Menori

I quite dig what AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML) allows you to do. Having been involved in Wed development a bit - I say a bit because I’m not a coder and probably never will be and I seriously take my toppest of top hats off to those guys who can and do - but one thing I can appreicate is what Web development can do.

Most of my efforts have been focused on usability, design and layout of web pages really. I’ve always been fascinated by browser delivered ability and applications. Java I thought was cool for a time, Flash also. But they all involve plug-ins so the portability of the functionality. The fact that they’re not completely browser based though means that atleast you had some reassurance that what you’d spent twenty minutes typing would not be lost completely when you hit ‘post’ and your connection bombs out.

Web based Word Processors were always a favourite of mine to pursue. From Thinkfree.com to a variety of almost completely browser based versions. With the invention of AJAX and similar technologies which have enhanced the functionality within the browser I’ve seen a few new products come along. Currently this posting to menori.com has been achieved by using Writely which has some nice features for providing a simple, yet powerful browser based word processor. Still in beta, Writely, provides the ability to create documents that can be collaborated on and posted to the web or a blog. Autosave is an absolute god-send and at timed intervals the AJAX code will actually do a quick save of what you’re writing. Such a feature in Outlook Web Access would be fantastic. I do know there is a new version of MS Exchange planned for next year, maybe it will make it into the next version.

My impressions of Writely’s advanced features (you can do all the standard image, tables, etc..) is very good. ‘Advanced’ is a relative term, but for a browser based word processing tool to offer ‘Undo’ and ‘Redo’ features is a very welcome benefit. All in all, Writely is a great tool.