How It Works
Tansa is a centralized, server-based solution that is far more effective at locating and correcting mistakes than ordinary 'spelling checkers'.
The Tansa Text Proofing System is a solution based on a client/server architecture.
Nearly everyone in the company can be supplied with appropriate Tansa Client software that will check the text in the documents they create. These client applications all communicate with a shared dictionary running on a centralized server.
To see a Flash presentation about how Tansa works, click here
The Tansa Client application can be used inside the text editing and page layout applications in use across your enterprise. All clients (no matter which text editor or page layout program they use) can access and use the same centralized dictionary.
Each individual user decides when to use Tansa and which parts of their text they wish to have processed. The text is then submitted to the server with a single command and is returned to the user moments later with the relevant suggestions for spelling, style, punctuation and/or hyphenation.
Text Proofing Service
Tansa is far more effective at finding and correcting spelling, text usage (style) and punctuation mistakes than ordinary spelling tools, because of the advanced proofing process that is employed by the server software.
Each document that is submitted to the server is scanned multiple times and several techniques are applied to spot errors and determine the correction. For example:
- The server analyzes the text for mistakes in punctuation.
- The server looks for mistakes in capitalization (case).
- The server looks at individual words and compares them to all known correct spellings, as well as common misspellings and typos.
- The server applies specific style rules through search and replace methods.
- The server looks for known phrases and style constructions, as well as common mistakes in phrasing and style.
- The server looks for known people names, place names and company names.
Based on several advanced pattern-matching algorithms and a continuously updated set of statistics on the types of words used by your company, the Tansa Server then proposes a set of corrections for the user. All of this happens in a matter of seconds. The Tansa Server can process tens of thousands of words per second.
Hyphenation Service
The Tansa Hyphenation Service is an add-on to the basic Tansa Text Proofing System 3. Customers that need to better control the way their layout tools hyphenate and justify words, can add the Hyphenation Service to their Tansa solution.
The Hyphenation Service allows customers to enter custom hyphenation points to any word in their Tansa dictionary. This allows you to have one single database of spelling words and hyphenation exceptions.
When the user runs the Tansa Hyphenation Client, discretionary hyphens are added throughout the text. After that, if a word falls at the end of a line and the page layout application needs to split the word, it will use the Tansa suggested hyphen points, instead of hyphen points selected by the application's algorithm.
Custom dictionaries
No two Tansa customers is identical. Therefore, no two Tansa dictionaries are the same. For every new customer, Tansa Systems creates a dictionary that is custom tailored to suit their needs.
This means that, right from the beginning, you are using a dictionary that already knows many of your local names and technical terms.
Your dictionary will continue to grow each year with lists of the words and phrases that are acceptable and used correctly – as well as the various types of incorrect usage and mistakes that have been made by your users. As part of the service that Tansa Systems provides to all its customers, your dictionary will be updated several times a year, based on system usage and feedback from the users.
For more information about the Tansa dictionaries, click here.
