Spell checker

[Ed_Dinning]

I've noticed that there is now a spell checker associated with the forum, not sure how long it has been there, but can we have it switched to British English please.
The word colour is correct, not in need of spelling as color.

One of my pet hates I'm afraid; most works IT departments do the same when handing out laptops to personnel. Unfortunately in my company the personnel probably don't realise (realize)!


Ed

[paulsherwin]

There is no spell checker as part of the forum software. If you are seeing spell checking when submitting posts, this is being done by your browser.

The appropriate dictionary should be selected according to your regional settings, but this doesn't always work and you may need to specify the appropriate plugin.

If IT departments are handing out PCs with the wrong regional settings, the line manager is incompetent and should be sacked.

[Ed_Dinning]

Hi Paul, thanks for that.
I believe the browser was up dated a few days ago, but with the comments we have had about spelling etc on the forum I wondered if "assistance" was being given!

I had also just noticed (possibly getting old) that there now appears to be a yellow inner border on the reply box. Is that new?

I set my own regional values on my laptop when I bought it, but I have noticed the lack of setting up by IT departments at several companies where I have worked.
Totally agree with your comment on IT management, unfortunately it does not happen.

Ed

[paulsherwin]

What browser are you using? People may be able to help you select the correct spell checking dictionary, but the procedure varies with different browsers and OSes. I'm using Firefox 16.0.2 under Lubuntu Linux 12.10, British English dictionary 1.19.1.

[robjkmannering]

I am currently using IE8 and there does not appear to be any provision for spell checking which would be very useful. Reading Paul's post, would I be better off using Firefox?

Rob

[Nymrod121]

"Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew."

[Skywave]

Originally Posted by Ed_Dinning

Unfortunately in my company the personnel probably don't realise (realize)!

I'm sure that I have read that the O.E.D. now claims that -ize is to be preferred to -ise in written English. Fine by me - just so long as I don't meet that dreadful Americanism 'prioritize', spelt with a 'z' or an 's'!

Al.

[paulsherwin]

Originally Posted by robjkmannering

Reading Paul's post, would I be better off using Firefox?

I'm not familiar with recent versions of IE. There's no reason not to download Firefox (or any other browser) and try it. You can always revert to IE if you prefer it for whatever reason.

Originally Posted by Skywave

I'm sure that I have read that the O.E.D. now claims that -ize is to be preferred to -ise in written English. Fine by me - just so long as I don't meet that dreadful Americanism 'prioritize', spelt with a 'z' or an 's'!

This has always been the case. The 'ize' ending seems to have fallen out of favour in the nineteenth century under French influence, but has always been standard English. Lots of older English forms survive in American English (such as 'gotten'). This is OT for this forum though.

[ColinB]

Originally Posted by robjkmannering

I am currently using IE8 and there does not appear to be any provision for spell checking which would be very usefull. Reading Paul's post, would I be better off using Firefox?

Hi Rob,

For IE, try an add-on called IEspell, available here: http://www.iespell.com/

This is what I used in IE, and it always seemed to do the job.

Cheers,
Colin

[Mike Phelan]

I switched from IE7 to Firefox a while ago because though it has a memory leak it's not as bad as that on IE7.

It does have a perfectly good spell checker, but I think that using any spell checker doesn't stop us from proof-reading things before we post; spell checkers don't find wrong but perfectly good words, like "their" instead of "there" or "its" instead of "it's".

For all that, English changes over the years and centuries; new words come into being and others disappear.

[mark pirate]

I use Google Chrome as my browser. I find it much better than IE7, although it is memory hungry. The spell checker is pretty good too.

Mark

[Nymrod121]

I agree, iin fact, the only reason I keep Internet Explorer on board is for ad-hoc office productivity updates.

[Welsh Anorak]

Hi,

Chrome has the 'yellow box' syndrome you mention. A spell checker is switched on by default, but you can, of course, disable it, though it is quite a few menus deep.

Glyn

[Ed_Dinning]

Hi Glyn, thanks for that, it's US spelling suggestions are starting to annoy me.

Ed

[Nymrod121]

Hi Ed

Open Chrome
Click the 'three lines' icon towards top RH corner
Click 'Settings', then scroll down and click 'show advanced settings'
Scroll down then click 'Languages and spellchecker settings'
Here you can switch off the spellchecker completely if you prefer (untick)
If you want the spellchecker enabled (ticked) but using English (UK) :
Click 'Add'
Choose 'English (UK)' from the drop-down menu - then click 'OK'
Click 'English (UK)' to select (it goes gray )
Choose 'Use this language for spellchecking'
Click on any others showing and click 'X' to remove
Click 'OK' to save changes
Close Chrome to lock in your preferences
Open Chrome and away you go ...

Hope this helps
Guy

[Nymrod121]

Just a few quick tests on my Chrome browser ... and by way of poking gentle fun at our cousins across the pond

Prioritise (yep - it likes that)
Colour (yep - and that)
"Bayzil" (nope - doesn't like that)
Basil (yep - OK)
"Orreggano" (nope - doesn't like that)
Oregano (yep - OK)

G.

[Radio Wrangler]

Spelling checker: noun. A mechanism for automatically converting typographical errors into Malapropisms

Embarrassment must be related to entropy, it can only ever be increased overall.

David

[Station X]

Spell checkers can't cope with homophones (words which sound the same, but have different spellings), but they'd do a good job of correcting some of the badly typed rubbish we see on here.

[robjkmannering]

Okay, I'll stop posting

Rob

[Richard]

Hi

I have a spell check, which I think originated via this forum several years ago. From memory the first time the ABC tick above the smiles was pressed there was a download and this program will now check any typed text.

It is iespell

Richard