editors and spell checking?

Hi everyone,
I am helping someone resolve an issue, they have access to lynx, but the 
editor field is blank.
They are using Ubuntu.
While I can certainly tell them how editors are set for our shellworld 
configuration, I want to be sure of something first.
In alpine for example there is a field for editor, and one for spell 
checking, I admit to thinking they worked together as in are software 
dependent.
Does lynx work the same?
meaning does there need to be one field for the editor and one for spell 
checker?
or is it enough to  make sure the chosen  editor is configured to use the 
desired spell checker.  meaning adding the editor will allow for spell 
checking as well?
Thanks,
Karen