than horrible misspellings is GRAMMAR. Gods, what
I've
seen..it's enough to make an English major fall to his or her knees and
weep
uncontrollably. I don't know why people who have no grasp of the
English
language (this is only an example) even make webpages. It's even worse
when
these people are from a country where English is the primary language!
People from countries where English isn't the primary language are
somewhat
excusable, but I would still recommend that they learn the important
attributes of the language before making a webpage in English.
I know that most HTML editors online (like the ones on webpage
servers)
don't have a grammar or spelling checker, and neither does Notepad or
other
simple text editors on PCs themselves. Microsoft Word does, but I don't
know
of many people that have it, let alone use it. I don't use it because
you
don't need all the fancy stuff there, and besides, the grammar check is
too
damn extensive. (Read: Sometimes I don't even know how to correct
grammar
mistakes on it..heh..)
So, in light of this, I have come up with a few simple steps to avoid
problems like these:
1) If you aren't sure of a word's proper spelling, LOOK IT UP. It only
takes a few seconds, and it's going to be to everyone else's benefit as
well
as yours because you'll have the right information. As for Japanese
(or
some other language's) names and spelling, there are a number of
websites
that have the proper information.
2) When you aren't sure of grammar or just want to make sure you are
writing
correctly, you can always ask someone else (provided they know how to
use
proper grammar) to look over what you've written. If you've done
anything
wrong, they should be able to offer help and correct your mistakes.
And a
note to those who do proofread sites for others, please don't be too
harsh.
Constructive criticism is good, but being outright rude is not.
3) Please pay attention to punctuation and capitalization. At times I
know
it can't be helped (like when you're typing fast and you capitalize the
first two letters of a word - which you can go back and fix later) but
in
others it can. And when making a bunch of exclamation points, question
marks, or other punctuation while using the shift key, please make sure
you
don't release the key. It's annoying to see a bunch of !!!!!'s
followed by
a few 111's. Like I said, you can go back and fix these things. Don't
be
lazy and leave them as they are!
4) If you're editing pure HTML code, take a break once in a while. As
I
said before, staring at all of that for extended periods of time can
really
take a toll on your eyes and brain. I've noticed that a 10 or 15 minute
break after about 30 minutes of editing really helps you focus.
I hope this helps, and happy writing!
Comments on this article can be sent to: Fire.
