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Firefox 2.0 Inline Spell Checker

firefoxlogoI finally got around to installing it this week and I have to say it’s not that mind-bending. A great feature that I just discovered after updating to Firefox 2 is the built-in spell check.

Words which Firefox 2 suspects to be wrongly spelled in blog posts or Web-based email are underlined with red dotted lines and right-click action to suggest correct spellings.

Inline Spell Checker is a built-in Firefox 2.0 utility that enables users to quickly check the spelling of text entered into Web forms without having to use a separate application. Plus, you can build your own additions-and-exceptions list on top of the stock Firefox spelling dictionary. This is great.

Fri, Nov 3, 2006

Firefox, Freeware, Internet News, Tips, Web Browser

  • Abe

    Firefox has had inline spell-checking for a while, with the Spellbound extension. Having it built-in is nice, but it lacks features like spell checking an entire textarea, “Ignore all”, “Change all”, and the like.

  • x

    The SpellBound extension did not offer inline spell checking. It performed on-demand spell checking. Big difference.

    What annoys the hell out of me with this new “feature” are two things: First, why doesn’t it work for me? Even if I purposely mistype something, like “jioewptjew” or “teh”, I don’t get any cutesy red line under the words. Yes, I have the option enabled under Advanced > General (is spell checking really an “Advanced” setting?).

    Also, you say “you can build your own additions-and-exceptions list on top of the stock Firefox spelling dictionary”. Fantastic. And… How in the hell, exactly, is this done? More mystery. Gotta love it.

  • Naomi

    “Add to Dictionary” feature in Firefox 2.0 will add the word into persdict.dat. persdict.dat holds the personal dictionary entries used by the spellchecker added by you.

    Open persdict.dat with Notepad and you will see all the added new words. persdict.dat is located inside C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\

  • Abe

    Yes, the Spellbound development extension did provide inline spell checking. Same thing as Firefox 2. And you can add the “Ignore all”, “Change all”, and the like with the Spellboun II extension: http://webdesigns.ms11.net/chromeditp.html#spellbound

  • Naomi

    To turn on Firefox 2.0 Spell checking:

    Go to about:config
    Find the layout.spellcheckDefault.
    Set the value to:

    0 – Disable spellchecker.
    1 – Enable spellchecker for multi-line controls (e.g., textareas).
    2 – Enable spellchecker for multi-line controls and single-line controls.
    Configure this layout.spellcheckDefault to enable or disable the spell check function.

  • Richard Polhill

    Lovely! Another spell checker that doesn’t know how to spell.

    Hello US. This is London calling. We spell differently here.

    How does one install the correct dictionary for one’s locale?

  • Naomi

    You can download Firefox Dictionaries in various languages here:

    https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/dictionaries/?lang=en-US

  • Vic

    Yeah, you have to love “US English” … can we all make up our own spelling? My speeling fram now orn is gunna bee carled “Vic English”. Okay?

  • dave

    What if you don’t want someone to take advantage of the feature. Is there a way to disable it on your web pages using javascript somehow?

  • Naomi

    Hi Dave,

    Please try this,

    document.getElementById(‘< %=RapidSpellWebMultiple1.Button.ClientID%>‘).disabled=true;

  • dave

    That element is undefined.

  • dave

    I found out that you can however disable the feature on specific elements. I applaud the developers forsight.

    document.getElementById(“yourElement”).spellcheck = false;

  • Hawk

    Hi, how do i get the spell checker to work im in like 2.0.0.8 or something lol

  • Naomi

    Inline Spell Checker in Firefox 2 is set by default only to check multi-line text areas.

    Go to about:config
    Find the layout.spellcheckDefault.
    Set the value to:

    0 – Disable spellchecker.
    1 – Enable spellchecker for multi-line controls (e.g., textareas).
    2 – Enable spellchecker for multi-line controls and single-line controls.
    Configure this layout.spellcheckDefault to enable or disable the spell check function.

  • Octopus

    I have gone to about:config and checked my setting on layout.spellcheckDefault it *is* set to 1.  Yet I don’t get any indication of my misspelled words.  What else can I look for?

  • http://www.techiequest.com Naomi

    @Octopus,
    Firefox comes with spell checker which checks for spelling errors in the single and multi-line textboxes. Set to 2 to make Firefox to spell check single-line, or set to 1 to spell check multi-line. You have set to 1, so try on text area/muti-line textboxes, you will see a red underlines indicate the spelling errors.