Firefox 2.0 Beta RC 1 just became my number one preferred browser–particularly for typing blog posts. Why? Because it has spell checking built in for multi-line edit fields. Nicely done. (Note: This is beta software and like with all beta software you should be careful about installing it on your production systems.)
As you type in Firefox, words that are misspelled or unknown are displayed with little red dots below them. You can right click on the word to get a list of alternates or an opportunity to add the word to the dictionary.
For IE users, I highly recommend the Google toolbar which provides a spell-checking feature, however, let me be clear, the built-in spell-checker in Firefox 2.0 beats Google’s toolbar feature hands down. Spell checking needs to be a built in, not something that requires an extra click to activate (such as is the case with the Google toolbar).
Oh, one last thing. I often get a kick out of which words are not included in a dictionary. How does the Firefox spell checker fare? Interestingly, none of the words/terms “Firefox”, “blog”, “Mozilla”, “RSS”, or “Google” are in the dictionary. I had to add them manually. I did this by right clicking on the red word and selecting “Add to dictionary” in the context menu that appeared.
You can turn Spell Checking off on a field-by-field basis by right clicking in the field and deselecting the “Spell check this field” menu option.
OK, now a message to the Firefox team. Next up you need to look at some optional auto-correction features. You have to do this, if only to auto-correct some common mistyped words. I know several people that hate this feature in Word, but done right, it can be quite useful. Keep raising the bar and look into going this direction. A grammar checker would be a nice option too.
Also to the Firefox team, see if you can add some of the more common tech terms to your dictionary. And also, watch out for spell checking things such as URLs and XML tags. (Watch for plural and possessive extensions of user-added words in the dictionary too.)
And now a note to the IE team: You have to add spell checking to your baseline browser. There are no excuses. Why? Because more and more people, just like me, are using the browser for editing and when it comes right down to it, I’m going to pick a browser that better supports what I need each day. Do I need a thumbnail view? Slick RSS support? Both are nice, but what would I use more often each day? Simple. Spell checking. I realize you’re up against the release clock with your latest version, but if I were you, I’d do whatever it takes to get spell checking into your product. It’s a must have. It’s not a feature that should be added via a plug-in or toolbar. I don’t trust them. I don’t want to pay for them. I don’t want the hassle. Build it in.