Firefox 2’s built-in spellchecker is great for blogging

Posted by Joe Vandal
November 3, 2006

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Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 were both released a week or so ago. IE7 is pushed as an automatic update from Microsoft, so the number of people switching to that is significant and growing. You can get Firefox 2 for free with a small download at Mozilla.org It takes just a couple minutes to download and install.

IE7 has moved many things around, so those changes will take some getting used to. I kind of like the less-cluttered organization, but some people will take awhile to get used to that. IE7’s biggest changes is in finally adding tabbed browsing. In many regards, IE7 is simply an catch-up upgrade that really doesn’t do anything groundbreaking or innovative.

Firefox 2, on the other hand has many new features and new extensions to customize how you use it. I recommend the PDF Download (gives you better control when you click a link that is a PDF), Add Bookmark Here, SwiftTabs, and Undo Closed Tabs Button extensions.

Screen shot of Firefox 2 spell check abilityMy favorite feature, and why I strongly recommend any IdahoFallz.com writers use it, is the built-in spell checker. It automatically spell checks as you type in web forms, and identifies misspelled words with the familiar red underline. Right-clicking on the word brings up a contextual menu with suggested spellings, just like in your favorite word processor.


IdahoFallz.com uses Wordpress as our publishing platform, and for some reason developers have not been able to integrate a spell checker. Firefox 2 renders that point moot with the built-in spell checker. No longer will you have to compose your articles in Word for the spell checking ability, then copy and paste them over to your browser.

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Comments

Comment # 1 by Joe Vandal on November 3, 2006 @ 10:09 am  
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The spell check also works in the text-entry area for the chatbox.

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Comment # 2 by Joe Vandal on November 3, 2006 @ 10:30 am  
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Here’s a problem I was having in the new FF2, I often get stuck with the quickfind bar popping up when I’m trying to type in a form.

Shut this off by going under the Tools (pull-down menu)

>Options

>Advanced

>General tab

>Accessibility section

> uncheck the box “Search for text when I start typing”

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Comment # 3 by IFResident on November 6, 2006 @ 5:02 pm  
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Looks great! I’ve also read today (on a more social-networking styled blog site) that IE7 is not regressive yet again so it causes more incompatibility issues with navigation menus and other little “applets” people use around the WWW and Intranets.

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