Proof-reading errors while looking at CRT.

[dogleg43]

I have trouble proof-reading a document when it is displayed on a computer monitor. It seems that no matter how hard I look it over on the screen I will find errors when I print it out.

Need to know if this problem is just with me or if others experience the same thing? Is it an age thing? I’m 50 yrs. old and have been using computers for a long time (20+ years).

 

[jmw]

When word processors first appeared in our company the typists would print the documents out then typex the mistakes, as usual .... once I pointed out that the should proof read and correct before printing, the problem was solved and typex became obsolete.

Errors only began to re-appear when we lost the typists and had to do our own documents.

I do have the problem of proof reading on the screen.
So for me, its a two stage process, first pass on screen second pass on paper then apply the correction on screen again.

The trouble with this is that I can end up re-editing.

JAE :

I have noticed more errors on drawings since the advent of CADD."

Is this a "measure twice cut once" thing? When you learn the hard way that errors are a pain to correct, as typists do, you learn not to make errors; hence the "measure twice..." rule but because errors are so easy to correct in a computer, it doesn't require a much trouble to get it right first time.

So in fact, it isn't necessarily harder to proof read on screen but easier to make errors and just a problem with catching them all.


JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[JAE]

So in fact, it isn't necessarily harder to proof read on screen but easier to make errors and just a problem with catching them all.

I'm not so sure I agree with that, jmw. Over the last 12 years or so I've beat my head against the wall trying to "catch" errors that appear in CADD on the screen. I agree 100% in your "measure twice" concept, but you have to agree that even with that there are numerous coordination issues that crop up when overlaying, say, structural plans on the architectural plans and avoiding the column in the door type stuff. This goes on all the time with every project, no matter what the discipline and is a normal task of any engineer - to coordinate and check the plans.

But I've instructed CADD operators over the years to twice check their drawings before giving them back to the engineer and yet, over and over again, there are just plain blatant errors that show up despite their checks....and these are long-time experienced structural technicians. I look at the screens myself - "looks good to me" I say, then plot it out and there's some of the most "obvious" errors that appear on the paper.

I tell you -there's something to this about the human response ot lines or words on a screen.