spelling posts

Filed under: Text, Blogging, Productivity

WordPress gets a better spellchecker, After the Deadline

by Jay Hathaway Sep 9th 2009

Automattic, the company behind WordPress, has acquired a spiffy spellchecker called After The Deadline. It's now available on Wordpress blogs, and you can enable it in the Wordpress visual editor by clicking the ABC button with the green checkmark (If you're using a WordPress.org install, get the plugin). After the Deadline is smarter than the spellcheckers we're used to in desktop apps, because it analyzes the millions of posts on Wordpress.com to create context and get things like proper names right.

After the Deadline finds a lot of mistakes that other spellcheckers won't. If you use "new" instead of "knew," for example, ATD will know whether you've got the right one in context. It can also check for clichés, double-negatives, passive voice, and other problems that generally weaken your writing. ATD also gives you fine-tuned control over those stylistic elements: you can have it stop checking for certain problems, or teach it to ignore your intentional, but technically incorrect, word choices. ATD only works with English right now, but other languages are in the works.

[via TechCrunch]

Tags: after the deadline, AfterTheDeadline, automattic, editor, spellcheck, spelling, wordpress

Filed under: Internet, Text, Blogging, Office, Productivity, Web services, Freeware, Browsers, Web

After the Deadline polishes your writing online

by Jason Clarke Jun 16th 2009

While some modern browsers include built-in spell checkers, and some operating systems include built-in spelling and grammar checkers, there are people out there using operating systems and browsers that do not have these features.

If you're looking for some help with your writing and don't have access to Microsoft Word or a similarly-powered word processor, there is a solution available on the web called After the Deadline. The site (at the memorable URL polishmywriting.com) offers spelling and grammar help, and even writing style suggestions.

Tags: after the deadline, after-the-deadline, AfterTheDeadline, api, demo service, demo-service, DemoService, grammar checkers, grammar-checkers, GrammarCheckers, microsoft word, microsoft-word, MicrosoftWord, rich text editor, rich-text-editor, RichTextEditor, spell checkers, spell-checkers, SpellCheckers, spelling, style suggestions, style-suggestions, StyleSuggestions, word processor, word-processor, WordProcessor

Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Web services, Commercial

Gramlee - Website for people who can't write good

by Kristin Shoemaker May 1st 2008

Ever wish that Derek Zoolander had decided to open a night school? Or maybe opened a secondary school, so that once those kids that couldn't read good or do other stuff too well got better at it, they could go on to learn to do other things? What if Zoolander teamed up with the University of Phoenix, and offered online courses?

Your prayers have been answered, sort of. Gramlee is an online service for grammar checking and proofreading (and yes, there are definitely differences between the two). The idea behind Gramlee is fairly simple. You just cut and paste your writing into the Gramlee submission form, supply your email address, and an editor (yes, a live person) will proofread it for you and make revisions.

There's no word on what the Gramlee submission form does with smart quotes, but they do seem to heavily recommend a text editor (like Notepad) for document creation. There's no reason why you couldn't use Word, but we're having a lot of fun imagining editors using some colorful language when they get certain document formats.

To get you hooked, the first hundred words are free. You can buy additional words (up to 2,625) for varying amounts, or email a longer document for a price quote. Turn around time is allegedly about twenty-four hours on most documents.

The disclaimer here is that we didn't submit a piece to Gramlee. The "Examples" page shows some nicely edited pieces, complete with red ink mark ups. It would be endlessly cool if documents were revised with the revisions somehow marked. We fear they aren't marked, and that makes our linguistic spidey-senses tingle. So if you use the service, proofread the proofreaders, please. Even people who write ~~good~~ well make mistakes.

And of course, we needn't tell you that it's really not a good thing to submit your term paper to Gramlee for editing, right? Um. Right?

[Thanks for the tip, Mark!]

Tags: Gramlee, grammar, language, spelling, web, web services, WebServices, writing

Filed under: Internet, Macintosh, Open Source

Camino updates to 1.5 for Mac OS X

by David Chartier Jun 5th 2007

For those who have never had the pleasure, Camino is an open source browser based on the same Gecko rendering engine as Firefox, but built to integrate much better with Mac OS X. Right out of the box Camino has a much more Mac look and feel, and under the hood it has integrated better with Mac OS X by doing things like storing web passwords in the Mac OS X Keychain (a centralized, secured and backup-friendly database where all Mac OS X apps store passwords). With the release of Camino 1.5, new features and even more integration can be had, such as:

