I’ve been playing with Synchroedit a bunch today. This is a collaborative ‘net-based word processing tool. Theoretically multiple people can work on a document at the same time, in real-time. I say theoretically because I can’t figure out how to invite anybody else to work on my document with me…
Anyone have better luck than I? An application like this would have been very handy for the dreaded “write this essay with a partner or group” homework questions in grad school.
[…] When I first read about Writely (I can’t remember where, though I’ve since read about the experiences that Rick and Rikhei have had with it, and I’m interested to see what comes of Chad’s experiments with SynchroEdit), I was extremely excited. Writely (and its rival applications, including SynchroEdit and WriteBoard, which Rikhei was unimpressed with) is a web-based word processor. All of them are hyped as collaborative tools–ways for multiple users in different locations to work on the same document, but they can also be used by a single user to work on the same document at multiple locations. That’s the part that got me excited. […]
[…] After reading about SynchroEdit on Hidden Peanuts, I decided to play around a bit with the other collaborative word processors I’ve heard about recently. I’m currently using Writely. The only thing I don’t like about it so far is that when I create links, the link text is automatically continued. Most of the labeling seems fairly intuitive and resembles what you’d see in Word (though obviously pared down quite a bit). It also includes a refresh option – I’m not sure what one would use that for. Perhaps to see if a collaborator has updated the document within the last few moments? There’s also an “insert” menu (which does what you’d think – allows you to insert tables, images, and the like) and a “change” menu that only includes the option to manage bookmarks. The manage bookmarks option doesn’t give you anywhere to put in a URI for that bookmark, so I’m a bit confused at the purpose of this menu. […]
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Have you played around with Writely or Writeboard at all?
I haven’t run into those before. Thanks, I’ll check them out!
Right now the SynchroEdit sandbox does not support multiple documents — the sandbox is just a place to play. However, if you want to request a couple of alpha accounts to try some things out in the sandbox, or ask each of your collegues to request an alpha account, you are welcome to.
Also, remember that the goal of SynchroEdit is be an open source tool that others can use to add synchronous editing capabilities to their software. It isn’t really a “service” that is trying to compete with JotLive, Writely or Writeboard — in fact, someday some of those services may find it useful to integrate SynchroEdit with their products. Our sandbox is just to demo the technology.