Quality in general is *always* better served by a proofreader than by
automatic spelling / grammar tools. This is part of why I want to do
documentation in the trunk: because the trunk model gives us
gatekeeping and peer review.

If someone finds something in one of my commits which reduces the
quality of the docs, I'd treat that as build breakage, hamburger-hat
and all.

If you want integrated spell checking, you're probably going to have
to do the development work yourself, as it doesn't seem to be a
priority to anyone else.

One thing I keep learning with software is YAGNI.
http://c2.com/xp/YouArentGonnaNeedIt.html

On Sunday, May 2, 2010, Ian Trudel <ian.trudel at gmail.com> wrote:
> 2010/5/2 Michael Haupt <mhaupt at gmail.com>:
>> Hi Ian,
>
> Hi Michael,
>
>> On Sun, May 2, 2010 at 2:37 PM, Ian Trudel <ian.trudel at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> It is an unexpected comment from a German. My experience in the German
>>> market made it clear Germans demand high-quality writings — in German
>>> that is. The companies I have worked for were paying top dollars for
>>> near-perfect German writings, from advertisement to documentation.
>>
>> see, that's what stereotypes are for: being reconsidered. :-)
>
> I see. Companies however collect demographic data and it makes sense
> to consider such feedback. The important is to make a decision in a
> knowledgeable manner. Spell checker could be entirely excluded but at
> least it would be a decision taken in knowledge of its advantages and
> disadvantages. :)
>
>> I think it is much more important to get some documentation available.
>> Polishing is always possible. There is no business contract involved
>> here, and no $$$ lurking. At least not for me.
>
> Some documentation is already available: http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak
>
> Polishing did not happen.
>
> o_O
>
>>> My point is that we have more to gain to do it right from the ground
>>> up. The efforts required to interface with a spellchecker library is
>>> much less now than rewriting documentation later. ...
>>
>> Correct spelling alone doesn't make good quality, does it?
>
> You're right. Every detail matters to make good quality. *grin*
>
>> Best,
>>
>> Michael
>
> Quality is something I take at heart and I usually refrain from
> releasing anything that does not match a minimum quality standard as
> far as open source contribution goes and I release commercial work
> only when it matches my highest quality standard. A spell checker is
> among the tools I use to write documentation, articles, etc. I will
> survive if it's not in our HelpSystem but I know it will become an
> additional hurdle to me. I will probably end up writing in OpenOffice
> and transfer back in Squeak. Painful.
>
> Anyway, when are we getting HelpSystem integrated to the trunk again?
> We could be typing in there instead. :)))
>
> Ian.
> --
> http://mecenia.blogspot.com/
>
>

-- 
Casey Ransberger