spelling

Spell check may be Internet Explorer's Achilles' heel

A reader named Lenny responded recently to a post from last August about browser spell checkers to ask whether Internet Explorer 8 finally has a built-in spell checker. Unfortunately, the only way to get spell check and suggested corrections in IE 8 is by relying on the spell check built into the site you're visiting or by installing a third-party extension.

But even then, Firefox and Chrome out-spell-check IE in a landslide.

The earlier post compared Firefox's built-in spell-check feature with the spelling checker in the free IE7Pro extension for Internet Explorer. It seems IE7Pro is no longer … Read more

Spell-check and other useful functions when typing in OS X

OS X has a few useful built-in correction and substitution functions that you can use when composing documents in various applications. One of these is the option to check spelling as you type, which has been around for a while, but more recently Apple has introduced system-wide character substitution and word suggestion options. While these options are available to applications, they will only work for those coded to take advantage of them. These include Apple's iWork and iLife programs, as well as TextEdit and Safari, but other third-party programs also support these services.… Read more

Catch all your spelling mistakes

Spell Catcher is the modern-day descendant of a spell-checking app from ancient times (as a Desk Accessory called Thunder, from 1985), now with powerful, system-wide spell-checking and text-expanding features.

By default, this muscular app tracks every word you type on your Mac, across every application, and provides you with much more than the live visual feedback you get in separate apps with built-in spell-checking. Spell Catcher can give you automatic typo fixing, spoken alerts (for example, pointing out repeated words, or curious spellings with a quick "Curious!"), instant access to the dictionary and thesaurus (with support for multiple … Read more

Slow typing in text fields? Check the spell checker!

Entering information in text fields should be smooth and fast, with no pauses or delays of any kind. Despite this, some background tasks if corrupt or otherwise malfunctioning may interfere with typing. One of the most common is OS X's spell checking behavior, but sometimes, the built-in options are not to blame.… Read more

Managing the user spelling dictionary

In OS X there is a systemwide dictionary for spell checking text entry fields in programs, provided the developer has implemented this in their code and not used their own spelling solutions. This feature can generally be accessed through the "Edit" menu, and when activated will underline any misspelled words immediately with a red dashed line.… Read more

Handy spell checker

TinySpell is a free tool that checks spelling in any program. Accessing the program is as simple as right-clicking on its icon in your computer's Quick Launch tray. It displays a tiny window, making it easy to use alongside other programs. TinySpell will alert you if you misspell a word, or you can type a word directly in its window to check your spelling.

Most computer programs have spell check built-in, but in some programs the spell check is cumbersome to use or not easily accessed. TinySpell can bridge that gap. We thought it was quite handy to have … Read more

Waiter fired for twittering about celebs

It is not easy to feed the egos of Hollywood celebrities. It is not even easy to merely feed their intestines.

This seems to be the conclusion one reaches from the story of Jon-Barrett Ingels, waiter to the stars. Well, now former waiter to the stars.

You see, Ingels was merely an extra in the vast set that is Beverly Hills. He would be still or sparkling, depending on his audience. And occasionally, he would turn his Twitter account into a diary of how hard it was to make his daily bread.

According to the delightful Los Angeles Times blog … Read more

Typing word helper

Typing Assistant provides the ability to autocomplete words and save time. With a minimum of frills and an impressively large dictionary, this program will shave minutes off writing.

This program's interface reminded us of the word-completing software present in text messaging, but still required a visit to the Help file's simple instructions for the basics. While its functionality proved to be initially distracting, we quickly grew to anticipate it. Once we wrote a few letters (for example, "Arr") a small screen popped up, providing a list of possible solutions (this example ranged from Arrack, Arrange, Array, … Read more

Word processing tool

Write Source provides users with a word processor for .txt documents that successfully imitates Word. In addition, the program offers an added feature that will help users search for words.

We felt instantly comfortable with this program's interface since it smoothly mimics Microsoft Word all the way down to its layout. The Help file's instructions were necessary to master some of the more complicated features, but basic writing was a snap. Our previous experience with word processors that save as .txt files had been disappointing since they always seemed to fall short of Word with their clumsy layouts … Read more