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Customize the Color of the Spell Checker in MacOS X by Michael Coyle

Professor Ibson has come out of the labratory and his latest discovery will let you customize the color of the line when MacOS X highlights a misspelled word.

Like so many of the elements in this new OS, the underline color is stored in the TIFF image in this folder:

/System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Resources/SpellingDot.tiff

Before we create a replacement image, you need to make a backup of the original image. Open a terminal and get root access by typing: su and enter the root password.

Switch to the image's directory and create the backup with the following lines:

root# cd /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Resources/
root# mv SpellingDot.tiff SpellingDot.tiff.bu

This is what the original SpellingDot.tiff looked like. Below is the new version I created in ResEx Blue. :)

It can be created in any image program that supports TIFF.

Again, because of permissions under MacOS X, you can save the image in your Home directory, but you'll need to be root in order to install it. So after your image is completed, open the terminal and become root and enter:

root# cd /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Resources/
root# cp ~/My_SpellDot.tiff SpellingDot.tiff

There is no need to log out or restart. The next time you use the built in Spell Checker, the new underline will be present.

If you make mistake or wish to revert to the original image, become root in a terminal and type:

root# cd /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Resources/
root# rm SpellingDot.tiff
root# mv SpellingDot.tiff.bu SpellingDot.tiff