SpellBound Development version

Announce and Discuss the Latest Theme and Extension Releases.
Post Reply
User avatar
BenBasson
Moderator
Posts: 13671
Joined: February 13th, 2004, 5:49 am
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Post by BenBasson »

Ah, never mind then :)
Old Makondo
Posts: 0
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 5:00 pm

Post by Old Makondo »

Thanks, Robert, it works well here so far but yes, that's a bit awkward editing (the focus thing) and needs a bit getting used to.
Also, with Mr.Tech installed, if you click on the Extensions toolbar button arrow, it will open the Mr.Tech' tab with EM first (my settings to open in tab) and you'll have to access options from there even though other exts. open their Options from that arrow click menu, as you may know.
In any case, thanks a lot for that long-wished-for option!
BTW, great idea with the Help button - hopefully, there'll be less Qs in forums .... (yeah, right!).
User avatar
Uncle Spellbinder
Posts: 3519
Joined: May 28th, 2004, 4:52 pm
Location: Highland, IN - U.S.A.
Contact:

Post by Uncle Spellbinder »

SWEET! Installation went perfectly. One of my favorite extensions got much better. And it was already an extension I couldn't live without.
My Firefox Add-Ons Collection: Firefox Essentials
IceDogg
Posts: 657
Joined: July 24th, 2004, 11:26 am

Post by IceDogg »

I agree, I'm using this now, and it's really great. I would sometimes forget to run spell check to see if I made mistake and this totally eliminates that problem. Great work!!!
User avatar
Robert S.
Posts: 4399
Joined: April 24th, 2004, 3:04 am
Location: Bay Area, CA

Post by Robert S. »

Time is rather limited for me at the moment and bug reports, functionality changes, etc. are very much appreciated. I should be able to upload a new version this weekend and would like to finish up the current and any new requests before I do so.
Alan Baxter
Posts: 4419
Joined: May 30th, 2005, 2:01 pm
Location: Colorado, USA

Post by Alan Baxter »

Nice work! Good documentation and lots of options too.
Robert S. wrote:the "Disable spell check when the focused element can't be spell checked" should be removed. It restores the previous behavior where the toolbar button / menu item are disabled if the currently focused element can't be spell checked.

Please do not remove that option. I use the status of the toolbar button to easily let me know if a focused element can be spell checked. I probably will continue to use spell check in the mode where it checks one element at a time. I find it confusing when the dialog pops up with misspelled text that isn't in the element that I'm editing. I'm thinking "WTF? Where did that come from?" So single element checking is usually better for me. It is nice to have the ability to verify that all elements are spelled correctly by just adding the shift key. (I unchecked "Check all elements that can be spell checked" of course.)

Actually I don't see any option that I wouldn't potentially use, so please don't eliminate any of them. I think you put them there in the first place because you thought they might be useful to some people. You were right! Set the defaults to what you think would be appropriate for a neophyte or typical user. A Restore Defaults button might be appropriate.
User avatar
BenBasson
Moderator
Posts: 13671
Joined: February 13th, 2004, 5:49 am
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Post by BenBasson »

I disagree.

Remove: "Hide context menu when the focussed element can't be spell checked"
Justification: This should be hard-coded on. There's no need for a disabled menu item when it can be hidden instead - this is how the majority of context menu items function.

Remove: "Wrap long lines in the editor"
Justification: This should be a hidden pref, defaulting to true. If for some bizarre reason line-wrapping in the spell check dialog isn't wanted, it could then be manually tweaked in about:config.

The one you seem actually interested in might be worth saving, but I don't really understand the use-case for it. When would you make the mistake of wanting to spell-check non-text elements? Also, why spell-check one element at a time? Maybe with the dialog method, sure, but with inline spell checking, you don't actually need to see the dialog again unless you explicitly want to and thus there is no confusion about where the errors are located.
stonedyak
Posts: 80
Joined: August 11th, 2003, 10:23 am
Location: UK

Post by stonedyak »

The context menu on left-click is quite annoying, as it often gets in the when editing misspelled words. If it's not possible to put the corrections in the right-click context menu, could there be an option to disable the corrections popup altogether? Usually its enough for me to know that a word is misspelt.

I have also noticed quite a few crashes since I installed the extension. Sometimes when typing in a single line input and the dropdown with previously entered values appears, Firefox would crash. I'm not sure if this down to Spellbound, or a clash with another extension, but I disabled Spellbound and the crashes stop. If I get more time I'll try to narrow the problem down.
User avatar
Robert S.
Posts: 4399
Joined: April 24th, 2004, 3:04 am
Location: Bay Area, CA

Post by Robert S. »

stonedyak - read the previous posts in this thread for info on the suggestions' popup as well as some info as to why it is how it is. Also, please provide a talkback id for a crash. http://www.mozilla.org/quality/qfa.html - it would also be helpful if you provide a list of your installed extensions, build, and OS.
User avatar
XerBlade
Posts: 865
Joined: October 4th, 2005, 10:45 pm
Location: Nashville, TN, US

Post by XerBlade »

Uncle Spellbinder wrote:SWEET! Installation went perfectly. One of my favorite extensions got much better. And it was already an extension I couldn't live without.

Can't live without? Well... actually, I'd have to agree with that. That one time I had to create a fresh profile and it just happened to be at the same time the install at the site was down for a while was a nightmare.
User Agent
Extensions
AMD64/2.41GHz RAM/1.0GB ATI/256MB-GDDR3/128-bit/8xAGP Cable6.0M/384kbps
User avatar
TigerX
Posts: 212
Joined: August 12th, 2005, 6:52 pm
Location: Clemson, SC
Contact:

Post by TigerX »

Robert S, I realize it's not a priority, but I figure it never hurts to ask... :-)

Do you know if (and when?) SpellBound will be compatible on the Trunk? I installed it recently and it showed up in the extensions list, but there was no functionality.
Alan Baxter
Posts: 4419
Joined: May 30th, 2005, 2:01 pm
Location: Colorado, USA

Post by Alan Baxter »

Cusser wrote:I disagree.