The spell checking feature now uses the built-in, system-wide Mac OS X dictionary for checking spelling and storing custom words
Storing passwords in the Keychain now fully integrates with Safari, allowing both browsers to recognize, store and share the same password entries
Session saving ensures your tabs and windows are restored right back to where you left them, even after a crash
Feed detection allows Camino to pass RSS feeds on to your default reader
A more powerful and obvious pop-up blocking system, giving you control over whether you show pop-ups from a specific site once, always or never
The ability to trash downloaded files directly from the Downloads Manager window

While Camino doesn't support Firefox's popular extensions, it does have a healthy plug-in community at PimpMyCamino for those who might still need a little extra oomph from the open source, Mozilla-based browser. Camino 1.5 can be had from CaminoBrowser.org.

Tags: camino, firefox, Keychain, mozilla, open source, OpenSource, OSS, passwords, security, spell checking, SpellChecking, spelling

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Productivity, Mozilla, Freeware, Browser Tips

URL Fixer: Don't let typos slow down your browsing

by Jordan Running Jan 25th 2007

I think it was around 1997 when I first thought, "gee, it would be great if when I made an obvious typo in a URL, the browser would cleverly fix it for me." I'm glad to see that progress marches apace: URL Fixer is an add-on for Firefox by Netscape developer Chris Finke that, a decade later, solves this problem, or at least takes a good stab at it. When you make an obvious typo--like using a comma in place of a dot, or typing ".cmo" instead of ".com"--when entering a URL in the address bar, URL Fixer will automatically correct it (or, optionally, prompt you first). OpenDNS has similar functionality, but in case you don't want to futz with your DNS settings, URL fixer is a solid alternative.

Tags: addon, extension, firefox, mozilla, spelling, typo, url fixer, UrlFixer

Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Shareware, Time-Wasters

Bookworm Adventures - Today's Time Waster

by Jordan Running Dec 7th 2006

I'm a sucker for spelling games, and Bookworm Adventures is by far the best I've played in a long time. If you read Penny Arcade, you've heard of this one already. It's a turn-based RPG for Windows that works like most RPGs' battle modes: You face off against a series of enemies, increasing your power and gaining new items and abilities as you win battles. The twist, of course, is that you do battle with words. At the bottom of the battle screen you have a set of letter tiles. Some letters are more powerful (think Scrabble) that you click on to spell a word, and then you click Attack. The better, and harder, a word is, the more damage it does. As you progress, you collect items which you can equip three at a time. The "Bow of Zyx," for example, boosts your damage whenever you spell words with the letters X, Y, or Z. Other items are more generic RPG items, like shields that block some damage or certain types of attacks, and you can also pick up potions that restore your health, boost your next attack, or remove effects like poison. Each level has a half-dozen enemies followed by a boss enemy, and the game gets pretty challenging surprisingly fast. You can download a trial version of Bookworm Adventures for free, which is several hours' worth of good entertainment, or you can drop $29.95 to get the full version, which includes three adventures.

Tags: bookworm adventures, BookwormAdventures, fun, game, shareware, spelling, windows, words

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Freeware

OpenDNS: Teaching the DNS dog new tricks

by Jordan Running Jul 19th 2006

Every one of use uses DNS every time we connect to the internet, yet it's been decades since anyone has made any improvements to the end-user experience. In case you're scratching your head (or saying, "DNS? Isn't that the thing that happens when Internet Explorer can't connect?"), DNS is the system that, among other things, translates the addresses you type into your browser into the IP numbers that let your computer to connect to web (or e-mail, or IM, etc.) servers. So how can such a basic service be improved for the end-user? Direct your gaze toward OpenDNS, which adds some features to DNS that immediately make the lives of users easier. In particular, it adds phishing protection and address spell-checking to every web site request your browser makes, without you having to install any software. All you have to do is configure your browser or OS to point to OpenDNS' DNS servers, and the next time an email points you to a phishing site, OpenDNS will block it, and the next time you accidentally type downloadsquad.cmo, OpenDNS will automatically direct you to .com. On top of that, OpenDNS claims to be faster than other DNS servers. On top of that, you can configure which features you want to use (e.g. if you don't want phishing protection, turn it off) without even registering. It's also totally free to use--OpenDNS makes money by placing advertisements on those typo pages. WordPress developer Matt Mullenweg wrote a mini-review of the service and says it's "a great idea, well-executed" and "invisible in all the right ways." I'm sold.

Tags: dns, fast, free, internet, opendns, phishing, security, speed, spelling, typo

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Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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