I do a lot of writing and have found that most online editors leave something to be desired, although the Hub Pages Editor is fairly intuitive.

Instead of using a site’s built in text editor, I usually either use Microsoft Word or OpenOffice. Not only do I like the environment better because it is a lot bigger and easier to use, I also like to save what I am writing on my computer before publishing it online.

There are two settings that I usually change to make Microsoft Word and Open Office better web content creators. That is to disable Smart Quotes, which are on by default, and to change the way words with numbers in them are dealt with in the spell checker.

Both of these tasks are very easy to do.

Smart Quotes are also sometimes called curved quotes and are not very HTML friendly.

For something you are actually going to print onto regular paper, smart quotes probably do look nicer, but problems can arise when you try to use them with a web service. A smart quote curves slightly inward towards the word inside the quotes.

When you try to use them online, they will often be converted to question marks. For example, you might write: “I couldn’t get up this morning” in Microsoft Word, but when you paste it into the website and save it, you will see “I couldn?t get up this morning.”

This can be disabled in the settings of each program, so you can copy and paste straight from your favorite Word Processor into your favorite web site.

To turn off smart quotes in Mircosoft Word, go to:

Tools -> AutoCorrect Options

1. Select the tab labeled "Auto Format" and deselect the box labeled "Straight Quotes with Curly Quotes." You can see the difference in quotes by looking at this setting too.
2. Next Select the tab labeled "Auto Format as you Type" and deselect the box labeled "Straight Quotes with Curly Quotes."

In OpenOffice, the settings to turn off curved quotes is in more or less the same place. Go to:

Tools -> AutoCorrect

1. Click on the "Options" Tab. Scroll to the bottom and uncheck the box marked "Replace standard quotes with custom quotes".
2. Click on the "Custom Quotes" tab. There are two boxes that say "Replace." If either of these boxes is checked, uncheck them.

There is one other default setting that I usually change in both OpenOffice and Microsoft Word. This is how words with numbers are treated. By default, if you type mist4ke by accident, the spell checker will not mark it as wrong. This is because by default, words with numbers in them are ignored.

Generally, when I type a word with a number in it, it is because I made a mistake, so I like to disable this setting.

In Microsoft Word Go To:

Tools -> Options

1. Click on the "Spelling & Grammar" Tab.
2. Uncheck the box that says "Ignore words with numbers" and click OK.

In OpenOffice Go To:

Tools -> Options

1. Double Click on "Language Settings"
2. Click on "Writing Aids"
3. Under the "Options" Section, check the box next to "Check Words with numbers" and click OK.