#@CG$%*&%BN$@# Spell Checkers

I imagine each program is unique in how its spell checker functions.

In "Word" there is a fairly comprehensive list of options. For example, I won't let it auto-rectify mistakes, simply highlight them in red. I then get to choose what gets changed and how.

Same with Grammar.

Hoopla's checker on the forum when run on a PC, seems to highlight potential errors but doesn't offer any suggestions for rectification. However, it does seem to run with the US version of English which I find irritating !

The spell checkers are normally the responsibility of the web browser so go to the properties settings of the web browser to see if you can customise it to your liking 

Hi Don

Do you know anywhere here on Hoopla where we can elect to turn it off ?  I am finding the mentioned programs in my op to all be handling this about the same way.

I typed a short musical group name and album name this morning and got the red highlight of the change it made.  I retyped what I intended and when I posted it had changed it again.  Had to use edit function to finally get it correct.

It is not a huge deal in my life but I am most annoyed that they presume to know what I am trying to do.  I may be oversensitive but if I had a friend who made those same presumptions that they knew better than I what I was trying to do, they would soon be an ex-friend.  It is a bit of a "big brother watching" that I detest.  I am far from perfect but in the few years I have left I don't wish to turn my thought processes over to machines until I'm lying on  my back and correcting that is hopefully covered in my end of life directives.

Thanks for your reply, hope you and yours are well.  regards, Jeff A

Derek Wright posted:

The spell checkers are normally the responsibility of the web browser so go to the properties settings of the web browser to see if you can customise it to your liking 

I am using Safari so I will look  for that.  Thanks, Derek.

edit:  checked all options in Safari "preferences" and don't find where I can choose.

Found a choice under Mac "System Preferences" > "keyboards" > "text" and have unchecked "correct spelling automatically".  I never was bothered by spell checkers in the past but about six months ago they seemed to become "more aggressive" in the presumptions they were making about what the words were to be, not just the spelling.  Approximately El Capitan update time and I shall see if changing that check mark will enhance my online experience  Thanks.

The one that really bugged me was the spell checker in Mac Numbers.  I couldn't find any way of turning it off, and it kept changing things.

I use Numbers spreadsheets to keep track of my books, videos, video games, sheet music etc.  Very useful to have these available to me via iCloud on my iPhone.  Saved me purchasing things I already own on many occasions.

Eventually I found the settings under the Edit menu in Numbers.  Why couldn't it be in Numbers preferences, which would be the logical place to put it?

I find it particularly annoying that some spell checkers will change my email address as I type it in .. the start of which is rjohn and it will drop the "r" .. spell checking email addresses, why I ask ?

I spend most of my working time writing English against a German spell checker.

It could be wurst.

Bananahead posted:

I spend most of my working time writing English against a German spell checker.

 

It could be wurst.

Very good, made me laugh

Bananahead posted:

I spend most of my working time writing English against a German spell checker.

 It could be wurst.

That is funny, thanks for the chuckle.  No spell checker problems since removing the demon check mark  previously mentioned above so I am feeling quite liberated today.  I don't mind proofing and changing my own errors.

The guy who invented predictive text has died, His funfair will be hello on Sundial!

BigH47 posted:

The guy who invented predictive text has died, His funfair will be hello on Sundial!

Now that I've had time to look, I realise that I can't see how to turn off the spell-checker on this forum.

The spell-checker doesn't bother me, in fact I quite appreciate it since it only highlights words that it obviously doesn't have in its US English database. It doesn't attempt to modify anything that I type.

So, although I don't want to turn it off, is there some way in which I could, if I so wished ?

I made one change in the Mac Systems Preferences and it seems to have covered all locations I was having issues with, including this forum.  I still get a red wiggly underline "warning" me of a possible misspell but it no longer assumes, substitutes or corrects automatically.  I don't know if Howard's reference to "predictive text" is a specific widely used term but it is precisely what my computer was doing until I removed the check mark in Mac Preferences.  

Jeff Anderson posted:

I made one change in the Mac Systems Preferences and it seems to have covered all locations I was having issues with, including this forum.  I still get a red wiggly underline "warning" me of a possible misspell but it no longer assumes, substitutes or corrects automatically.  I don't know if Howard's reference to "predictive text" is a specific widely used term but it is precisely what my computer was doing until I removed the check mark in Mac Preferences.  

Hi Jeff,

Yes, the red wiggly underline is all that I get. No automatic "correction"; no "predictive" text. Just a "nudge" that the word I have typed is not in Hoopla's dictionary.

I'm dreadful at spelling, so it does help me. I'd be happy if it offered a small selection of words to replace the potential error - a bit like "Word". But I wouldn't be happy with anything that automatically made substitutions.