Google docs

Not too long ago Writely got the attention of web users for creating an online word processing application that seemed to capture a lot of the elements of a desktop program, and at the same time, allowed you to share the document and invite others to collaborate on it with you. Others had come before it, but Writely caught people's imaginations. Writely was snapped up by Google not so long ago, and their technology was integrated into the company, which then unveiled Google Documents.

Google documents allows you to create documents and spreadsheets, edit them online, and also open them up to be shared with other users online. It was fairly simple for me to import an existing Microsoft World document (the beginnings of this article) and start working in Google document right away. I had the options then to save the document after writing as Microsoft Word, Open Office, RTF, or PDF, meaning it was easy to get my data right back out of Google docs.

But by far the coolest reason to use the Google docs was the collaborate tab on the far right. Clicking on that allowed me to go ahead and invite others to work on the document with me. As one develops the document, one can still easily enough hit the 'revisions' tab to then browse through the history of the document where changes made by different authors are highlighted in different colors, all the way back to the first change. You can also compare two versions with each other.

These documents stay on Google's server, where you can save them, then browse them later, or download them to your hard drive (although one would imagine you're doing that to back them up, not to work on them if you are collaborating).

Google docs has some competition in easy-to-use online word processors that have collaborative features built in.

Zoho Writer

Zoho Writer is another online word processor that gets good buzz online. Creating an account and getting into Zoho gives you an interface that looks very similar to desktop applications, but in your web browser. You can import a document easily, using the big import button on the far left, and export your document in a variety for formats like RTF, Microsoft Word, PDF and Open Office. Zoho lets you

The web interface was snappy in feel for me, faster that Google's offering.

To share a Zoho document, you click on the 'share' link and put the email of the person you want to share the document with into a box and click share. Now you have collaboration. Just like Google, Zoho lets you compare the different revisions that have been made, and also lets you look back at the history of the document.

Zoho shows you your documents list on a column in the left hand area of your screen, as well as your participants. As a result I thought the interface was a bit more organized and easier to navigate than Google's, where you keep having to reopen the main file browsing area where your items are held. In Zoho I could open another document quickly, as well as see who all was working on it, in just a glance.

WriteBoard

Writeboard is a more stripped down online word processor. It's made by 37signals, the makers of some very, very slick online software for list making and project management that has gotten a lot of buzz online and a lot of satisfied customers.

Writeboard offers much of the collaboration features the other pieces of software offer, but without much in the way of formatting your text. It's more about the collaboration than the formatting. As a result it does have a neat sidebar showing you who has changed what and when, making it easy and straightforward to understand the changes in the document.

The others

Coventi looks to be a new entry to the field that looks really promising. Not only do they allow collaboration, importing of document formats you may be familiar with, and so on, but they offer a unique way of allowing you to create various drafts.

For those who are not quite sure they're going to commit a form of an article to a finished state, but want to spin off some variants, Coventi would bear a close look.

iNetWord (picture to the right) is another that has a very capable toolbar and set of functions, but could be at times slow for me to load. Your mileage may vary.

Non collaborative

There are a host of other online word processors that are very slick, but I found Zoho and Google the easiest to use and get up and running on for collaboration. The other online word processors do not feature collaboration as a major feature.

Thinkfree offers you an online office, as does AjaxWrite, gOffice, and flyWord (I found flyWord would hang on me when trying to import documents). The first three work well enough as plain document editors, but I think the real value of even putting a document up online is the ability to share it with others.

The real way for you to test all these out, however, is to get out there and start kicking the tires. One of these applications may just find its way into your favorites.

Tobias Buckell is an author, freelance writer and professional blogger.

Previous Technology for the Rest of Us columns:

• Editing images online
• Online Calendaring and You
• Saving Money and Making Life Easier with RSS
• Backing it up
• Set Your Email Free