Spelling Checker

Wiki's spelling checker will indicate spelling mistakes in a page which you have just edited. Use the back button on your browser to return to the edit form and correct these errors.

The spell checker is currently disabled with the move to the new server.

Why are there checkboxes next to words flagged as misspelled?

At one time, the checkboxes allowed words to be added to the dictionary, but they stopped working after an operating system upgrade.

Problems with the spelling checker

It doesn't recognize many words commonly used here (e.g., "OOP", "Smalltalk", and "wiki"(!)). See WordsToAddToSpellCheckerDictionary.
There's no way to add words.
It doesn't suggest alternate words.
Terrible signal-to-noise ratio (so it's not GoodEnough).
The error page implies the edit wasn't accepted.
It doesn't recognize most, if not all, technical terms.

Counterpoint

It spots most of one's typing errors, so it's GoodEnough; just use it.

Countercounterpoint

Listing every word in the article would also "spot most of one's typing errors". That, like the current SpellingChecker, would have too much SignalToNoise, produce too many FalsePositives, and would be called GoodEnough only by those in DeepDenial?.

Proposed changes

Fix the checkbox addition mechanism.
If it isn't to be fixed, or until it is fixed, just get rid of the checkboxes.
Allow suppression of uninteresting warnings (e.g., SpellCheckTheDiff, or split the list into errors in the diff and errors in the rest of the text).
Update the spell checker once a day with words from WordsToAddToSpellCheckerDictionary. A parallel WordsToRemoveFromSpellCheckerDictionary could be created also.
Use another dictionary. (/usr/dict/words?)
Some people enjoy fixing misspelled words. Would it be possible for the Wiki to automatically maintain a list of the top 10 pages with the most misspellings? (The spell-checker is already run every time a page changes. Perhaps there's some way to cache those results, rather than scanning through the entire Wiki.)
Don't try to spell check things that are recognized as URIs (http://....)

Discussion of allowing WikiZens to add words

Allowing WikiZens to add words could lead to the addition of misspelled words.

Proposed solutions:

Have two or three people verify each submitted word before it is added.
Allow people to remove dictionary words.
Maintain a list of common misspellings which may not be added. (That's a cool idea. Then people could also mention how to spell each one correctly, or have a short list of most-likely-intended words.)

To stay totally true to the Wiki ideal, perhaps the dictionary could be edited as if it were a normal Wiki page.

The non-functioning ispell dictionary is available. The last entry was made Apr 25, 1998.

http://c2.com/wiki/ispell.words

SpellingChecker specifically for Wiki is Available.

Well, I'm working on an alternate spell checker, and I originally wasn't going to allow the users to update the spell-checker database itself. Nor was I going to preserve the option to use British spelling; however, after reading this page, I may put these features back in.

The wiki I use is UseModWiki, but I'm writing the spell checker as external and will try to make it as easy as possible to integrate into existing wiki systems, by just adding a single button to the wiki editor and some minor change to the code itself so it can post the result for you. It tries very hard to give you suggestions to your words in a drop-down list in place of the misspelled word, and you can bypass the spelling checker because you can save as normal instead of using the spell check button. I want it to be non-intrusive, as well as being useful, and will be adding dictionary and thesaurus features as well. Note: It's no longer external. This was too difficult, so a diff is available. The stand-alone is still available as well, but does not save.

The back end uses Aspell, a slightly more powerful checker than ispell, and is done completely in PerlLanguage - no JavaScript or JavaLanguage. If you want to try it out, a mock-up is on my site (changes often as I work on it and do more testing and add/remove features) and I hope to have it integrated very soon. Feel free to check it out and leave a message on my site or email me.

Me again ... that spell checker is DONE! It's integrated with UseMod, but porting shouldn't be too difficult. Diffs are available, and it fully supports WikiWords, plus everything asked for above. Drop by my site from the EvanLanglois page and see how you like it! I'd like some feedback. Thanks! -- EvanLanglois

If one has MicrosoftWord installed and has at least InternetExplorer 5.01, then there is a nice little script called "Spell.vbs" that can be downloaded from http://www.pcnineoneone.com/tweaks/scripts8.html. The file to download is http://www.pcnineoneone.com/tweaks/spell.zip. Once you have this little script, it then becomes a snap to highlight and copy any text to the clipboard then invoke the script. After spelling corrections are made to the text on the clipboard, paste it over your original text in your wiki edit window. Simple and quick. It should be noted, however, that there is (or at least there was) a conflict with Word that comes with Win-XP. I did manage to find a solution.

The Word 2002 problem was that any time Word was run, it would clear the clipboard of anything that was previously copied there. Not good for using Spell.vbs. I talked to the author of Spell.vbs, and neither him nor others in that forum could solve the problem. I did eventually find the solution on this page: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/tech/weekly/1439314.

Here is the quoted text from the site:

(quote)

Q. When I start up Word 2000, it automatically clears the clipboard so that anything I have copied in another program gets cleared before I can paste it into a Word document. Is there a way to stop this automatic clearing? My other applications don't do this. I run Office 2000 Professional and Windows ME.
A. This is, most likely, being caused by a macro or a Word add-in. To verify this, simply close Word. Then cut some data from other applications so you have some in your clipboard.
Then, rather than starting Word the traditional way, click Start then Run the type winword.exe /a and click OK. This starts Word in its default install mode, ignoring any customizations or custom macros or anything in Word Startup folder.
If you can then paste from the clipboard you know that some third party add-in or some other customization is causing the problem with your clipboard.
One of the most common culprits is the Works to Word add-in. Check your Add/Remove programs section of the Control Panel and see if this is installed. If so, just uninstall it and it should clear things up.

(/quote)

I uninstalled the Works-To-Word add-in, and that solved the problem nicely.

There is another similar spelling vbs file called "SpellCheck.vbs" available from: http://billsway.com/vbspage/ Download: http://billsway.com/vbspage/vbsfiles/SpellCheck.zip. I can see no difference in the performance of the two.

Is, or how long, has the SpellingChecker been operative/nonoperative? (It came up on one of my recent edits - Is it working again?) -- 200909232155

See DescriptivismVsPrescriptivism

Contributors: MW, EvanLanglois, AnAspirant, DanielBrockman

CategoryWiki