Friday, October 06, 2006

TECH: Writely by Google

Google's Writely mostly hits the mark
Web-based word processor is speedy — but still needs some polish

(MSNBC.com, 5 Oct. 2006)

"Writely is to Microsoft Word what Gmail is to Outlook: A speedy online program that retains familiar features of traditional desktop software and isn't afraid to introduce new ways of taking advantage of the Web. Unlike a boxed program, Writely runs on a server somewhere on the Internet.

"It took less than a minute to register at http://www.writely.com/ and get a blank document open on my screen. As someone used to Word and OpenOffice Writer, a free desktop-based word processor, I felt comfortable playing around with formatting: familiar buttons across the top of the screen let me change fonts, indent paragraphs and cut and paste.

"Instead of using folders, Writely offers a tagging system akin to Gmail's to keep files organized, along with a search box. When I sign in, I see an index of my files. I can assign tags, or short keywords, to my files, then use those tags to sort later."

No comments: