Online Web Office
Okay, what is a Web office?
Wikipedia defines a web office as a set of applications hosted on a server that enable users to create, edit and share information. It is a derivative of the Desktop Office Suite, but has more collaboration capabilities due to its Web nature.
I first heard the term “online web office” in 2006, after signing up for Writely (which is now known as Google Docs & Spreadsheets). Some of the ways I use this online office tool:
1) Brainstorming & Taking Notes
Since adopting iGoogle as my start page, I love using Google Docs & Spreadsheets more and more, especially since I can access uploaded documents fairly easy through the iGoogle gadget. Instead of worrying about storing files on a flash drive, I edit and save files within the web office environment. When I’m ready, I save the files either as Word, PDF or HTML on my laptop or desktop later. Now Google Docs isn’t perfect. I can’t say I have gotten the hang of formatting Google Docs. Sometimes the margins or double spacing can be really off which can be a pain to fix later.
2) Ccomposing Blog Posts
Over the past two years, I have converted most of my sites to a blog format using Word Press or Blogger.com. Being a web developer, I’m not a fan of either HTML editor with these blogging systems, but I love the ease of use of the dashboards. Lately, I have been composing my posts in Google Docs which is much easier than opening Word or Dreamweaver, both which can be memory hogs, slowing down the computer’s performance. I can save my post and come back to it later no matter what computer I’m on. Once I’m ready to add the post, I simply open another browser window to copy and paste it.
Others probably use online web offices for more business purposes. The really cool part of online web office is the collaboration or sharing features. If I want to share documents with a colleague or client, I can simply upload files for them to read and comment, versus trying to send them an email attachment and then wait for them to re-attach their corrections or changes.
COMPARISON: Google Docs v. Zoho
A few weeks ago, I discovered Zoho which I think will really give Google Docs some competition. Currently, Google Docs wins my vote with its simplicity and ease of use, but Zoho offers a lot more features like creating presentations (online PowerPoint), chat and web conferencing. I’ve been playing around with Zoho Writer and Zoho Notebook in particular.
Zoho Notebook is an alternative to Microsoft OneNote, but definitely lacks some features. The best feature is it’s online and easily accessible from any computer. Where as with OneNote, your computer has to have this software installed and it is not available for Macs.
Zoho Writer seems to have more features than Google Docs, but Google Docs is better for organization. I’m a folder fanatic and recently, Google Docs added this feature.
If you are interested in using alternatives to Microsoft Word and spend a good bit of time online anyway, read about more online web offices at ReadWriteWeb.com.
