May 15, 2008: Issue 239
Always spell-check a story before it leaves your desk, whether it’s in Microsoft Word or InDesign. Spell-check will catch misspellings, typos, and duplicate words that can easily slip past you, especially if you’ve seen the story before. Spell-check will also help you spot inconsistent names and missing first references.
Like all powerful tools, though, spell-check must be used carefully. Beware of the “replace all” command. (We’ve used this example before, but type “frounceen orange juice” into Google to see just how much trouble this function can cause.)
And remember there are some things spell-check can’t do for you. It won’t flag a through that should have been thorough, for instance. Spell-check is there to help you do your job, not to do the job for you.
Contest: The spell-check in pagination software at a company where I used to work always tried to change my name to Elizabeth Kissed Sidereal. InDesign’s spell-check wants to turn Eliot Nusbaum into Eliot Unusable and Greg Kayko into Greg Kooky. What’s the goofiest spelling suggestion you’ve seen? E-mail us. Our favorite wins a prize.
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