Smart Spelling and Grammar Check Plugin for Your CMS

By Geoff Spick (@Goffee71) Jun 26, 2009

Most web content management systems come with a spell checker. Some of them, however, hide the feature away as a little button in a mass of menus. In the rush to publish, it is easy to forget about it. As modern language becomes increasingly mangled and full of jargon, it can be hard for a grammar checker to figure out what you are trying to say.

Take a look at a new tool in the "intelligent" grammar and spell check space. After the Deadline (site) is a smart spell, style and grammar checker that supports the TinyMCE editor and has a WordPress plugin.

Got a Good Word to Say?

After the Deadline is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) package that helps provide quality spell and grammar checking. It is free for personal use, just like Akismet for WordPress. There is also a wide range of licensing options based on a number of users and amount of requests per month.

After the Deadline is also available via a license for the server technology for larger organizations that expect more 50,000 requests per month.

To install, get an API key from the site and download the right plug-in that will add a special button to your editor.

Take a Tour

The tool is available in English only. You can try it out with a quick test here.

At first glance, it does well on the spelling side and you can instruct it to allow common terms, such as company names that are highlighted as errors (e.g. "iPod" or "Telekom").

Grammar doesn't seem to be picked up quite so well. It is good at spotting simple passive phrases; but will let longer, convoluted strings like "which was not all that much less negatively impacted than" pass quite happily.

The tool can do an OK job for bloggers, as well as companies and organizations where a simple spell check is needed. But try it out and let us know what you think.