SpellBound 0.7.3

I would like to keep SpellBound as a spellchecker without adding too many features. This makes it much simpler for localization to other languages along with many other things I have to do to support it properly. Having said that, if I believe that the feature should be added to SpellBound chances are that I will. If the request is to change existing functionality as it exists today in either the Mozilla Suite or Thunderbird then I will more than likely not change it. In the vast majority of cases it is more appropriate to request the change to the existing functionalty of the Mozilla Suite or Thunderbird and after it is implemented I will implement this change in SpellBound. This way the functionality is consistent between all of these even if the functionality is not what you perceive to be the most optimal. It is important to note that other extensions can easily take advantage of SpellBound so it is more than likely possible to add the feature you would like to a different extension and then use SpellBound with that extension for spell checking.

I try to respond to submitted feature requests but often I am unable to do so... please don't take it personally if you fall into this latter category. Very few requests don't make it onto the feature request list but it may take me some time before I update this page with your request. Also, if you think your feature request is simple all I can say is chances are it isn't or it would have been implemented already. If you know it is simple then please provide the code to add this functionality along with your request. When a feature request is implemented it will be moved over to the Release Notes page.

Current Feature Requests

• Context menu misspelled word suggestions in the spell check editor. This will hopefully be added to the next release.
  Severity: Normal    Target: 1.0
• Option to use the OS theme for background / foreground color, text, etc.
  Severity: Normal    Target: 1.0
• Spell check of elements in a web page that have the contentEditable attribute set.
  Severity: Normal    Target: 1.0
• Option to spell check all input and textarea elements on a single page. This will hopefully be added to the next release.
  Severity: Normal    Target: 1.0
• Context menu misspelled word suggestions in an input or textarea. I have a working prototype of this already but the Mozilla myspell libraries are not releasing memory and I have not had the time to track down the reason why. I believe that the better way to implement this is within Mozilla itself and Bug ID 58612 if / when implemented will provide this feature request directly in the browser. Severity: Normal    Target: Future
• Inline spell checking of textarea elements. There is no firm date for when this will be added due to the complexity.
  I believe that the better way to implement this is within Mozilla itself and Bug ID 58612 if / when implemented will provide this feature request directly in the browser. Severity: Normal    Target: Future
• Automatic updates for dictionaries.
  Severity: Normal    Target: Future
• User definable path for the dictionaries... currently this is hardcoded in the myspell library.
  Severity: Major    Target: Future
• User definable path for the personal dictionary... currently this is hardcoded in the myspell library
  Severity: Normal    Target: Future
• Ability to have more than one personal dictionary.
  Severity: Minor    Target: Future
• Include all of the files with the extension. SpellBound works on any operating system that Firefox and Thunderbird works on. Since the required libraries are operating system specific and the installation methods provided with Firefox do not have a means to differentiate between operating systems the libraries have to be packaged separately. Please keep in mind that SpellBound also works with optimized builds so the workaround to this issue that FoxyTunes has implemented will not work with SpellBound.
  Severity: Normal    Target: Future
• Option to spell check an entire web page. A couple of alternatives are:
  • Use an HTML editor that supports spell checking...Nvu which is open source and uses the same spell checking as SpellBound for example.
  • Make the page editable in the browser's content window by using a designMode bookmarklet and then spell check the page using SpellBound. Just bookmark the designMode bookmarklet, open the page you want to spell check, click the bookmark you added, and launch SpellBound.
  Presently, this is counter to what most people I have asked do when they are spellchecking web pages in that they check it prior to publishing. If you would like this feature added I need you to provide specific details regarding the following items:
  • how should it differentiate between a normal spell check and a spell check where the entire page is checked (e.g. should it be launched in a different manner and if so how?). Keep in mind that this should not be visible to the average user since they won't be using this feature.
  • what should be done with the corrected document? Keep in mind the document will be in the SpellBound editor since it is not possible to check the document in the browser's content window.
  • and I am sure there are other items that need to be considered
  To put it plainly... I have only received a couple of requests for this feature, I personally would never use it, and I expect the person making the request to take the time to think through how this should be implemented. Also, keep in mind that the Mozilla editor will sometimes make structural changes to the document that I have little control over so you would have to deal with these changes yourself.
  Status: WONTFIX
• Replace all occurences of a misspelled word when double clicking a word in the suggestion list (e.g. instead of performing a replace which is the current default behavior perform a replace all which requires an extra click with the current behavior). The current behavior of the spell checker in Thunderbird and the Mozilla Suite only replaces the current word and since SpellBound uses the same code it behaves in the same manner. When / if the behavior changes in Thunderbird and the Mozilla Suite then the behavior will change in SpellBound.
  Status: WONTFIX

Copyright © 2004-2005 Robert Strong All rights reserved
Valid XHTML 1.1 served as text/html - Page Last Updated: Jul. 1, 2005