Did you know your brain is so remarkable that it can conveniently auto-correct visual “glitches” to help you make sense of what you’re seeing?
Don’t believe me? Give this a read:
Tihs bncuh of txet is cmepoltley meixd up, but I bet you dno’t hvae mcuh diicffluty rdaeing it or at laset udnresntadnig the gsit of waht I’m tnyirg to tlel you.
Your built-in decrypter sometimes hinders more than it helps, though. When you write something, you — and your brain — know what you intended to type. So even if the words on the page don’t actually match up because of, say, typos or dropped words, your brain can translate it in your head to match your intention without you even noticing.
That’s right, folks: Your brain can fool you into not seeing your mistakes. You might have already realized this the last time you looked at your old yearbook photos. (Mullets were never a good idea. Ever.)
But you might not have realized it can also wreck your communications and damage your professional credibility. Just ask the journalists whose headline gaffes have gone viral.
Enter spell check, your publishing program’s automated quality-control solution.
I admit it. Spell check has saved my editorial keister on more occasions than I can count. I consider it a critical publishing tool.
But it shouldn’t be the only tool you use to ensure quality. Like your brain, spell check and its partner grammar check are not infallible. Sometimes, their suggested corrections are just plain wrong because the program misinterpreted what you were trying to say. They also don’t always flag mistakes such as transposed digits in a phone number or words that are spelled perfectly but used incorrectly. Case in point, in an early draft of this post, my Web browser’s automatic spell checker did not flag a mistyped “it’s” early in this paragraph (“it’s partner grammar check”).
Do run spell check. But also get in the habit of running your work past another set of human eyes, too. You might be surprised at what they find, and I don’t just mean typos. This person is your test audience. They can also tell you whether your intended message is getting through clearly and whether it strikes the right tone.
Other tips for top-notch quality:
- Approach this process with an open mind. It’s difficult to put your creativity out there for someone else to judge. It’s even more difficult when they provide feedback you’re not quite sure you agree with. But if your best friend says your sales pitch rings a little hollow, there’s probably some truth to that. Even if it stings a little to hear it.
- Put your work aside for a day or two and come back to it for another review, if speed isn’t a constraint. The extra time will help reboot your brain and give you a fresh perspective.
- Read your content aloud. Hearing the words along with seeing them can circumvent your brain’s visual auto-correct and alert you to trouble spots.
- Don’t take spell/grammar check’s suggestions at face value. Reread the flagged word and the sentence it’s in, and make sure the correction makes sense.
- Always double- and triple-check your contact information. This includes addresses, phone numbers, website domain, emails and so on. These elements are so familiar to our brains that it’s way too easy to go error-blind to typos. Trust me, you don’t want to have to reprint all your business cards because your Web address said .co instead of .com.
Move on to Commandment 5: Thou Shalt Know Thy Limits