After the Deadline, Language Checking Software Used by WordPress, Now Open Source

If your blogging platform of choice is WordPress, then you've no doubt noticed recent improvements to the way it catches spelling, style, and grammatical errors. That's thanks to acquisition of After the Deadline, a language checking software package designed for WordPress and TinyMCE.

The plugin's creator, Raphael Mudge, announced today that he has released the source code for After the Deadline (AtD) under the GNU General Public License. "We’re also announcing a jQuery API for After the Deadline. Now you can add an AtD check to a DIV or TEXTAREA with little effort," writes Mudge. This is the same API that powers the Intense Debate plugin I wrote about recently.

The source code and resources are housed here, along with documentation to help you get started. To learn more about how the service works, be sure to check out the demo and try it for yourself.

Mudge told me he's anxious to see how open source projects and Web apps use the code. "I'd like to see AtD spread as far and wide as possible. I'm an inventor first and have this desire to see my inventions help people. Wikipedia is one project where I think AtD could help empower their contributors to do more. Part of the fun of a project like this is having no idea how far it could go. I really look forward to seeing what people do with it."