Predictive text... spell check\prompt

[Mouse77e]

hello all,

a general question to which i hope there is an answer...

i am writing a site which is heavyly dependant on user input, and i need to make that input as uniform as possible.

you know the way your phone suggests words as you type a text message, or as Word can give you commonly used words as you type, well i want to prompt users on my site to use the correct names for products and the like. i have a text file of about 150 words and names at the moment that i really could do with standardising accross new additions to my site.

my questions are:

has anyone done this real time on a site?

can it be done?

how can i or you do it?

what language would we use?

anyone have any ideas???

Mouse

[JPnyc]

How many product names are there? Is that what you have in the text file you mentioned? If that file is on your server, you'll need to do this serverside. If not, if it's part of the html doc, then you can do it clientside with Javascript. I've never written one of these myself but I know how it's done. It's a moderately complex string manipulation function.

[Mouse77e]

There are arround 150 or so propper names of products etc. at the moment untill i deside how to attack this problem i have the file sitting on my desk top so it could be serverside or userside... i am just looking for ideas on a solution... if all else fails i'll have a text doc with them all in available for download...

BUT there must be a more eligant solution

Mouse

[JPnyc]

My best advice would be to google autocomplete scripts. I just did and got a few of em. One of em may suit your needs.

[Mouse77e]

ok, sounds cool, and looks good on google... but can they be tailored for my needs? if so, has anyone used them on a live site???

any sugestions???

Mouse

[JPnyc]

I never have, no. 1st because many browsers have autocomplete of their own (though naturally it won't include your products unless they've been there before), and 2nd because most sites would use a dropdown to deal with this. Even if it's a product review page or something, you would have a drop down or 2 with the products to select and then a space for comments.

[Mouse77e]

Ok, i think i'll explain a little more it may help.

my site is a reunion site for a group of arround 4 million or so people (potentially) and before i go 100% live on this i want to iron out a few kinks that i have seen on similar sites.

the site relys on people filling in a form that takes there "history" by asking 18 questions and a second form with 160 tick boxes to nail down there career path as much as possible (but even this is very limited).

lastly i ask them to write up a "profile". in this profile i ask them to be as presise as possible so that their old friends can find them as easyly as possible.

i want to give them a "suggestion" or prodictive text as they type so as to encourage them to standardise their use of names, places and products. then i can use somthing like google suggest in my text search, (with the same source file) to give superior search results.

i hope this gives you a better idea of my needs / aims / wishes....

Any help is ALWAYS greatfully accepted

Mouse

[JPnyc]

Well I think I get it but the best advice I have is what I gave you before. Try the pre-fabs scripts you find and see if they're adaptable. The only other advice I can give here is to hire a developer. This isn't a simple 1,2,3 script that can be written in 15minutes.

[Mouse77e]

Originally Posted by JPnyc

Well I think I get it but the best advice I have is what I gave you before. Try the pre-fabs scripts you find and see if they're adaptable. The only other advice I can give here is to hire a developer. This isn't a simple 1,2,3 script that can be written in 15minutes.

Many thanks, I'll keep you posted on this... just found a PHP tutorial...