Error messages should be grammatically correct.

[Guest]

Upon trying to open an htm file in PowerPoint, I received the following error
message:
This page requires a browser that supports frames, your's doesn't.

To be grammatically correct, the sentence should read:
This page requires a browser that supports frames. Yours does not.

The original sentence suffers a run-on as well as a mistake in possessive
punctuation. Also, most technical writing practitioners avoid contractions
in these types of formal communication.

Perhaps correcting this error could increase users' ability to read and
understand error messages in your programs.

 

[Michael Koerner]

Why would you try to open an htm/html file in PowerPoint in the first place? You
should be using something like Internet Explorer, or another browser.

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Michael Koerner [MS PPT MVP]


Upon trying to open an htm file in PowerPoint, I received the following error
message:
This page requires a browser that supports frames, your's doesn't.

To be grammatically correct, the sentence should read:
This page requires a browser that supports frames. Yours does not.

The original sentence suffers a run-on as well as a mistake in possessive
punctuation. Also, most technical writing practitioners avoid contractions
in these types of formal communication.

Perhaps correcting this error could increase users' ability to read and
understand error messages in your programs.

 

[Guest]

You make a good point. Hopefully, someone from MS will read your post and
take the necessary steps.

 

[Ute Simon]

Perhaps correcting this error could increase users' ability to read and

understand error messages in your programs.

I don't know, whether you understand any German. But if you try to read the
German machine translation of Microsoft Knowledge Base Articles, you will
never complain about such minor errors any more. Meanwhile, I prefer reading
the English original version - though I'm not a native speaker, it's easier
to understand for me.

Kind regards,
Ute

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Upon trying to open an htm file in PowerPoint, I received the following error
message:
This page requires a browser that supports frames, your's doesn't.

To be grammatically correct, the sentence should read:
This page requires a browser that supports frames. Yours does not.

The original sentence suffers a run-on as well as a mistake in possessive
punctuation. Also, most technical writing practitioners avoid contractions
in these types of formal communication.

Perhaps correcting this error could increase users' ability to read and
understand error messages in your programs.

The message is, in all probability, part of the HTML (in the "Noframes" tag,
which delineates text that appears only when the browser doesn't support
frames). In other words, whoever created the HTML page would have to correct it
-- it's not part of PowerPoint or your browser.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

You make a good point. Hopefully, someone from MS will read your post and
take the necessary steps.

Thump the page author with a grammar checker?

 

[Pete]

Reminds me of when Datsun (that's Nissan for you kiddos) first came out
with the Z -- there was a computer with a nice female voice that
provided helpful information. Like "your lights are on" when you got out
of the car, "door ajar" when you put the car in gear, etc.

A friend was complaining that it irritated him to no end -- I said
"you'd never hear her if you closed your doors and shut off your lights"

Obviously this message was informative--you managed to edit it.
IMHO I hope MS works on the bigger problems first

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Reminds me of when Datsun (that's Nissan for you kiddos) first came out
with the Z -- there was a computer with a nice female voice that
provided helpful information. Like "your lights are on" when you got out
of the car, "door ajar" when you put the car in gear, etc.

A friend was complaining that it irritated him to no end -- I said
"you'd never hear her if you closed your doors and shut off your lights"

Ah, the old "If it hurts when you do that, stop doing that" trick.
Sneaky!