LH Code: The Ly Detector (Greasemonkey user script)
If you’re at all familiar with Strunk and White, you know that excessive use of adverbs - words that end in -ly - isn’t a sign of strong writing. All of us writers struggle with sentence-weakening generally’s and relatively’s at times, but now there’s a Greasemonkey script that highlights adverbial transgressions on the web automatically. (Whoops!)
Once it’s installed, The Ly Detector Greasemonkey script takes a yellow highligher to adverbs, like obviously and previously to help web writers stay on their non-adverbial toes. The Ly Detector’s great for bloggers who are trying to improve their skills with the quill - or just those who want to make fun of them. After the jump, the script download, and some more details of how this works.
The Ly Detector Greasemonkey script
Version: 0.1
Released: February 28, 2007
Last updated: February 28, 2007
Author: Gina Trapani
License: GNU Public License
What it does: Highlights adverbs that appear in the text of a web page, as shown:
Installation: Requires Firefox and the Greasemonkey extension to run. Click on the The Ly Detector User Script to install.
Known Issues: Not all words that end in -ly are adverbs, like family, apply, and only. I’ve excluded some words (like those) from the highlighting function, but I’m sure there are dozens more. If you see the script highlighting a non-adverb, let me know in the comments.
By default this script is enabled on Lifehacker, Gizmodo and Gawker. To enable it for your web site, use the Greasemonkey preferences pane to customize the URL list it’s enabled on, as shown:
Disclaimer and caveats: Not all adverbs are bad all the time. This tool is for entertainment purposes only. I personally am a deeply-flawed writer (see?) who makes dozens of mistakes on this very site every day, so I’m in no position to preach good writing habits. This script is as much for me as it is for you.
Backstory: The Ly Detector sound familiar to you? That’s because I published it in bookmarklet form on my now-defunct personal site back in 2004 BG (Before Greasemonkey). If you don’t want to go the Greasemonkey route, drag and drop this bookmarklet link to your toolbar: [The Ly Detector]
Warning, tho: the bookmarklet version does not exclude any non-adverb -ly words, like family and apply.
Bug reports and feature requests: I wrote this user script in a few short hours, so it’s bound to have some holes and bugs. Leave a comment here if you’ve got any feature requests or bug reports, cheers and jeers.
post police Said:
on March 1, 2007 at 5:12 am
repost, retards