Thing #13: Web-based Applications

It took my mom and dad FOREVER to buy a laptop.  They have had the same crappy, beastly, giant Dell computer for the past 11 years.  When they finally did get a laptop (about 3 months ago), getting the software for it was a trauma.  My dad complained that it was too expensive to buy brand new Microsoft Office software and my mom just didn't understand why they couldn't keep using the Dell.  Luckily, my dad works at a school, so they offered to give him their software to download on the new computer.  There, problem solved.

Others are not so lucky, however.  They are forced to purchase expensive software that they will probably only use to download the applications one time in their life.  That's why these web-based applications are so wonderful! Users can create a free account and have access to programs exactly like those available in Microsoft Office.  Zoho has many tools such as Zoho Show, Zoho Sheet, Zoho Writer, and others.  These applications look very similar to those in Microsoft so there's not a huge "learning curve" if users are accustomed to using Microsoft Office.  I did notice, however, that there are not as many themes to use in Zoho Show (in comparison to Powerpoint) but hey, you get what you pay for (which in this case, is NOTHING!).  The only downside I can see to these Web-based applications is that users must have access to the internet to work on their projects.  When using Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Powerpoint, and Excel internet access is not necessary because it's already downloaded on your computer.

Google Docs is very similar to Zoho, although I think the layout of Zoho is closer to that of Microsoft Office.  I had a little trouble finding my way around this application. The most exciting thing I found on Google Docs was the Template Section.  There was a whole section labeled "Students and Teachers" and it included templates for grade reports, student achievement certificates, newsletters, syllabi and rubrics, presentation notecards, etc.  It had so many resources for teachers and students.  Students can use Google Docs to make group projects, take notes, and more.  Here is a screenshot of the document I created in Google Docs:
 

Overall, I think I would prefer to use Google Docs over Zoho.  Although I did not like the layout of Google, there were way more choices of themes, templates, etc to personalize each project.