Lesson 17: Processing Words on the Web

In our second lesson devoted to web-based applications, we'll be examining tools that perform a task we're all familiar with: word processing! Some of the advantages of using a web-based word-processing program like Zoho Writer or Google Docs include:

1. They eliminate the need to worry about different software versions or file types as you email documents or move from PC to PC.

2. They easily accommodate collaboration by allowing multiple users to edit the same file (see the "share" feature in both ZW and GD).

3. They provide users the ability to save and convert documents as multiple file types (including .doc, .pdf, and .html).

4. Many will allow you to publish what you write directly to the web or to your blog.

• To see an example of a document created in Zoho Writer and then published as a webpage, click here -- Helene Blowers, architect of the original Learning 2.0 program, created this list of some of the benefits she sees in using this application.
• To see an example of a document created in Zoho Writer and then published to a blog, look no further: I used ZW to compose both of this week's lessons! :)
  

For this lesson's discovery exercise, you will explore one of these applications and then blog about your findings.

Discovery Exercise:

1. Create a free account for yourself in either Zoho Writer or Google Docs.
   
2. Explore the application and its features by creating a few test documents.
   
3. Create a blog post about your discoveries:
• How does the application you chose compare to word processing software you're familiar with?
• What features did you like/dislike the most?
• Can you think of any ways the application you chose would be useful to you or to EKU students?
  

Optional: If you're up for the challenge, try writing your blog entry in ZW or GD and then using the "publish" feature to post it to your blog.

Further Resources:

Here's a short list of more web-based productivity applications to explore, created by Helene Blowers using Zoho Writer and published as a webpage.

Credit: This lesson is based heavily on Lesson #18 from the original Learning 2.0.