# Is it just me or do the typing windows here really create typos? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 15, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-do-the-typing-windows-here-really-create-typos/335806 "2005-12-15T21:01:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![flintlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cc9497/32.png) [@flintlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flintlock)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-do-the-typing-windows-here-really-create-typos/335806/1 "2005-12-15T21:01:28Z")
Seems like every time I enter a post and proofread it, it reads correctly until I push Submit and then it appears on the thread with typos. I’m guessing that some things like backspaces and typeovers aren’t being handled correctly. Is that possible? And if so is it local to my browser or local to the page layout. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-do-the-typing-windows-here-really-create-typos/335806/2 "2005-12-15T21:05:13Z")
I think it’s just yoo. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-do-the-typing-windows-here-really-create-typos/335806/3 "2005-12-15T21:06:10Z")
I have never noticed this. Just out of curiosity, are you infallible? I mean a typo is just a typo. Why do you assume that something is wrong with the internets instead of that maybe you just made a harmless mistake? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-do-the-typing-windows-here-really-create-typos/335806/4 "2005-12-15T21:48:52Z")
I ain’t never done notised this. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-do-the-typing-windows-here-really-create-typos/335806/5 "2005-12-15T21:54:04Z")
Do you preview? Do you spell check? You don’t mention either. If not, then how can you blame someone else? If you use IE, then download iespell, a spell checker specifically designed for text boxes like these. Operates out of a right-click menu. Fast and easy. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-do-the-typing-windows-here-really-create-typos/335806/6 "2005-12-15T21:58:08Z")
I ain’t worried about spontaneous typos. It’s those damned errors that creep into the facts I know I had correct before submission. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-do-the-typing-windows-here-really-create-typos/335806/7 "2005-12-15T22:20:32Z")
Text editors are sneaky. Not only do they routinely put typos into your text, they sometimes gratuitously insert the word “Belgium”. ---
**Author:** ![MessyPaint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@MessyPaint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MessyPaint)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-do-the-typing-windows-here-really-create-typos/335806/8 "2005-12-15T22:24:54Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-do-the-typing-windows-here-really-create-typos/335806/9 "2005-12-15T23:26:21Z")
Jokes aside - as a journalist I can vouch that it’s almost impossible to proof read on a screen. I can check, re-check and use spell check on a text, but when I’ve printed it, there’ll be some really glaring errors. Everyone I know who works as journalist say the same thing. Why this is so? I don’t think even Cece can answer that. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-do-the-typing-windows-here-really-create-typos/335806/10 "2005-12-15T23:26:51Z")
> [@Eleanor of Aquitaine](#): > > Text editors are sneaky. Not only do they routinely put typos into your text, they sometimes gratuitously insert the word “Belgium”. Can you say that outside of the pit? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-do-the-typing-windows-here-really-create-typos/335806/11 "2005-12-16T07:18:26Z")
Everyone makes typos. Don’t panic. On preview: _whew_. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-do-the-typing-windows-here-really-create-typos/335806/12 "2005-12-16T18:19:29Z")
We are all a keystroke away from disaster, all the time. On consideration, you may have a point; you know how observing something changes what is being observed? Typos may well be a natural course of events here and we are simply struggling against the tide. 🙂 TubaDiva Who is always annoyed that she can pick a typo out of a full NY Times page in a heartbeat and not see the one just made under her fingers when she’s looking right at it. ---
**Author:** ![flintlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cc9497/32.png) [@flintlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flintlock)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-do-the-typing-windows-here-really-create-typos/335806/13 "2005-12-16T21:45:13Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > Do you preview? Do you spell check? You don’t mention either. If not, then how can you blame someone else? > > If you use IE, then download iespell, a spell checker specifically designed for text boxes like these. Operates out of a right-click menu. Fast and easy. All valid points. Yes, I discovered iespell some time ago and love it. I just sometimes forget to use it. Here’s what happens when I use iecheck or preview: The error appears and I have a chance to correct it. Then how can I blame someone else? Well, because I happen to be a programmer myself. So I know that there are a lot of ways to go wrong when dealing with text, time delays, time outs, backspace keys, the attendent attention to combinatorial use of “megakeys” ctrl-z and ctrl-y to undo and reapply text, etc. So, I know that no large program is bug free and no large program can be completely checked because the testing of all possible combinations is impossible. And so I ask myself, “Self, do those typos remind you of any type of bug you’ve seen before?” and I answer, “Yeah, it looks like when you backspace the visible buffer is corrected but not the internal cannonical form buffer.” So at that point it seems fair to pose the question Is It Just Me? And judging from the the response, it is just me. But if sometime in the future you see a typo and you’re positive that you already corrected it, perhaps with a backspace or insert or undo and redo, then you can let me know. Thanks to all who offered their experience. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-do-the-typing-windows-here-really-create-typos/335806/14 "2005-12-17T19:44:53Z")
The only way to show this is actually happening is for you to screen print every time before clicking submit. There is only one thing I know of that the software does that might be considered a typo. Type an entry in all caps, and the software puts the text in “title” case, i.e., only first letters of all words capitalized. This is intentional and not the typo I mean. However, if the colon-uppercase D smiley is part of such a message, the software interprets the colon as the beginning of a word and changes the D to lowercase. This is not replaced by a graphic, and the colon-lowercase d text remains. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-do-the-typing-windows-here-really-create-typos/335806/15 "2005-12-20T18:12:38Z")
> [@](#): > > cannonical To whom does this typo belong? You, or the software? ---
**Author:** ![Foxy40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Foxy40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foxy40)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-just-me-or-do-the-typing-windows-here-really-create-typos/335806/16 "2005-12-20T19:51:49Z")
> [@The Gaspode](#): > > Jokes aside - > as a journalist I can vouch that it’s almost impossible to proof read on a screen. I can check, re-check and use spell check on a text, but when I’ve printed it, there’ll be some really glaring errors. > Everyone I know who works as journalist say the same thing. Why this is so? I don’t think even Cece can answer that. It’s very simple. Your brain rereads the text as you thought it. When it is in a different format (Ie the written page) it is easier to see your errors.