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Google Docs Could Eventually Replace Basic Web Forms
Google has announced a new feature within their Google Docs application today and I am impressed. Currently the spreadsheet application they offer allows you to share the entire sheet for others to edit. But what if you want someone to just add rows of data as they would in a database? Google is now offering a simple forms plugin for the spreadsheets the reminds back to the old days of vbasic into a Paradox database.
With this new addition, you need to email the form out to anyone with an email address. It won’t be long before you can put the form onto your Web site or blog I am certain. The new data is added to the Google Docs spreadsheet which keeps the data organized and current. It could be a replacement for a basic php/mysql combo since you can work with the spreadsheet as if you were in Microsoft Excel.
This could be the most useful feature in Google Docs to-date. Once the forms are embeddable on Web sites, this feature will be a game changer especially if it has an easy insert into Blogger, Wordpress, MT, Drupal, etc.
It can already be embedded (see the Google OS post: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2008/02/add-data-to-google-spreadsheets-using.html)
And there are some great (greater?) features in Google Spreadsheet such as the GoogleLookUp function, which gives you, for example, GoogleLookUp(”barack obama”;”place of birth”)=Honolulu, Hawaii - with all sources as a comment. And you can extend (Ctrl+Click and downside extension) the barack obama case to find many, many, many more politicians (more than you actually know) and many more information about them! Visit the official page: http://documents.google.com/support/spreadsheets/bin/answer.py?answer=54199&topic=13320
I really like the way Google is advancing its office suite; gradually, organically, based on users’ feedback and best of all within the same original context. It definitely feels more like a tightly integrated suite and less of separate tools tied together, like the original Microsoft Office.
This is what we get, as developers start adapting their work to the cloud environment and learn to take advantage of the natural benefits, instead of trying to recreate the same-old software in a more distributed environment.
Check out http://www.editgrid.com/
This spreadsheet site/service offers an amazing number of ways to embed sheets and charts in other web pages. The charts are updated in real time and can also be editable. Amazing stuff: http://www.editgrid.com/site/learn/feature/publish
The application is developed in Korea and the goal of the young developers was simply to build absolutely the best online spreadsheet solution ever. I think they are succeeding.
Google have these great ideas, but they have an “island state” mentality when it comes to their software — lots of cool ideas with hardly any linkage between them…