Please add a spell checker to the Markdown editor

Question

It would be nice to see a built-in spell checker into the main text-panel for posts. Every time I post here or Stack Overflow I quickly open up Gmail, paste my post there, and use its spell checker to make sure I didn't make any stupid mistakes. I know other services have these types of features, and it would be nice to see Stack Overflow have one as well.

Agree/disagree?

(BTW, I found two small mistakes for this short post.)

I know I made a comment about this on ChrisF's answer, but I thought that I should also mention it here in the question. I know there are many third-party tools to add spell checker functionality to Stack Overflow. But some (if not many) people out there do not have these tools. They are either at work (like me), or some other place where they using a machine that is not owned by them, or they aren't power users and just don't have these tools installed.

If Stack Exchange becomes used for other non-technical sites, then you will probably have to count on the fact that people are using Internet Explorer 6 or something just as bad. That's why it would just be nice to have a built-in spelling tool. Again, it may not be worth it, but I think it would be interesting to discuss it at least.

Answer 1

Which browser do you use?

The latest versions of Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Internet Explorer (version 10+) all have spell-checkers built in. Incorrect words get highlighted with a red underline and the context menu provides the correct spelling.

If the Stack Exchange team did decide to implement a spell checker they'd have to ensure it can cope with both US and "proper" English ;) as well as all the other languages now supported by Stack Exchange (Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, etc.).

I just wanted to point out that there were existing possibilities that Eric might have missed for whatever reason. I know that I've learnt things that were obvious to others and they were surprised I didn't know what they knew.

Answer 2

In the long run this is something best implemented in the browser - it provides a better native interface and prevents the same functionality being duplicated by many sites.

Answer 3

I'm for the spell checker especially now that there are less technical sites. Many of the users of those sites might not know what a plug-in is.

Answer 4

I'd be in favor of such a proposal, so that we can differentiate between people who have bad spelling because they aren't native English speakers, and those who just don't care, which is rude to the readers of the question/answer. It'd answer my question of Is atrocious English a possible sign of rudeness?

Answer 5

Site statistics should make it clear if implementing a spell checker is a worthwhile endeavor. Given the user base and its browser choice it may or may not be worth the effort. If a user is really worried about their spelling they always have the option of pasting their question/answer/comment in their word processor of choice for spell/grammar checking. That said, editing for grammar is encouraged I don't see why spelling shouldn't also be encouraged.

Answer 6

I truly doubt if many people will actually invoke such spell checker, assuming that will be a button that needs to be pressed to run it.

(In the browsers I use, the spell check is on-the-fly, marking words as I type. Well, it's actually a word check, not a full blown spell check one might see in word processors. Safari is even smart enough to figure out what language I'm using.)

Answer 7

Are there examples of working spell-checkers built into a web site?

Without the ability to update the spell check library and with all the possible variations world-wide within a single language, I wonder how effective a spell checker built into a community site would be. That, and when I've seen spell-checkers built in to Rich Text Editing textarea fields, I've always been disappointed.

Gmail has a spellchecker - I think that it stores new words in a cookie. In any case, the next time I connected, my "Ignore Word" words were once again listed as misspelled.

I would agree with @Kragen - keep the checker close to the user where the user can adapt the spell checking.

Answer 8

I think a mechanism to help with correct spelling and grammar would increase the value of the SE sites overall as this would make the community appear more professional.
It would also help non-English speakers better phrase their questions... and to learn the language.

Whether or not SE should take a leadership position in this, or hope that browsers eventually provide that functionality, should be up to their marketing and business development departments (IMHO, of course).

Answer 9

What language? I know Stack Overflow is English only, but Stack Exchange is by no means. And would you enforce color or colour? What when in code?

It would be much more helpful to give people a reason to have their employers update to a good browser than adding all useful functionality to old insecure browsers, duplicating modern browser functionality.