Friday, February 28, 2014

Post Title Goes Here

I am not perfect. Obviously. Often these dispatches are typed quickly, read over once, and the publish button is clicked without too much afterthought. I don't have anybody else proofread these things either. So, yes, I often find embarrassing typos here after I've posted, and others often find such typos and take great pride in pointing them out to me.

Not to justify my sloppiness (or laziness), but I also often find obvious mistakes in the various blogs, magazines, and books of others. These things happen. Oh well. But sometimes you come across an error that just makes you scratch your head and wonder WTF?...

... Last month we visited the Mission at San Juan Bautista (Vertigo location, for all you Hitchcock fans). There are many historical displays throughout the museum/mission. In this one room, there's a bit about the native plants and crops that the original Californians used for foods and medicines.

The posters above the display say "Indigenous Food Plants." Arranged around that are examples with pictures and plant names and the words "basic information about this plant, uses, habitat." Yes, each one has "basic information." Not actual information, just the words "basic information." Oops, did somebody forget to put in the basic information that was supposed to go here? I'm pretty sure "spanish common name" is a placeholder as well...


But that's not the biggest error. Under the heading of "Indigenous Food Plants" are a couple of paragraphs of text. Not in English. No, not Spanish. Is that Latin? Let's see... "Lorem ipsum..."


For those unfamiliar with the words "Lorem Ipsum," it is standard placeholder text used by graphic designers when they are creating the art for a printed piece and the actual, final copy has not been written (or delivered) yet.

On this poster, the block of Lorem Ipsum is repeated; first in standard typeface, then in italics (probably where the Spanish translation is supposed to go).


And it's not just one such poster: there are two of these. And, judging by how faded the paper is, they've been hanging there for several years.

I shared these images with my designer friend, Bill, last month. Yesterday he sent me the link to a blog post called What happens when placeholder text doesn't get replaced. If you are amused my mission example above, you'll love the examples on that link.

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