Tools For Schools: Google Docs

This is the first post in a series I am starting, called "Tools for Schools," it's purpose is to find the best of the best, in web apps that are useful for students of all kinds. I'm in high school, and I know that there are certain web apps that help me a lot, and I'm sure they can help college students, as well.

For my first look into the Tools for Schools series, I've decided to re-visit Writely, now dubbed Google Docs. Now some of you may be saying, oh Writely is dead, and you're pretty much right. When Google bought Writely, they lived as separate entities. But now they are all put together into one interface. It allows you to perform all of your word processing needs. There is even a spreadsheet web app. This is now called Google Docs and Spreadsheets.

So how is Google Docs useful? Well for me, I almost always have some kind of paper that I should be writing. Many times, I just don't get around to them, and have to rush through writing them at the last minute. Most teachers want things typed, and since I'm almost always rushing, I can start it at home, and finish it at school, all in the web browser. There's really no problem with carrying a flashdrive around, or having to worry about that floppy disk that always tends to pester.

I really think that having a word processor like this, in the web browser is a really nice thing to have. It allows for students of all kinds, to do their work on the go. They may be on some unknown OS and not have access to a word processor, or maybe they don't like to use one right on the desktop. But with Google Docs, you can write it all up on one computer, and if needed, switch to another. It really makes things easier. You can also work on team projects together easily. Rather than sending a word document back and forth, everyone works in the same place. Saves time and hassle.

There are a few features that are really nice. You can save, and download as a PDF, DOC, HTML, RTF, and even Open Office formats! Just being able to save on all of these formats brings Docs a lot of favorability, for me anyway.

So yeah, if you tried Writely, back in the day, when it was just getting big, I highly suggest that you check it out again. It's more stable, has a decent UI, and is just easy to use. Includes the spreadsheet app, on top of the ability to use a word processor.