This is a summary of how I would reform English spelling, were I commissioned to do so. In a nutshell, it is a continuation of SoundSpel which sees the introduction of several obvious rules, such that only the most misleading words are re-spelt.
Here are some rules, further to those of SoundSpel (using SAMPA notation):
When a vowel is followed by a single consonant (including <r>) and then another vowel, the first vowel is usually long.
The suite of vowels is extended thus: <aer> = <air>, <ai,ay> = <ae>, <aw> = <au>, <ea> and <ear> = <ee> and <eer> respectively, <ei,ey> and <eir> = "wildcards" <ae,ee,ie> and <air,eer,ier> resp, <eu,ew> and <eur> = <ue> or <oo> and <uer> or <oor> resp, <ir,ur> = <er>, <oa> and <oar> = <oe> and <or> resp, <oy> = <oi>, <ow> = <ou>.
<c> and <g> soften to /s/ and /dZ/ respectively before <i,e,y>, but the <g>s in the digraphs <gg,ng> never soften, and <gu> when followed by a (different) vowel is equivalent to /g/.
<ph> as /f/.
<s> sometimes represents /z/, whereas <ss> is always /s/.
The letters <t,c,ss,s>, <z,s>, and <g>, when followed by <i> then another vowel, commonly mutate into /S/, /Z/, and /dZ/ respectively - unless they're at the start of the word. The popular ending "-tion" is a good example of this, being pronounced /S@n/. In the combination <st>, however, the mutation is to /stS/ or /StS/, like in the word "question".
Similarly, pre-vowel /sj/, /zj/, /tj/, and /dj/ commonly mutate into /S/, /Z/, /tS/, and /dZ/ respectively, like in the words "assume" and "duty". Also, an unstressed vowel that ought to be /ju:/ or /jU@/ can reduce to /j@/, as in the word "united". This reduction can also apply in cases of the above mutation, as in the word "pressure".
<y> is sometimes vocalic, as in the word "synergy".
An unstressed <i> or <y> that ought to be /aI/ can reduce to /i:/, as exemplified by the word "iodine".
The trigraph <igh> equals <ie>.
The endings <le> and <re>, after a consonant, are pronounced as though they were <el> and <er>. And if they are preceded by <c,g>, the latter does not soften, as in the word "bugle".
The SoundSpel <all> /O:l/ rule is limited to monosyllabic roots and their derivatives. This removes the need to re-spell polysyllabic roots like "dally" (which would otherwise have to be "daly").
The suffix <age> equals <ij,idge>.
Final <e>s are generally silent.
In the fundamental endings <es> and <ed>, and also the superlative ending <est>, the vowel is /I/ or /@/, i.e. it's like the unstressed half <ee>, except never /i:/. The same applies to polysyllabic roots that end in <et>, such as "bucket".
The combination <old> is pronounced /@Uld/, as in the words "cold" and "golden".
[Idea: an A-O-U shift after /w/, at least with long R vowels, enabling for example the spellings "war" and "world", rather than the current forms "woar" and "wurld".]
As with SoundSpel, several irregular words are retained. Here is a list of them:
of
to,do,two
you,your
what,want,was
get,give,begin
one
some,come
who(m),whose
said
there,where
country
schedule
And here is a sample BobSpell text:
It was on the first day of the New Year that the announcement was made, aulmoest simultaneosly from three observatorys, that the motion of the planet Neptune, the outermoest of all the planets that wheel about the sun, had become verry erratic. Ogilvy had aulreddy calld attention to a suspected retardation in its velocity in December. Such a peece of news was scaercely calculated to interest a wurld the graeter portion of whose inhabitants were unuware of the existence of the planet Neptune, nor outside the astronomical profession did the subsequent discuvery of a faint remote speck of light in the region of the perturbd planet cause enny verry graet excitement. Scyentific peeple, however, found the intelligence remarkable enuff, even before it became noen that the new body was rapidly groeing larger and brighter, that its motion was quite different from the orderly proegress of the planets, and that the deflection of Neptune and its satellite was becoming now of an unprecedented kiend.
