I initially had great trouble opening ThinkFree without crashing the rest of my browsers (very annoying), but eventually changing from SeaMonkey to Internet Explorer allowed me to complete Thing 20, albeit very slowly.
The additional functionalities that ThinkFree offers are obviously a good thing, but since I still can't make it run normally, I'll be sticking with Google Docs. I liked the additional fonts, and the way documents can be tagged.
It's hard to see all the cool features of ThinkFree and other similar applications without using them for a longer period, and without amassing a larger number of documents than I have, but it looks good and would be useful for using documents both at home and at work. I particularly like the function that allows different word-processing software to be read without depending on what is loaded on a particular computer.
Uploading a document from my desktop took longer than I'd expected, but maybe that's because of the browser problem I mentioned earlier. I had a quick look at the extra Things, and attempted to create an HTML note. The limited number of template options available was a bit of a disappointment, in that I couldn't change the style or colours on the template that I chose, and the one on offer was rather twee.
Further to Thing 19, I had another go at trying to see how our students might use Google Docs. I found a random article on Jstor and tried to save it as a Google Doc, bearing in mind the copyright laws, and found that each page of the document could be dragged and dropped into the Google Doc, and saved as usual. It might not be the best way of using Jstor, but in order to solve an essay crisis, it might be just the thing.
Showing posts with label Week 10. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Week 10. Show all posts
24 March 2010
20 March 2010
Google, Google everywhere
Having used Google Docs in a previous incarnation, and being driven almost wild by its idiosyncracies, I was not best pleased when I first spied the subject of Thing 19. However, now that I'm not having to edit a Google Document at the same time as a colleague, I can see that it's a very useful application.
The word-processing elements are easy to use and look very familiar, whilst the Google Docs main page is easy on the eye and intuitive. I chose a William Morris quote ('If a chap can't compose an epic poem whilst he's weaving tapestry he had better shut up') which I displayed in a number of fonts, colours, and sizes.
In my library, since the computers are on a network, Google Docs is probably slightly redundant, but if I wanted to take my work home with me the application would be useful.
Students, however, could really benefit from Google Docs. We're often presented with a memory stick which a student desperately wants to use to save a document from the internet. For security reasons, we don't allow access to USB ports on our SOLO machines, but anyone using them can also get access to Google, and thus Google Docs.
In my library, since the computers are on a network, Google Docs is probably slightly redundant, but if I wanted to take my work home with me the application would be useful.
Students, however, could really benefit from Google Docs. We're often presented with a memory stick which a student desperately wants to use to save a document from the internet. For security reasons, we don't allow access to USB ports on our SOLO machines, but anyone using them can also get access to Google, and thus Google Docs.