Is it a crime of your trade to have a spelling mistake or two on your website..if say you are a webdesigner (or so called web designer). Or is it an acceptable oversight?

I have seen a lot of "so called" web designers critique peoples web sites or designs...and yet when I have visited their site...it has been littered with stock photography and spelling mistakes.

What are your thoughts on this?

Simon

I think if you can't spell correctly, you need A) to go back to school, and B) find yourself another occupation. - Just my opinion on the situation. :)

Originally posted by WiseOnline
I think if you can't spell correctly, you need A) to go back to school, and B) find yourself another occupation. - Just my opinion on the situation. :)

For a web designer to showcase their own website with any errors at all must stop them getting clients...or at least you would think so anyway. Would you go with a "So called webdesigner" that had spelling errors on their own website?

why can I hear frantic spell checking going on in the background....no problem anyway...I have a good library of screenshots to show later if required.

If I was a surgeon and left out the splean...what would that do for my reputation. I am curious to know what you professionals think about this subject.

Simon

As long as people understand you spelling doesn't matter. If Einstein would make some spelling mistakes on his published work should he go back to school or find another occupation?

Originally posted by Shyne
As long as people understand you spelling doesn't matter. If Einstein would make some spelling mistakes on his published work should he go back to school or find another occupation?

That is a very good point. Did Einstein make spelling mistakes on his work?

I don't think he did. But if he did...would he have been accepted as the genious we all know him to have been. Somehow..I do not think he would have...but hey..that's just my opinion.

When your job requires you to be able to spell..is it OK..to make those errors and display them on your showcase of a website?

Simon

Originally posted by WiseOnline
I think if you can't spell correctly, you need A) to go back to school, and B) find yourself another occupation. - Just my opinion on the situation. :)

C) you are not a native English speaker

SimonMc,

If your job is to spell right and you make a mistake then that can be a problem, but if you just visiting some forums and misspelled the word for whatever reason I don't think you should get flamed like people do these days.

Originally posted by Shyne
SimonMc,

If your job is to spell right and you make a mistake then that can be a problem, but if you just visiting some forums and misspelled the word for whatever reason I don't think you should get flamed like people do these days.

I agree 100% with that. Most people visiting forums are just typing away blindly...whilst relaxing...no need to be flamed at all.

The point I am striving for clarity on is...If you call yourself a "webdesigner" and set yourself up to earn money from paying clients and you have errors on your own SHOWCASE website...should you be riddiculed amongst real professionals...or is that OK.

Simon

Spelling mistakes are FINE, unless you dont go back and change them with a spell checker or something similar. If the final version of your site or anyones site has mistakes, there is a problem.

Originally posted by davidb
Spelling mistakes are FINE, unless you dont go back and change them with a spell checker or something similar. If the final version of your site or anyones site has mistakes, there is a problem.

So you are saying...whilst you are making the site..it is OK to have spelling errors...but once it is up for all to see...then spelling mistakes are unprofessional and should not exist.

Am I right in concluding that.

Simon

People that use "there" for everything is usually indicitive of someone not speaking their native language, but they usually do spell it correctly.
Examples: there (place - over there), they're (they are), and their (ownership - their car)
I don't mind some dialectic spellings either, but I do think that it should be spelled correctly, at least, in some language.
Example: color = colour.
It's just a matter of respect. If they respect themselves and others, they will spend the time to present themselves appropriately. If your presentation is on the web, it should be spelled right, just like if your presentation were in person, you would dress right.

Originally posted by ATST
People that use "there" for everything is usually indicitive of someone not speaking their native language, but they usually do spell it correctly.
Examples: there (place - over there), they're (they are), and their (ownership - their car)
I don't mind some dialectic spellings either, but I do think that it should be spelled correctly, at least, in some language.
Example: color = colour.
It's just a matter of respect. If they respect themselves and others, they will spend the time to present themselves appropriately. If your presentation is on the web, it should be spelled right, just like if your presentation were in person, you would dress right.

But..is it unprofessional to miss spelling errors on your site if you are a webdesigner..or just human error. After all..we all suffer from human error.

