ProperSpell

Google released a developer API which allows access to various Google resources within your own applications. Jaunter created a popular commercial spellcheck solution, Lucien, targeted at library book catalog searches. ProperSpell uses the same codebase as Lucien, but offers it for free use. In short, we do all the upfront dirty work in communicating with Google's backend using your Google API key, and then simply pass your site's search form the spelling suggestion. There is very little that needs to be done on your side after the initial setup is complete.

Two things are taken into account in the code you add to your site which alleviates any performance issues. The first is a 'pulse' check against the ProperSpell server. If ProperSpell is down, the spellcheck on your site just quietly lays dormant until ProperSpell can be reached. The second is that the spellcheck uses an asynchronous call to request a spelling suggestion. Your search results are displayed as normal, and when ProperSpell replies to the spelling request, it appears on your form.

Due to the asynchronous nature of this service, the spelling results may appear a couple moments after your site search results render. Some of this delay is directly attributed to lag times that the Google API occasionally has. But for the most part, your users will not notice any impact on performance and will get spelling suggestions moments after their request.

We try to be as cross-browser friendly as possible. Unfortunately, there is a small technical issue with Safari. We are anxiously working to resolves this, and if you have any input, please let us know. Outside of that, Lucien currently works with IE, FireFox, and Opera.

Lucien is the codename for Jaunter's commercial spellcheck service.

The primary difference is that there is no charge and no formal support outside of email and our support forums. Because ProperSpell uses your Google API key, you are limited to the terms of service restrictions imposed by the developer API - mainly there is a request cap of 1000 queries per day. However, because of ProperSpell's unique proxy caching server, each subsequent request for a search term does not count against your quota. Compound this caching with all our users and your daily limit begins to grow.

Actually, there are, but they are still in development and of course uber-secret. We are working on a PHP and a developer-centric javascript method and will go from there. If you are interested in helping us test drive these, definitely shoot us an email.

We put together the couple reports that are available just to get some initial information about your site searches into your hands. While those are very basic, we are not sure how people are going to use the reports. So instead of making a ton of reports that may not get used, we focused on the core technology running ProperSpell - good data in, good data out. Please let us know the combinations of data that will make the reports more useful, and we will work to incorporate your ideas. For the interim, you can download the raw usage report data in comma-separated-format (csv), which can be used with most spreadsheet programs. You can massage that data till the cows come home.

Google's spellcheck is one of the most effective search tools ever designed. While typical spellcheck solutions simply compare individual words to dictionary entries, Google compares the entire search term to an index of over 8 billion web pages to determine which spelling variations are most frequently used.

Using this method, Google can suggest far more accurate corrections, based not on "official" spelling guides such as those found in word processors, but on the actual usage of terms across the entire Internet.

In general it is a unique id which Google uses to identify who a request for one of their services is coming from. It is fully explained within the Google Developer Overview. The Google Key should be kept as private as possible. You don't want people using up your quota.

There are fabled tales of developers requesting and receiving an increase to their daily request quota. The best way is to contact Google's API team directly. Tell them ProperSpell sent you.

As far as we can see, providing a solution for websites does not violate the current Google terms of service.

The latest version is 5.0. Unless we make some core changes, you simply change the version information in your Lucien settings file, save it and you will be running the latest version with your next page refresh. If you have issues with a new version, you can always roll back to a previous version by changing the version information in the Lucien settings file.

Shame on you! If you have misplaced your Welcome Email or custom code link, you are still in luck. If you have your Google API key, you can enter that into the Setup Form. It will provide you with your ProperSpell Key which you received when your first registered. If you have also misplaced your Google API Key, you can always register for another and then use the Quick Setup again to generate a new key pair.

Your ProperSpell Key does not have to be kept as secure as your Google Key. Its primary use is to identify your suggestion requests. It is not used for any other verification purposes regarding your account.

Yes! We provide support forums and limited email support. We are always willing to work with site operators in getting ProperSpell working for them, let us know how.

The best place to start is the support forums. We hope to create a community of users using ProperSpell where they can learn from one another. Feel free to email support, but responses may be limited.

Google offers a great service, and much of the hard work has been worked on, tweaked, ripped apart and rebuilt for the past 2+ years in optimizing a Google based spellcheck. In other words, Jaunter wrote some kickass code, fine tuned it, and filled a great niche in spellchecking. We are huge advocates of open source, and ProperSpell is a way to give back to that community, generate some noise, as well as develop a community where the Lucien code can continue to mature.

There are two of us, the first is just a spell check aficionado and a bad-ass javascripter, the other just seems to have too much idle time, and gets distracted with new ideas.

We are open source advocates. We have gained a lot from that community, and ProperSpell is a way to give back. In other words, because we can.

Whoops! So busy getting the hamsters fine-tuned for roll-out, we didn't get a good once over on spelling. Maybe its our example as to why providing a good spellcheck is essential? Didn't think you would buy that one. If you could point out our oversights, we would be much appreciative.

ProperSpell has no formal affiliation with Google.