---
url: https://spellingcreator.org/docs/guide/overview.md
---

# Spelling Creator

Spelling Creator is a web app for making Spelling lessons: lessons for people
who communicate by pointing to letters on a letterboard or keyboard. It isn't
tied to one method. Practitioners, parents and communication partners can use
it however their own practice works. See [What is Spelling Creator](../intro.md)
for more about who it's for and what "Spelling" covers.

You build a lesson in the editor: give it a title, add named sections, and fill
each section with text, pictures, spelling words, questions and activities. When
it's ready you can print it, download it as a Word document, save it to Google
Docs, or publish it to the lesson hub for others to use. You don't need an
account to start; see [Your first lesson](./getting-started.md) for a
walkthrough.

## See it in action

There are more on the pages for
[import from text](./import-from-text.md),
[AI writing help](./ai-writing-help.md),
[lesson checks](./lesson-checks.md),
[fact checking](./fact-checking.md),
[VAKT activities](./vakt-activities.md),
[variations](./variations.md),
[interactive mode](./interactive-mode.md), the
[lesson hub](./hub-and-accounts.md),
[pull requests](./pull-requests.md) and
[live collaboration](./live-collaboration.md). The people in
those are made up for the demos. The lessons from the hub are real ones, and
the one about monarch butterflies was written for the videos.

## Building a lesson

* **Title and sections.** Name the lesson at the top, then add sections with
  the round **+** button. Each new section is named as you add it.
* **Text, pictures and spelling words.** Add blocks of text, pictures (with a
  caption) and spelling lists to any section. Words you type in ALL CAPS can
  fill the spelling list in one click.
* **Formatting, footnotes and sources.** Text can be bold, italic or
  underlined, and footnotes can cite the lesson's sources or carry a note. The
  lesson ends with its Notes and Sources (see
  [Formatting, footnotes & sources](./formatting-and-footnotes.md)).
* **Pictures.** Search free pictures from Pixabay or Wikimedia Commons without
  leaving the editor, or upload your own. A picture's credit is kept separate
  from its caption, printed small underneath, and never read aloud (see
  [Pictures](./images.md)).
* **Questions.** Add questions in eight color-coded types (see
  [Question blocks](./question-blocks.md)).
* **VAKT activities.** Add a movement or sensory break to a section, printed in
  red with a "VAKT:" label, optionally with a picture and links. It's an
  instruction for whoever runs the lesson, not a question (see
  [VAKT activities](./vakt-activities.md)).
* **Rearranging.** Move sections and blocks up and down, or delete them. With
  a mouse or trackpad you can also drag a block by its handle, within a section
  or into another one, and the page scrolls by itself when you hold the block
  near the top or bottom of the window. On a touch screen, use the move buttons
  instead.
* **Long lessons.** Section headers stay in view as you scroll, questions are
  numbered within their section, any section can be folded away, and a list of
  sections beside the editor jumps straight to one (see
  [Navigating large lessons](./navigating-large-lessons.md)).
* **Preview.** Press **Preview** to see the lesson exactly as a reader will, in
  the same place, and press **Back to editing** to return.
* **Importing.** Open a Word document or a lesson file, or paste a lesson
  written anywhere else and let the app read it (see
  [Import from text](./import-from-text.md)).

## Help from AI

* **Writing help.** Draft a block of text or a question from a section's title,
  or get lesson ideas for an age range (see [AI writing help](./ai-writing-help.md)).
* **Lesson checks.** Press **Check** to look over a lesson for problems and
  suggestions (see [Lesson checks](./lesson-checks.md)).
* **AI lesson fixes.** Ask for a fix to a problem the checks found, see the
  change before and after, and decide whether to apply it (see
  [AI lesson fixes](./ai-lesson-fixes.md)).
* **Fact checking.** Compare numbers, dates and named facts in the lesson's
  text with sources such as Wikidata and Wikipedia (see
  [Fact checking](./fact-checking.md)).

## Using a lesson

* **Printing and exporting.** Download a Word document, print to PDF, or save
  the lesson to your Google Drive as a Google Doc (see
  [Exporting & printing](./exporting.md)).
* **Interactive mode.** Work through a published lesson on screen, one step at
  a time, typing answers as you go. Answers are saved privately to your
  account, steps can be read aloud, and an unfinished run-through picks up where
  you left off (see [Interactive mode](./interactive-mode.md)).
* **Summaries.** Get a short summary of a published lesson, made on your own
  device, on devices that can run it (see [Lesson summaries](./lesson-summaries.md)).
* **Translation.** Read a published lesson in your own language, translated on
  your device. Spelling words stay in the lesson's language, since they're what
  gets spelled (see [Translation](./translation.md)).

## Sharing and working together

* **Lesson hub.** Browse lessons other people have published, open any of them,
  and publish your own once you're signed in. Sign-in is by an emailed link, no
  password (see [Lesson hub & accounts](./hub-and-accounts.md)).
* **Comments and ratings.** Discuss a published lesson and rate it from 1 to 5
  stars. Comments can have formatting and links, and you can edit your own (see
  [Comments & bios](./comments-and-bios.md)).
* **Profiles.** Pick a display name, write a short bio, follow other people,
  and see their activity on your home page (see [Profiles](./profiles.md)).
* **Notifications.** A bell for replies, comments on your lessons, new
  followers and links people send you (see [Notifications](./notifications.md)).
* **Moderation.** Tools for moderators to deal with comments and accounts (see
  [Moderation](./moderation.md)).
* **Live collaboration.** Edit a lesson together in real time, with each
  other's cursors and a chat panel (see [Live collaboration](./live-collaboration.md)).
* **Version history.** Every change is saved as a version while you work, so
  you can look back through them and go back to any one. A copy (fork) of a
  lesson keeps the original's history and can bring in the original's later
  changes.
* **Variations.** Try changes on a separate copy of a lesson without touching
  the main one (see [Variations](./variations.md)).
* **Pull requests.** Offer the changes in your copy back to the lesson it came
  from. Nothing changes until its author agrees (see
  [Pull requests](./pull-requests.md)).
* **AI assistants.** Connect an AI assistant such as Claude so it can write and
  edit lessons for you (see [AI assistants](./ai-assistants/overview.md)).

## Your lessons and your device

* **Autosave.** Your work is saved in your browser as you go.
* **As many lessons as you like.** The editor keeps every lesson you work on,
  listed on the **On this device** page. Opening, copying or importing a lesson
  adds it to the list instead of replacing what you were working on (see
  [Lessons on this device](./local-lessons.md)).
* **Install it, and use it offline.** The app can be installed so it opens in
  its own window, and the editor, version history and exports keep working with
  no connection (see [Install & offline use](./install-and-offline.md)).
* **Language.** The app's own wording is English for now; more languages can
  be added later.

For how the app is built, see the [developer overview](../developers/web-app/overview.md).