Section 20.2. Online Word Processing Programs


20.2. Online Word Processing Programs

Microsoft Word rules offices; Notepad and TextEdit are free on every Windows PC and Mac. So, for anybody who wants to process some words in a pinch , the idea of online word processing programs may seem redundant.

But having your word processor reside on the Internet, rather than your hard drive, has all kinds of payoffs:

  • Most online word processors are free. Here's your chance to create, open , edit, spell check, and distribute Microsoft Word documentswithout actually owning Microsoft Word.

  • As with any Web-based program, you never have to worry about installing upgraded or bug-fixed versions; you're always using the very latest.

  • You never have to worry about losing your work. If it's on the Internet, your hard drive can choke , gag, die, and keel over, but your document is safe. Some of these online programs, moreover, auto-save and auto-back up your work as often as every 10 seconds.

  • Many online word processors are designed for collaboration, where two or more people can all work on the same documents. Say you and your old college buddies , now in far-flung locations, want to work on a screenplay together. Using an online word processor, one person could start the draft and the others could come along in turn and add their own material and commentsall without the hassle and version confusion of emailing individual files back and forth.

  • The software works right in your Web browser, so compatibility with different operating systems is also a non-issue.

Some programs require the use of a specific browser like Firefox, but Firefox itself runs on most common operating systems like Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

20.2.1. Microsoft Office Live

Microsoft has acknowledged the benefits of putting software on communal servers for online collaboration. In the fall of 2005, the company announced Microsoft Office Live (http://officelive.microsoft.com), a suite of Web-based tools and programs for small business owners and others. They let you create your own Web site, set up your own corporate email accounts, and collaborate on documents and spreadsheets.

Three different plans are available. Live Basics gives you a Web site and a handful of email accounts, all for free. Live Collaboration and Live Essentials (both $30 a month) add a calendar, online file storage, and information-sharing. Subscribers also get To-Do Lists, asset trackers , inventory control programs, project-management tools, and moreall password-protected and locked up online.

Live Essentials customers also get server space and software tools to design a small Web site. Some features require Microsoft Office to be installed on each computer, but all the files added to the Live site can be shared among employees .

In short, if you have a small or medium- size business where your employees (wherever they may be) need to share information to keep the company running smoothly, Microsoft has an Office Live plan it hopes to sell you. If you don't have a small business, Office Live may seem too much to deal with, but there are plenty of free online word processors to play with for more casual collaboration.

20.2.2. Other Online Word Processors

But what if you have no need for the virtual office and company-records room that Office Live can provide? What if you just want to do things like open and edit a Microsoft Word file on a Word-free computer or work on a document with someone on the opposite coast ? In those situations, there are much simpler options. Some of them are absolutely free.

  • ajaxWrite . ajaxWrite is a zippy word processor that pops up, ready to go, in about five seconds. It can open documents in Word, Microsoft Works, and WordPerfect formats.

    It's free, but it requires the Firefox browser for Windows or Mac OS X. If you're so equipped, you can do such text-styling and formatting tricks as fancy font treatments (Figure 20-2) and numbered lists. You can start your own files and save them to your desktop.

    Figure 20-2. With ajaxWrite, your word processing program is right in your Web browser. Once you create or open documents created in most common word processing programs, you can write or edit them, style the text, and save them to the desktop of the computer you happen to be using.

    The program itself occupies less than 400 K, making it lean, mean, and free of the menu bloat that makes other word processors so lethargic.

    You can't save an ajaxWrite file online to share with other people. Still, this program can be a real bacon-saver when, say, you're using a borrowed computer to read your Web-based email and need to open a Word attachment. A companion program, ajaxSketch, is also available for your drawing and diagramming needs. (www.ajaxwrite.com)

  • Writely . Writely was snapped up by Google in early 2006, so you can expect it to gain new fans thanks to the reach and reputation of its new owner.

    Writely lets you create, edit, spell check, and share documents online with other folks via emailed invitationsor even publish them (the documents, not the folks), blog-style. Writely saves the different revisions of your file, so if you want to toss out the edit you did when you were in the bad mood and flying high on cold medicine, you can roll back to a previous version of a document. You can send documents to or from the site in Word, Rich Text, HTML, PDF, or plain text formats.

    The site is compatible with Firefox and Mozilla on Windows and Mac OS X, as well as Internet Explorers 5.5 and later for Windowsand, as with most Google services, it's free. (www.writely.com)

  • Zoho Writer . Zoho Writer lets you create, edit, and share files online from any computer that meets its browser requirementsInternet Explorer 5.5 or later, Netscape 7, and Firefox work; Apple's Safari does not. Like Writely, Zoho Writer keeps multiple versions of a file so you don't have to clutter your desktop with backup copies. As shown in Figure 20-3, Zoho Writer's interface looks like any word processor you've ever used and you can even publish your documents to Blogger, LiveJournal, WordPress, and TypePad blogs . (www.zohowriter.com)

    Figure 20-3. Zoho Writer lets you create, edit, and style text documents; you can also store copies of your files on the site so you can share them with other people. The system keeps revisions of your files as you update and work on them, and you can also send your text right into your blog from Zoho Writer.
  • ThinkFree Office Online . Sign up for a free basic account with ThinkFree, and you get 30 megabytes of server space to open, edit, and store files. You can open and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents here, and save finished files in the nearly universal PDF format.

    The site uses Java (Section 10.1.1) and works with most browsers for Windows and Macintosh. If you've already got a big chunk of your life online, you can post to your blog from ThinkFree and even add your Flickr photos to your documents. (http://online.thinkfree.com)




The Internet. The Missing Manual
iPhone: The Missing Manual, 4th Edition
ISBN: 1449393659
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 147
Authors: David Pogue

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