The Bottom Line
ieSpell is a browser add-on for Internet Explorer v6 and v7 for the Windows platform. It checks the spelling of almost any text that you enter in IE, whether it be Web-based email, blog entries, forums, and so on. The add-on also lets you look up the meaning of a word in your choice of several online dictionaries.
Pros
- You can check your spelling in any Web-based form directly from your IE browser.
- Looking up the definition(s) of a word is a simple click away.
- Your own custom dictionaries can be incorporated into ieSpell.
- Spell-checking load times are faster than server-based functionality that some Web apps offer.
Cons
- Only three language sets are included by default: English (Canadian, U.K., and U.S.)
Description
- ieSpell gives you the ability to spell-check text that you enter into Web-based forms in the IE browser.
- You are allowed to look up the meaning of words that you type into forms via several dictionary options as well as Wikipedia.
- ieSpell lets you add your own online dictionary choices for definiton lookup by defining the dictionary's name and URL.
- Custom dictionary files (.dic format) can be added to expand ieSpell's language range.
- Your personal word list is stored across all web pages and forms for spelling and definition lookup purposes.
- Settings can be configured to ignore certain word types when checking for spelling, including mixed case words and URLs.
- The rate and accuracy at which alternate spelling suggestions are displayed can be configured by the user.
Guide Review - ieSpell
If you are a Windows user browsing with Internet Explorer, you need this add-on. It is that simple. Even if you fancy yourself a great speller, typos and misspellings within web forms such as your email and blog posts are sometimes unavoidable. Having ieSpell makes sure that everything is correct prior to clicking that unforgiving Send or Submit button. The ability to quickly look up definitions is an added bonus. Perhaps the most appealing feature of ieSpell is its simplicity. The majority of this spell-checking functionality comes prepackaged as part of the Firefox 2.0 browser but for some reason Microsoft neglected to include it in their latest offering. However, this small add-on more than makes up for the omission.
