nan | 楠木

I’m a big fan of anything that can help me do less and achieve the same results. That’s why I like experimenting with new ideas, though I don’t consider myself to be avant garde or an early adopter in general (I hope I were, but I know I’m not…)

One thing that I’m testing out right now is writing online, through web-based writers. I know Zoho and Google Docs are two of the generally considered leaders in this space. Zoho has a pretty much complete package, everything from word to excel to powerpoint (or should I say, word-processing to spreadsheets to slideshows… since there’s no affiliation with Microsoft). And the interface is well-done, making me wanting to write just for the sake of enjoying the process. However, there appears to be one problem: currently the publish function does not support self-hosted WordPress blogs, only the wordpress.com platform. That’s too bad.

So I’m writing this post on Google Docs. It’s not that supportive for blogging, since it doesn’t have functions such as select tagging (or categories) etc. But I’m just trying it out. I know I’ll need to edit it again over on my WordPress blog.

So why writing online? Well, the merits are pretty obvious. You save the cost of purchasing an expensive Office suite (or, in another scenario, the nagging conscience of using pirated software), and of course the disk-space of the client application as well as the effect all that installations have on your system performance. The file is stored online, meaning you can access it on any computer, without having to fuss about flash-drives or all that remote storage crap. The file is easy to share and publish, making collaboration very simple.

But those merits are also the downsides. You have to bear with the limited functionality of the online processors, as well as load-times etc. Stored online is a blessing and a curse, because who knows when Google’s server may crash and all your data is lost (it has happened to some GMail users before – go google this up – so this is not fear-mongering)? And of course when your Internet connection is faulty… well, just pray you don’t need your file in a hurry.

So to keep it short, there are pros and cons to everything… which is saying nothing really. But I guess the point is simple: in order to enjoy the perks of writing online, you have to bear the consequences of depending on the network.

P.S.: apparently the publishing function in Google Docs is unable to set the title of the post to the title of the file created… So even more manual work on this end in WordPress…