The OpenCities platform has a built-in spellchecker, and there will always be words that it might not recognize. Your team will likely have a Style Guide to follow to ensure that all the content on your site is cohesive and formalized. Content authors may use words in their pages that the OpenCities dictionary highlights as incorrect.
To avoid this, we have created a custom dictionary that will collect all commonly used words that you add. There are 2 ways to add words to your custom dictionary:
- Add words through the main menu as a Site Manager or System Administrator
- Add words through the Spellchecker function as a content author
Whether you bulk-add a lot of words before your content authors start working or add them as you go, you should think about what words are commonly misspelled and which words you may need to add to your dictionary. Here are some ideas:
- Proper nouns such as place names (like street names, suburbs, wards, or towns) or the names of elected officials
- Venue or park names
- Common acronyms
- Technical terms or jargon
- Case-sensitive words
Add words through the main menu
As an OC Site Manager or OC System Administrator, you can add words to your dictionary at any time, and you can add as many as you need to.
- From the main menu, go to More > Dictionary.
- Choose which language you need to add to.
- Enter all new words into the Add new words text field. You can add multiple words at once by separating them with a space or a comma. Please ensure that all proper nouns are capitalized correctly to ensure the proper use in your content.
- Once your words have been entered, select Add. Your new words will appear in the list below the text field.
- When you've finished, select Save.
You can edit or delete a word by hovering over it with your cursor.
Add words through the Spellchecker
As an OC Power Publisher, OC Site Manager, or OC System Administrator, you can add words to your dictionary as you work on pages. You can add them through the Spellchecker function in the WYSIWYG Toolbar.
To spellcheck the WYSIWYG content:
- Open the WYSIWYG Editor and select the Spellchecker tool from the WYSIWYG Toolbar. Any incorrect words will be highlighted in yellow
- Click on the word and select Add to dictionary from the dropdown list which appears.
The words will now be added to your custom dictionary.
Please note that the WYSIWYG Spellchecker function will not check the content inside of any green plugin boxes, such as accordions or tabs. If you need to spellcheck these elements, you will need to run the spellcheck function inside the container's WYSIWYG Editor.
You can also use the Spellchecker function on the Overview tab to check most of the content in the page fields. The Spell Check All button is located beneath the page template and details.
Tips and tricks
- The dictionary is case-sensitive, so you will need to add both versions for words that can be used as a noun and a Proper noun (microchipped and Microchipped, for example).
- The Spellcheck function has been turned off for some fields, such as the postal code, phone number, email, and supporting links and documents fields. Errors in these fields will not register, and you cannot add words from these fields to your dictionary.
- Please note that this dictionary is for internal use only. It does not provide definitions to the site visitor as the Glossary module does.
- We recommend you establish a dictionary before you start creating content and add any city-specific words, place names, and the names of elected members. This will ensure that any content authors will consistently spell these words correctly.