Spell checking revisited...

[Flare]

Been mildly keeping up with the spell check issues in regards to spellcheck.net and various other methods of spell checking.

At this point, here are the options as I understand them from reading the posts:

1. Discontinue spell checking all together (Which is essentially what Jelsofts position is right now)
2. Keep spell checking via spellcheck.net while it lasts
3. Jelsoft hosts it's own spellcheck.net type service for registered users (good idea, IMHO)
4. Jelsoft includes support for common spellcheck modules (Best option)

Now, it seems to me, seeing as option number one is what Jelsoft is going with, is counterproductive to the extreme.

Putting in support for Aspell/Ispell would provide the users that have the ability to install those modules access to a local spell checker. This is a good thing. Yes, it does indeed leave those on a hosted solution/technically unable/etc... out in the cold, but currently EVERYONE is out in the cold. It would seem that you'd be better off making SOME of the people happy than NONE of the people happy.

This would also prevent Jelsoft from adding the extra expense to host a spellcheck.net like solution, perhaps even paving the way for an additional 'pay-for-play' spellcheck type system for vB's, given the proper stubs installed in the vB code for off-site spell checking.

Additionally, as time passes and new spell check options come out, you could have it configurable in the control panel which spell check system is used. Those that can do it locally can configure thier server to look locally for the module. If spellcheck.net doesn't fold, or another service takes its place, it would be trivial to use one or the other (or both?) via the control panel.

There's really not much of a reason, aside from time / effort to put in an option for the Aspell (or similar) module in vB, if nothing else, put it in as an undocumented 'feature' for those technically inclined and/or curious/desperate enough to get the appropriate modules working. I can't imagine it would be terribly hard to add this feature to vB as it stands currently. I am not a terribly good PHP coder, but I feel confident I could do this myself with a bit of trial and error (and perhaps I will), but I would first like to petition Jelsoft to add this as a real feature in vB, instead of relegating it to 'hack' status.

[chrispadfield]

i think you will find option 1 is not the option jelsoft is going, read Stallion's comments in chit chat about it.

[tubedogg]

As it stands currently, those technically minded could put spellchecker.net back into vBulletin...I believe the code is merely commented out, and the files that were formerly in the spellchecker/ directory are all available at spellchecker.net.

While we certainly wanted to have something ready for when we removed spellchecker.net support, to wait to include it would have postponed the release of 2.0 for a good while. We are going to put it back in somehow, but we have not determined when yet.

[Delhaze]

I've just enabled it, and yes the code is simply commented out. It's actually rather east to get up and running.

A search for "spell" gave me the templates it's "pre-coded" in.

However there are a few other instances where the templates are not "pre-coded".

The previous instructions I found on this site are rather out of date now, as the php file has been changed.

The current download from spellchecker.net gives you a .phtml file which I renamed to .php, and requires a change in the .ini file as well. It is very different to the code pasted in an old thread.

If anyone wants details on how to enable it, I'm happy to write them up and post them, as long as the mods have no objections of course.

The service is actually pretty slow, and the alternatives mentioned seem to be restriced to *nix based servers. I'm running W2K/IIS so this will have to do!

I'm actually amazed that neither MS or NS have included at least a basic spell check into their browsers. Maybe we should start giving them grief instead of VB ;)

[Wayne Luke]

Originally posted by Delhaze
I'm actually amazed that neither MS or NS have included at least a basic spell check into their browsers. Maybe we should start giving them grief instead of VB ;)

Actually if you have MS-Office installed there is a spellchecker that IE can access. The same one Word uses. All you have to do is write a little visual basic code to access it.. If you check out vb-world.com you should be able to find some examples.

[Flare]

I know this, and it was fairly easy, I actually have this on my site now... however I was looking at the future and value added features of vBulletin.

I would much prefer to use a local solution on my server vs. spellchecker.net ... I'm sure there are lot of us that would as well. Yes, it would be limited to Unix only, but as I said, why not make some people happy instead of none. When an ISS/Windows solution is found, that could also be added in at a later time.

Again... there is no reason NOT to do it, except for the time and effort, which I believe to be fairly trivial, especially for the Jelsoft coding gods. It looks to me like some of you might be worried about looking like you only support one OS and would perhaps be viewed as Linux/Unix-centric... but I don't think that will have much effect on the sales of the product, and will, infact, help sell more, as you WILL have a spellcheck solution, because as it stands, you do not without technical modification, as you said.

[JamesUS]

We are working on it...
A Unix only version is not going to happen. That is one thing vB has always stuck to - it's never been limited to one platform, one server type etc. It has always been very cross-platform compatible.

A solution that works on Unix and Windows is in the works.

[Flare]

Ahh good, that's all I wanted to hear! I'm glad to hear it, I eagerly await further news :)

Hmm... perhaps in the meantime I'll piddle around with Aspell and see if I can get that integrated just for fun :)