Networking

While some modern browsers include built-in spell checkers, and some operating systems include built-in spelling and grammar checkers, there are people out there using operating systems and browsers that do not have these features.

If you’re looking for some help with your writing and don’t have access to Microsoft Word or a similarly-powered word processor, there is a solution available on the web called After the Deadline. The site (at the memorable URL polishmywriting.com) offers spelling and grammar help, and even writing style suggestions.

While you can simply use the demo service right on the front page of After the Deadline, the site offers a WordPress plugin, as well as a few other plugins for products such as TinyMCE (a rich text editor used by many websites), RoundCube Webmail, and PHP List. The WordPress plugin integrates right into your post editing page and activates at the click of a toolbar button. The sites says it is only compatible with WordPress 2.7, but in my testing on WordPress 2.8 it worked fine.

As with most services that are offered online, the downside to After the Deadline is that you have to pass your text to their server to process it to give you back suggestions. As long as you trust After the Deadline, this isn’t a problem, and while there’s no reason not to trust them, I probably also wouldn’t paste a sensitive work-related document into some 3rd party website.

After the Deadline is free to use on a trial basis, and in their FAQ they say that there is currently no hard limit for the number of requests you can make with a given API key, but if you find you are regularly using it they request that you purchase a service plan.