Today we covered Google Docs, the free service that provides word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software that lives online. You can upload existing documents and continue editing them online, or create them online and export them later. 

The word processing feature of Google Docs is based on HTML; in fact, you could use it as a simple HTML editor if you need one. If the controls in the word processing interface aren’t detailed enough to suit you, you can switch to HTML and edit there.

The spreadsheet function lets you create charts and graphs as well as simple columns of numbers. The keystroke behaviors and shortcuts are similar to those of Microsoft Excel, so I found it easy to use and adapt to the Google version.

The presentation function lets you import existing PowerPoint slides and continue editing them there. You can even store a PPT presentation there and display it from Google docs to people in the room, or to a set of invited guests online.

You must have a Google account to use Google docs, but accounts are free and you can set one up in minutes. On our noon webinar, one of the attendees set up an account on the spot and collaborated with me in realtime on a document I shared with him during the webinar. This stuff really works!

Visit http://docs.google.com to get started.

Webinar Date: December 12, 2007

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