Watch this introductory video
Web based applications to rival desktop applications
New support of web technologies by current web browsers allows for more complex and interactive web applications to be made, and this proof of concept by Google shows that it is possible for a web application to act as an entire office suite.
Unlike a desktop application, there is nothing to install on your computer in order to use a web application. The application itself resides on a server somewhere on the web, and you only need your web browser to access it.
One main benefit of web based applications is that they can be accessed from any computer. This is good if you frequently switch computers or you want to be able to access or edit your documents for home and work. You could use it for notes to yourself or for important documents you want to access on various computers. If you don't have Microsoft Office, it can be an quick way of creating or editing a document.
Google Docs is also a great way of sharing your documents with other people. They can be made publicly available, like this example or invitations sent out via email to a select few.
Your task
Log into Google Docs (NOTE: you can use your Blogger login details!) and create a new 'Document'. Notice the 'File' button near the top left. In here are your options to save or print the document. Saving the document keeps it in your Google account, so you can access it from any computer. Using the 'Download File As' option allows you to export the document to your desktop. You can even export as pdf!
Sharing your Google Docs
When you create a document, you may also notice a blue 'Share' button which gives you some sharing and publishing options:
- Share with others: allows you to invite colleagues to edit or simply view your document. A hyperlink to the document is sent to their email address
- Email as attachment: enables you to email the document to someone as a Microsoft Office attachment
- Publish as webpage: generates a public url which makes the document viewable to all and sundry, like the example given earlier in this post
- Publish as webpage: also gives you a second option to post the contents of your document as a blog post on your blog. Only really works well if you've typed up a simple Word document with very little formatting, eg: doesn't really work if you've got tables. For more info about this, look at posting to your blog from Google Docs
Write a blog post about Google Docs. How much competition do you think it poses to desktop office suites such as Microsoft Office?
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1 comment:
It is probably simpler and easier to use than Microsoft but the down side is that there is only the very basic editing tools. It does not have the sophistication of Microsoft.
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