What is gained by eliminating options that some of us other users might want? I'm giving feedback on what features I need to enhance Spellbound's usability for me. I don't see how eliminating options which allow me to maximize its effectiveness is an improvement. Isn't Firefox about giving control back to the user?
Remove: "Hide context menu when the focussed element can't be spell checked"
Justification: This should be hard-coded on. There's no need for a disabled menu item when it can be hidden instead - this is how the majority of context menu items function.

Since I've never had a desire to spell check non-focused elements, I might not miss that option if it were missing and hard-coded on instead. But what if a user wants to use the context menu to initiate a global spell check without having to first transfer focus to a checkable element? I don't know. Why do you think Robert put that option in there in the first place?
By the way, Spellbound's en-US dictionary flags focussed as a misspelling. Answers.com lists focussed as an acceptable variant. :)
Remove: "Wrap long lines in the editor"
Justification: This should be a hidden pref, defaulting to true. If for some bizarre reason line-wrapping in the spell check dialog isn't wanted, it could then be manually tweaked in about:config.

If we're going to use Spellbound as just a spell checker, then I don't see the utility of disabling line-wrapping either. If it really is going to be used as an "editor" at times by someone, then they might like the ability to turn it off. Robert might have additional reasons for including that that you and I haven't thought of.
The one you seem actually interested in might be worth saving, but I don't really understand the use-case for it. When would you make the mistake of wanting to spell-check non-text elements?

I think I see your point of view. That fact is that I sometimes do get confused about which elements are spell checkable and which ones aren't.
Also, why spell-check one element at a time? Maybe with the dialog method, sure, but with inline spell checking, you don't actually need to see the dialog again unless you explicitly want to and thus there is no confusion about where the errors are located.

I'm trying out inline spell checking, but I prefer the dialog method.
User avatar
BenBasson
Moderator
Posts: 13671
Joined: February 13th, 2004, 5:49 am
Location: London, UK
Contact:

Post by BenBasson »

Alan Baxter wrote:What is gained by eliminating options that some of us other users might want? I'm giving feedback on what features I need to enhance Spellbound's usability for me. I don't see how eliminating options which allow me to maximize its effectiveness is an improvement. Isn't Firefox about giving control back to the user?

Removing UI for preferences where it makes sense to do so is a usability improvement for the majority rather than the minority. Firefox is about removing annoyances from the web (giving the user control in that respect), but if you compare it's interface to SeaMonkey or Opera, you'll quickly note the usability increase by relegating many less-useful preferences to about:config.

Alan Baxter wrote:Since I've never had a desire to spell check non-focused elements, I might not miss that option if it were missing and hard-coded on instead. But what if a user wants to use the context menu to initiate a global spell check without having to first transfer focus to a checkable element? I don't know. Why do you think Robert put that option in there in the first place?

Well, that pref disables the menu item, but leaves it on the menu itself. This seems inconsistent with the way the context menu functions (i.e. a disabled item has no added value over a hidden item, it's just another thing to read when you're trying to use the menu). I think that the menu item should either be visible (and thus active) or hidden (and thus disabled).

Alan Baxter wrote:By the way, Spellbound's en-US dictionary flags focussed as a misspelling. Answers.com lists focussed as an acceptable variant. :)

Unfortunately I think that's outside the scope of this thread. The dictionaries are provided by a MozDev project - I don't know if Rob is a contributor.

Alan Baxter wrote:Robert might have additional reasons for including that that you and I haven't thought of.

Maybe, but he asked and I answered.

Alan Baxter wrote:That fact is that I sometimes do get confused about which elements are spell checkable and which ones aren't.

How so? If this is a problem, there might be a better overall solution that we can discuss, perhaps some way of making spell-checkable items more visible, or at least clarifying which are which.
User avatar
Robert S.
Posts: 4399
Joined: April 24th, 2004, 3:04 am
Location: Bay Area, CA

Post by Robert S. »

TigerX wrote:Robert S, I realize it's not a priority, but I figure it never hurts to ask... :-)

Do you know if (and when?) SpellBound will be compatible on the Trunk? I installed it recently and it showed up in the extensions list, but there was no functionality.

There is work being done on the trunk to add inline spell checking for textarea and input elements and until this is more stable I am not going to even try since keeping up with the changes being made would take way too much of my time as well as these changes most likely breaking / conflicting with spellbound... so, I am unable to provide an if or when at this time.
User avatar
Robert S.
Posts: 4399
Joined: April 24th, 2004, 3:04 am
Location: Bay Area, CA

Post by Robert S. »

Alan Baxter wrote:Since I've never had a desire to spell check non-focused elements, I might not miss that option if it were missing and hard-coded on instead. But what if a user wants to use the context menu to initiate a global spell check without having to first transfer focus to a checkable element? I don't know. Why do you think Robert put that option in there in the first place?

To emulate iespell since many users using spellbound used to use iespell and tend to dislike change.

Alan Baxter wrote:By the way, Spellbound's en-US dictionary flags focussed as a misspelling. Answers.com lists focussed as an acceptable variant. :)

They aren't spellbound's dictionaries... they are openoffice dictionaries... more info is in the <a href="http://spellbound.sourceforge.net/faq#q501">spellbound faq</a> and the <a href="http://dictionaries.mozdev.org/">mozdev dictionary site</a> regarding the dictionaries including this general subject.
Post Reply