#19 Web-based Applications: Go beyond the desktop!

The availability and use of online productivity web-based applications (think word processing and spreadsheets) has exploded over the past few years and with great reasons! These powerful application provide users with the ability to create and share documents over the internet without installed desktop applications. Some experts have speculated that this emerging trend may mean the death of Microsoft Office and other software-based productivity tools, while some think these tools have their place, just not in the office.

One of the benefits to web-based applications is that they eliminate the need to worry about different software versions or file types as you email documents or move them from computer to computer. Another bonus is that collaboration features are built in, making it easy for multiple users to edit the same file (with versioning) and provide users the ability to easily save and convert documents as multiples file types. You can even use many of these tools such as Zoho Writer and Google Docs to author and publish posts to your blog. It’s this type of integration with other web 2.0 tools that also makes web-based apps so appealing.

For this discovery exercise, participants are asked to take a look at the web-based word processing tool, Google Docs, create a simple document, and then write about your discoveries in your blog.

Discovery Resources:

A short list of web-based productivity applications.

Discovery Exercise:

1. Create a free account for yourself in Google Documents. (If you are using Blogger, you should be able to login with the same username and password as your Blogger blog.)
2. Explore the site and create a few test documents. Try the spreadsheet capabilities or the presentation software.
3. Create a blog post about your discoveries.

Optional: If you’re up for the challenge, try using Google Doc’s “publish” options to post to your blog.

* Note: You can also explore Zoho Writer by creating a free account.