Zo ho ho and away we go

This week, I've been exploring two web-based word processing applications, Zoho Writer and Google Docs. They're both not bad and allow you to create and save documents, format your text, spell check, insert tables and images, email your document, publish to a blog - in fact there's not a lot you can't do.

Zoho Writer has the most tools and looks and feels very similar to Microsoft Word, so it's an easy transition to make between the two. Unlike Word, Zoho Writer is freely available (no software buying required), doesn't require downloading, and isn't restricted to living on your PC. It lives on the web, so you can access your documents from anywhere. It would probably be wise to keep a backup of them on your PC, or to email a copy of them to yourself, just in case Zoho writer 'disappears' in the time honoured fashion of web based tools, but taht's standard practice.

Google Docs has less tools, and is more similar in looks and feel to older versions of Word, but it has the benefit of hanging off your Google account so it's very, very convenient.

I couldn't add anything to last week's favourites blog in the sandbox, so here one of my favourite poems, created and published using Zoho Writer. Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"

He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

The down side of Zoho Writer is that it appears to strip out all of my formatting in my blog post. True to my previous form of making sure my posts are as long as possible, I did originally post this with paragraphs. I've edited it numerous times to put the paragraphs back in, but they keep being stripped on posting. Don't know what is is about publishing using Zoho Writer that's causing this, as the paragraphs are in both the draft and the original pre-published document, but it's an interesting problem.