Resource of the Week
by Shirl Kennedy
---- Word Processors--Web-Based
Source: Upstartle Writely
Why would anyone need a Web-based word processor? I mean, just about everyone has a word processing program of some type loaded on their computers -- quite likely, some iteration of Microsoft Word. Why would you want to go on the Internet to word-process something?
Well, what if you wanted to...
...collaborate on a document with several other people and not be forced to keep shipping the thing around as e-mail attachment...or worry about which version of Word somebody has?
...publish documents online, simply and easily, and instantly invite other people to have a look?
...post a document to your blog, automatically?
This week, we'd like to invite you to take a look at Writely, "which allows you to edit and publish documents online, either privately, in collaboration with specific people, or publicly on the Internet." Writely is the first product of "a Silicon Valley-based software development company started by three senior software engineers -- all with long track records in successful, mass-market, consumer software." The application is currently in beta, during which time it is free to all users. Eventually, the developers plan to introduce additional features for paying subscribers, while continuing to keep the basic service free.
What you can do with Writely now:
+ Create and edit HTML documents -- either from scratch online, or by uploading a Word or HTML document or an image file.
+ Allow anyone with an e-mail address to collaborate on your document with you.
+ Publish a document openly, for the whole world to see -- or just to a select group of people, who will be e-mailed a password to view the document.
+ Automatically post the document "to any blog that supports the Blogger, metaWeblog or MovableType APIs."
After you register for an account on Writely -- fast and free -- you can start working on documents immediately. During the beta period, there is no limit on total storage space for individual users; each individual document can be up to 500 KB in length, and each embedded image up to 2 MB in size. You can organize your documents by tagging them, much the way you do with photos on Flickr or e-mails in Google Mail. You can add more than one tag to a document and search by tags. And you can "star" documents that are important for some reason, so that they stand out. There are several ways to sort your list of documents.
Writely's developers have put together an impressive FAQ document that tells you pretty much everything you need to know to use the application and its features...and then some. There's also a Help Center, with more detailed how-tos, as well as a set of user forums, where you can ask questions. The developers monitor the forums and chime in with advice or information about new features. And there's a weblog.
Writely does not currently support all browsers, but you'll be OK if you are using:
+ IE 5.5+ (Windows)
+ Mozilla 1.4+ (Mac & Windows)
+ Firefox 1.0.6+ (Mac & Windows -- except for 1.5b1 on the Mac!)
Right now, you'll have to disable your pop-up blocker to work with Writely, although the developers say "a future release will do DHTML dialogs instead," making this unnecessary. There are plans to support PDF and RTF formats in the future as well.
Writely has been described as a sort of Wiki, with a slick front end and the ability to set permissions. It's made with Asynchronous JavaScript Technology and XML (AJAX), the same technology that powers other dynamic Web-based applications such as Flickr, GMail and Google Maps.
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