Simon

Originally posted by SimonMc
Is it a crime of your trade to have a spelling mistake or two on your website...

No.

I just read the first post ;)

No one is going to be arrested for making spelling mistakes on a web site. Designers may get fired for making these errors, but then again, some corporations hire an editor of some kind to proofread everything that is published to the public.

Not sure about Einstein's typos....they are saying the theory of Relativity might be wrong after all.

I think Albert wanted to write;

e=MC^5 (high five)

Originally posted by alpha


No.

I just read the first post ;)

No one is going to be arrested for making spelling mistakes on a web site. Designers may get fired for making these errors, but then again, some corporations hire an editor of some kind to proofread everything that is published to the public.

That is a good point you make there about proof reading. But..if you are the proof reader..and the web designer..and the tea boy..etc etc..surely you must ensure accuracy if you try to convince all around you that you are playing along side the big boys...

I don't know...but my thoughts are..if you critique...and offer a "professional" opinion...you should at least portray your business in that light. Is it not completely foolish to slate somebody in public when your own house is not in order.

ie..you look down on other people when in fact...your own business is not well taken care of.

Simon

Originally posted by timechange
Not sure about Einstein's typos....they are saying the theory of Relativity might be wrong after all.

I think Albert wanted to write;

e=MC^5 (high five)

It is funny that you should join this conversation timechange...with this kind of comment as well. Your timing is impeccable as they say.

What are your thoughts on spelling errors on professional webdesigners websites. As a professional your opinion is appreciated. Would you say it is acceptable or not very professional.

Simon

Simon, didn't you have "Unbelievable' spelt wrong on your page? When i pointed that out to you a while back, I wasn't trying to be an ass, i was simply pointing it out to you so that you could get it fixed. I was looking out for a fellow designer.

Originally posted by DoobyWho
Simon, didn't you have "Unbelievable' spelt wrong on your page? When i pointed that out to you a while back, I wasn't trying to be an ass, i was simply pointing it out to you so that you could get it fixed. I was looking out for a fellow designer.

Absolutely right. The comment was appreciated. I felt a complete arse having that error and kicked myself up the backside real hard.

Not being a web designer though..I am not sure how you pros see these errors. Do you think they are just part of the job or really unprofessional..especially if you are selling your wares from such a site..ie..it is your showcase. If you are a designer that likes to "mentor" other designers by pointing out their weeknesses would you pray that your own website was error free?

Simon

First thing first. We are all humans. Humans make mistakes. Humans make mistakes and don't always catch them. I once caught a spelling error on microsofts site , in their windows product description. I emailed them, they thanked me, and fixed it. So what. As long as the person fixes it when they realize its there, it shouldn't matter. But the people who leave them once they see its there, i shun those people.

I will also point out that, even if someone checks over their site numerous amounts of time. They still might miss an error.

Originally posted by DoobyWho
First thing first. We are all humans. Humans make mistakes. Humans make mistakes and don't always catch them. I once caught a spelling error on microsofts site , in their windows product description. I emailed them, they thanked me, and fixed it. So what. As long as the person fixes it when they realize its there, it shouldn't matter. But the people who leave them once they see its there, i shun those people.

Again..these are really valid points. The main point I am getting here is that we are all humans...and humans make mistakes...and in web design that is acceptable...depending on your professional opinion obviously...but as a doctor say...common errors are not acceptable..even though doctors are only human. So is this just an excuse for poor and unprofessional work or do people really just not care.

Simon

Well it isn't a crime, but it also isn't professional.
I see a lot of newly formed hosts come to different forums and post their offerings. I check out their site and am shocked by all the mispellings. Some of them, four letter words!
I leave laughing.

Agreed Simon. That is why most professional designers run numerous testing phases. They run spell checkers on it. They reread it for grammer and spelling, they have countless numbers of "beta-testers" look over their site and try to locate any of these errors.

Originally posted by ATST
Well it isn't a crime, but it also isn't professional.
I see a lot of newly formed hosts come to different forums and post their offerings. I check out their site and am shocked by all the mispellings. Some of them, four letter words!
I leave laughing.

