I was griping the other day on Twitter that the default spell checker that comes with WordPress throws a typo up for each instance of WordPress I type, this irony was not lost on me.
When I shake my fist at the universe and have a good old grump on Twitter, I usually find someone who will tell me a solution, this time I was not disappointed.
Stop The Presses
I have found a replacement for the standard visual editor spell checker, and this is called After The DeadLine. The name comes from a review process the Times runs which picks up and highlights typos, grammatical errors and style errors which have gone to print, the deadline has gone, so the errors were published.
Letter To The Editor
After the deadline has been acquired recently by Automattic the lovely people who wrote WordPress, so you know it is going to be good. I’m reading between the lines here, but I guess they saw the need for a better spell check solution.
You are not going to cough up your hard-earned money to buy a solution if it is not up to par.
Hold The Front Page
After the deadline is a spell check and plugin for WordPress with a little more added on, it also has a grammar checker and a style guide.
You are probably familiar with spell checkers and grammar checkers, but style guide for those of you who have not studied journalism is a standard style of writing something so it is consistent across your publication. For example if you date style if October 21st, an incorrect style would be 21st of October.
Is Your Source Reliable?
You can download After The Deadline here http://afterthedeadline.com/
Installation Insanity Ensues
Installation is a standard affair, upload th plugin to your wp-content directory and activate it. The plugin requires an API key, this is where I cam a little unstuck. I presumed since it was an Automattic plugin it would be the usual API key I use for Akismet and WordPress.com stats, but no it is a separate api that you need to register at afterthedeadline.com to retrieve.
Come on Automattic, how you make my life difficult, I am of course joking,I am sure this will be transitioned in due course, this is a fairly new acquisition for Automattic.
What The Plugin Does, More On Page 13
The plugin is a direct replacement for the existing spell checker and is activated from the visual editor by clicking on the spell check icon
The plugin will underline the perceived errors, red for typos, green for grammar and blue for style issues.
Clicking on teh highlighted word or phrase provides a drop down of suggested replacements, standard fare for a spellchecker.
My Two Cents The Weekly Column of WP Dude
I really like this replacement spell checker, it has a slicker interface, and a bigger database of words. As an Englishman, is appears to cater for my spelling style (s instead of z in words like utilise) and the style guide will help to keep my “blog voice” standardised.
Using After the deadline is more like the spellchecker of a word processors than an after thought to the visual editor. Check it out you will not be disappointed.
Other Plugins By Automattic, Struggling to Get A Print Journalism Cliche in Here
Here are some of the other excellent plugins supplied by Automattic