ThinkFree: Java-based ThinkFree is a great editor - once it starts running. And finally, Adobe doesn’t say how much storage they’re offering users - though given the small size of text documents, it doesn’t have to be very much to be useful. Also, Buzzword doesn’t give you the ability to export as pdf - strange, considering it’s Adobe.
Which means that chances are they’ll be replaced with your system’s defaults (Times New Roman and Arial for Windows users) when you download a document and open it in Word or another word processor. The first is that the fonts available are Adobe’s own, beautifully designed but proprietary, typefaces. It also offers a running word count, inline spell-checking, and revision history - great for writers! The menu takes some getting used to the paragraph, list, image, and table settings slide into place when you click their icons on the right side of the toolbar. Look (click any of the screenshots for full-size views):īuzzword allows for full formatting, headers and footers, page numbering, endnotes, tables and images, keyboard shortcuts, and commenting - all the basic word processing functions most people tend to use. But Buzzword uses Flash incredibly well, providing a usable word processor that’s stunningly gorgeous. Buzzword runs in Flash, and I generally hate Flash (in fact, I use the Flashblock extension in FireFox to disable Flash-based content by default). My favorite, by far, is the newly-launched Buzzword, recently acquired by Adobe. I was surprised to find 13 different online word processors (and a 14th, still in testing, that I couldn’t get running) available for free (there are some paid ones out there, but given the quality of some of the free ones I decided to exclude them from this round-up). I’ve been using several online word processors since Writely (now Google Docs) was launched a while back, and with recent updates to Google Docs and Zoho, and the launch of a few new ones, I decided to check out the field and see what I might have been missing in the online word processing world. Best of all, any reasonably up-to-date computer can access them, usually without installing anything (some require ActiveX, Flash, or Java - all of which are already present on most computers). The best ones also allow you to share documents, track changes and revert to earlier versions, and collaborate with other writers. ⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄Īn online word processor gives you the ability to create, edit, save, and access your documents from anywhere.