I know what you are talking about here. I too have laughed on occaision..but not too loudly.

I too think it is unprofessional..but it appears that we are few in number with these high expectations of professionalism. Maybe we are from a different age.

Simon

Originally posted by SimonMc


I know what you are talking about here. I too have laughed on occaision..but not too loudly.

I too think it is unprofessional..but it appears that we are few in number with these high expectations of professionalism. Maybe we are from a different age.

Simon Spelling errors always disturb me. But, then, it depends on when and how and who and where.

Sorry about pointing out the above error (something I would never do on a forum where we all type quickly and don't always proofread). But, given the content and direction of this thread, I just couldn't help myself. :D

Frankly though; I don't understand your reason for this thread.
It appears from reading it that you are offended at someone in particular and this is your vehicle of retribute.



Could be wrong. I have been before. Or is that "rawng?"

Originally posted by SimonMc
I don't know...but my thoughts are..if you critique...and offer a "professional" opinion...you should at least portray your business in that light. Is it not completely foolish to slate somebody in public when your own house is not in order.

This really depends on the medium that you used to request critique. For example, if you request a critique of a design at WebHostingTalk - what you're getting is "personal" opinions - not "professional". This is why when I critique something or post my opinion, I almost always say "but that's just my opinion" and some others use the cliche (sorry if I missed the accent gauche) "just my .02 cents" :D

So, in my opinion (ooh, there's that catchy phrase again :)) online communities such as WHT isn't the best medium of communication professional criticism on a design or any other type of work.

Another example, is you designed something and you entered it into a professional contest where there is a panel of judges who critique and score your work. Now, if one of the judges is someone who don't know much about designs - it is fair to question their judgement as they won't appreciate the values of art and design.

Additionally, I think you should consider grammar in general and not just spelling since grammar includes spelling, punctuation, structure, etc. Only considering spelling would be like going with this business because they made no spelling mistakes since they used Microsoft Word to automatically correct all and any spelling mistakes - so you might see the use of "there" instead of "their".

My little spiel here is going to end here pretty soon :stickout I think anyone who works and has the responsibility of creating the textual content of something that will be publically available should take the extra 15-30minutes to read over what you or someone else wrote and take the extra 30 seconds to look up words and its usage in the dictionary.

I also admit that I have and will in the future make grammar mistakes - but that's my right. If you see the mistakes in any of my writing, go ahead and let me know and I'll fix it unless it's something in this forum as I really don't care about grammar at WHT unless I'm sending someone a professional email ;)

Originally posted by SimonMc


It is funny that you should join this conversation timechange...with this kind of comment as well. Your timing is impeccable as they say.

What are your thoughts on spelling errors on professional webdesigners websites. As a professional your opinion is appreciated. Would you say it is acceptable or not very professional.

Simon

Mistakes do happen. It's part of the QC tasks to handle such errors and other inconsistencies. But to do that you have to be eagle-eyed or have a staff of more than one ;)

Originally posted by SimonMc

If I was a surgeon and left out the splean...
Simon

"spleen":D

"TILT"

Originally posted by SoftWareRevue
Spelling errors always disturb me. But, then, it depends on when and how and who and where.

Sorry about pointing out the above error (something I would never do on a forum where we all type quickly and don't always proofread). But, given the content and direction of this thread, I just couldn't help myself. :D

Frankly though; I don't understand your reason for this thread.
It appears from reading it that you are offended at someone in particular and this is your vehicle of retribute.



Could be wrong. I have been before. Or is that "rawng?"

Pleased you saw the deliberate mistake. At least someone is on the ball here.

I wonder why you would think this thread is a vehicle for personal retribution. It certainly is not..and so far I think it has been a valid contribution to the community....but then again...I see your disclaimer there about being wrong in the past..so no need to say more about that.

You are correct about it not mattering in forums..and this was mentioned earlier..infact it is usually really petty picking someone up for spelling errors made in the forum...but this paticular one was obviously done for effect...so we will let that go too.

