Things 19: GoogleDocs

I started using googledocs a few months ago, when I got fed-up of emailing my personal statement to myself, everytime I made a teeny update (I've been working on it during my breaks at work as well as at home). I'd heard of thinkfree, but chose to use googledocs because I already had an account (I didn't know you could use google sign on for thinkfree) and it meant I could wack a 'googledocs' gadget into my igoogle page.

I think being able to remotely store work is a great idea. As I've mentioned above, emailing a document when it's been updated by three words can be something of a pain, especially if you edit it again five minutes later. And when your making edits that small, it can occasionally become difficult to identify which is the most recent/relevant copy.

The other alternative, saving to USB, is great in theory but sticks can be forgotten, lost or corrupted and file types can be incompatible; I use word 07 at home and 03 at work, and if I save to the default file type at home (.docx) then the workPC's can't open them.

The main advantage of something like g*docs is that it's quick and easy to use. You can pop into your document at any time, make as many of few edits as you wish and move on. Ofcourse the documents still have to be backed up, as something you were using on USB would, but any edits can be added to the back-up as and when.

g*docs itself has a number of features I found helpful, beyond the idea of it as remote storage. For example the 'revision history' tool, which allows you to roll back to previously saved copy, and gives you a large number of points to choose from (it also saves for you automatically, which is good for numpties like me.)

It does have its downsides though. Despite being great for initial drafts of things, detailed proofing can be difficult. Firstly, the layout view is quite blocky, the wideness of the box can look overwhelming and messy. Secondly the formatting options are not as varied as on word, which means you can lose delicately arranged effects if you transfer from one to the other (I did a lot of copying and pasting whilst writing my statement, and everytime I lost the 'tabbed' formatting.)
Thirdly and finally, the dictionary is really basic, you can't add your own entries which can be annoying.

Obviously, all these drawbacks are to be expected: g*docs is a very basic processor. I would suggest it's best used to compliment word, not instead of, and in that way it is a very helpful, easy to use development.