So far I've reviewed Google Spreadsheets and Presentations, and last but not least, its time for Google Documents. Again, like the other members of the Google Docs team, this is done online or offline and requires none of those file transfers. When this program was first released, it was extremely basic, but it has evolved and now includes such things as offline access and the ability to view and hopefully soon editpdfs. The things that I like about Google Documents are:
No software has to be installed thus it can be accessed anywhere
Online and offline access
Handles basic word processing well
Easily shared with others for viewing/editing
Easily published as a webpage
Excellent special character selection and ability to input unicode.
Google Docs folder layout and transfers are excellent
Frequent updates
Google Documents in Action
Some drawbacks of using Google Documents for word processing are:
Doesn't handle figures very well
Margins can't be adjusted for viewing but can be for printing.
Colour palette for text and background is limited
Very few "advanced" features available (i.e., endnote, footnote)
Font types are limited
Bullets/numbering has glitches
No thesaurus
Google documents definitely needs more work, but it has come a long way since its release. I use it for basic needs, anything more I switch to OpenOffice, the main thing is to stay away from those Microsoft products.
Today Google announced Ad Planner, which is a free tool advertisers can use to track the popularity of websites. Other services like Hitwise and Nielsen are $subscription$ based. The whole idea behind this is to help agencies decide where to place ads and it works by simply entering information on a desired target audience and Ad Planner will display the most visited sites based on the criteria. Currently, it is in testing mode and users must apply here. Google just keeps on rolling out the products.
Some bad news for people in the US and China waiting to buy phones with Android software, the release date has been set back to the fourth quarter this year, and not the third quarter. This cell phone operating system seems super cool and revolutionary, you should definitely check out the Android page. Hopefully a computer Google Operating system will be next on Google's to do list.
Just got this great tip from the Google docs blog. If your creating a ton of documents, go to this official Google docs post and shortcuts for a new document, spreadsheet, and presentation can be added to the navigation toolbar.I just love how Google is constantly adding shortcuts/updates to their suite of programs.
If your wondering where the total solar eclipse will be on August 1st, just check this out to view it in Google Earth. For more info, check out this page, it is very well put together and like me, you'll learn much about eclipses.
I finally had a chance to check out the latest version of Apple's web browser - Safari. This update, 3.1.2, seems fast but I don't think its as fast as Firefox 3.0. I mentioned before about the random freezing of the program, so far this hasn't happen with the update. The biggest things they fixed were security related, especially the "carpet bombing" flaw which resulted from Safari automatically downloading executable files based on internet explorer settings although security issues still exist, but this is also true for the other browsers. One more thing, I like the way FF3 handles tabs, Safari requires too much keyboard pushing to open a link in a tab and also select. For now I am sticking with FF3.
Today it was announced by the Google Earthplugin now works in Firefox 3.....yesssssss!!! With this, Google Earth can now be used within the Firefox 3 browser. I have never tried it until ~5 mins ago, give it a shot with the milkman game, it is so fun!!!
When this program was first released, it was extremely basic, but it has evolved and now includes such things as offline access and the ability to view and hopefully soon edit pdfs. The things that I like about Google Documents are:
