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Dec 25

Ajax Spell Checker in Opera Supports 27 Languages

Posted in: Gmail, Hacks, Opera, Software, Tips and Tricks, Today's Chili

This article was written on March 30, 2007 by CyberNet.

Firefox is known for having its inline spell checker that underlines misspelled words as you type them. I truly believe that this feature in Firefox has helped the Internet as a whole become more readable by reducing the number of misspellings in even the simplest things, like comments.

Mozilla does provide multiple languages for their dictionaries, but Opera also gets some of its own Ajaxy goodness with a script that has been made up to support spell checking in 27 different languages. Here is everything the script has to offer:

It’s blazing fast since JavaScript is stored locally
Inline and dynamic
AJAX is used to send and receive data
Support for 27 languages
Ability to switch language dynamically

If it sounds like something you would like to use just follow these simple steps:

Download the files here and put them in a folder such as My Documents/OperaScripts.
In Opera go to Tools > Preferences > Advanced > Content > JavaScript Options > Choose… and select the folder from Step 1.
Click OK, and then load a page with a text field in it. Click in that field and you should see the spell checker button similar to what is pictured below.

I had it installed in my Opera within 10 or 15 seconds, and at first I was wondering where the heck the spell checker was. Of course, being a computer geek I never feel like reading instructions or anything so I kept trying to figure out why the spell checker wasn’t showing up! Ahh, then I realized that you have to click in a text field and then a little tab will show up below that field, and clicking on the two-way arrow initiates the spell check:

It is still nice to have the inline spell check in Firefox, but this is definitely a step in the right direction for current Opera users. There is also a preferences file that you can download and use with the script so that you can choose to use the spell checker from Gmail (you have to be logged in), Orangoo, or fearphage. Also, if you only enable one language in the preferences then the drop-down box will be completely removed. That way it doesn’t take up quite so much room.

Maybe when Opera 10 rolls around it too will have inline spell check built-in, but until that time this is one script that I will definitely keep installed! Hopefully Opera 10 will also have a management screen for scripts that you currently have installed.