Anyway...what are your thoughts on professionals who claim to be really creative and at the cutting edge...when infact their own websites are littered with spelling errors and stock photography?

Simon

Stock photography = bad IMHO

Originally posted by SimonMc

designers by pointing out their weeknesses would you pray that your own website was error free?

Simon

"weaknesses"

Heh, SimonMC, I'm sorry...I am just giving you a hard time

But as far as this thread goes, I think if you are a non english speaking designer, and your market is mainly for your country, mistakes in English are more forgivable than otherwise. I have seen some websites use "r" for are and "ur" for you're or you are... we all see that in normal talk but I think if you can't speak, (or type) properly, you won't be receiving business from me.

Originally posted by timechange


Mistakes do happen. It's part of the QC tasks to handle such errors and other inconsistencies. But to do that you have to be eagle-eyed or have a staff of more than one ;)

I see. Maybe your staff are on holiday...seeing as it is the holiday period and all. That is probably the reason.

Simon

Well, if people make spelling mistakes on their site, that is a shame. On the forum, however, it can be accepted. In my case, I have 100's of e-mails to answer; I may have 10 yahoo, AOL, or MSN IM open, responding to question on my own forum and after all visiting other forums like WHT.

Since I have so much typing to do, I type very fast on the forums, and occasionally may make some mistakes.

But I agree, Spelling Mistakes on a website are not acceptable.

What I always say about non english speaking people in business: You want American dollars? Then speak english. (Small errors are forgiven, depending on the nature of the product involved.)
Conversely, If I was promoting myself to french people, I better be good at speaking proper french.
Of course if I designed a unique product in high demand, (It could happen) and people in other countries began to express an interest, I would ask that they be a little forgiving until I could get a proper intepreter to help out.
The way I look at, it webdesign and web hosting is a big area, and it should be very easy to find one that properly speaks your language no matter what it is. (so I think I'll pass on the "second language" classes for now)

It seems to me that Americans are known for spending money foolishly, (or at least more freely) so a lot of non english speaking people target us, instead of targeting their own native customer base.

I know I'm joining the conversation a bit late, but here is what I think:

Everybody is human. One, maybe two spelling mistakes in a site are acceptable because they may have been a small oversight, typographical error, etc.

Anymore than that and in my eyes the site loses all credibility. I think twice about trusting them with my credit card if I am going to purchase from them and generally get annoyed.

On a forum, I don't take a great deal of notice as to whether people have spelling or grammatical errors in their messages due to the very nature of a forum - an informal place where we as professionals can come to take a break and type a few messages.

You’ll find all kinds of spelling and grammatical errors everywhere from the smallest to the largest sites, newspapers, people talking and more. I was reading one newspaper article once and counted about 30 instances of inappropriate words (ie: there instead of their) in addition to spelling mistakes. I understand that newspapers don’t have proof readers anymore, but one would think that they could at least run a spelling and grammar check on the article before publishing.

I don't agree with the attitude "as long as people understand it, then it's okay". It is those kinds of attitudes that are resulting in people's lack of vocabulary and grammatical skills.

One day take a walk down the main street and listen to how people compose their sentences. You will see people using many wrong forms of wording including double negation “I didn’t do nothing”. It is the above mentioned attitudes which result in this.

Anyway, I shall end my daily rant there and go have some breakfast.

--Shaun

Originally posted by SimonMc
. . . . . . . . . . Anyway...what are your thoughts on professionals who claim to be really creative and at the cutting edge...when infact their own websites are littered with spelling errors and stock photography?

Simon If the thead would have been titled, more closely resembling that statement, I would have been more inclined to participate. But, when you start it off with, "Crime or Stupidity?" when it is neither; I just can't do it.

And, as those that have layed witness to my design skills can attest to, I am no designer. Nor do I play one on TV.

We use a technical translation company to proofread for spelling and grammar.
They charge three cents per word and have been worth every penny.
We just finished a site with 6730 words, even after spell check they still found 70 mistakes.

Spelling is something the customer should never have to worry about, even if they provide the text.

"Spelling is something the customer should never have to worry about, even if they provide the text."

Agreed.