“As a user my spelling is automatically checked” is the 8th of 27 requirements that we studied as part of our benchmark on XML editors. This is an important requirement for any tool producing content that is to be distributed to others. Not surprisingly, an automatic spell checker was ranked as the second most important feature of a XML editor in our user research.

Uniform interaction design

Despite the importance of good spell checking, the average score on this feature is low: 1.71 out of 5. Most current editors have a uniform interaction design for spell checking and applying spelling suggestions. The most common way for correcting a specific word or phrase is through the context menu, an additional dialog allows the user to check all spelling sequentially.

Specialized cloud service

In FontoXML we use the same interaction design to allow authors to apply their previous experience with other text editors. The actual spelling and grammar validation is done by a specialized cloud service, offering a range of supported languages and constructs. This provides for an intuitive path towards a powerful functionality, without having to install language packs or update dictionaries.