spell check

[spinach]

ever considered adding that as a feature...cos man oh man some of these posters cannot spell!!

[Jacquilynne]

Precisely for the reasons others have mentioned -- there are many toolbars and spellchecks available for your browser -- this isn't a feature we consider a priority. Building a spell check locally is difficult, especially given that we have an international audience and use a lot of foreign food words and restaurant names in posts -- we'd never be able to build a single dictionary that would work for everyone.

[Tay]

True, it wouldn't cover everything but it would be a nice feature to cover the non food words and restaurant names which seems to be where the majority of mistakes are found. Most of the time I find that names are spelled correctly. I think a lot of the mistakes come from our inability to spell and what I refer to as,The "Big Finger" syndrome. It may not be a priority but It would be a positive addition to the overall "quality of life" on the site.

[carswell]

Firefox has built-in spell-checking.

[Xiao Yang]

I'd forgotten that, to tell the truth. I use Firefox with Google toolbar, so I guess
I'm not sure where it comes from. Is it Firefox that puts the dotted red underscores under the presumably misspelled word (like "toolbar")?

[carswell]

Yep. I don't use the Google toolbar but misspelled words are still underscored with red dots (ever since version 2.0, if I recall correctly). Ditto in Thunderbird.

[yayadave]

Can you right-click them for correct spelling?

[carswell]

Yep. And you can customize the dictionary.

[spinach]

i am aware that spell checks are offered on many sites, toolbars etc etc, but having one built in to the chowhound site would save time and yiu wouldn't have to look elsewhere to use it,

[yayadave]

Those who want it know where to find it; those who don't won't use it no matter how accessible.

[yayadave]

You might have one available to you. Go to "View," then to "toolbars." I have a toggle for "Google Toolbar." That's where the spell checker is. You might have to go to "customize" in stead to add the spell checker.

Another option for your more profound pronouncements is to write it up in Word, spell check it there, and then copy it to Chowhound.

I've done both of these and sometimes I still forget and about 12 seconds after I hit "post my reply" I see my misspellings.

But be careful not to disregard the message just because it's not delivered on a parchment scroll.

[Xiao Yang]

And some that can choose not to, cos it's fashionable.

FWIW, Google toolbar will check your spelling automatically if you use it.