What can you use the application for?
Zoho Writer is an online word processor facility.
What is the history and popularity of the application?
Zoho Writer is a part of the Zoho suite, which offers a full office suite including a spreadsheet application and presentation software, amongst others. The Zoho Writer strikes us a s very professional looking online word processor. The power of the internet is put to full use with a collaborative authoring feature and autosaving of documents online, ensuring that you can't lose them by accident. And you'll find all the options you'd expect to find in a Word processor, including formatting, font sizes and types, as well as tabbing and justification. Even trusty keyboard shortcuts, such as Ctrl-Z, Ctrl-C and others, will work in this web based processor, and you can import many document formats from your hard drive or from the internet. The site was strangely unresponsive when we tried to upload an image to insert into a document. There was no bar showing upload completion or any sign that anything was happening. After waiting a long time, we were eventually informed that a 'server error' had taken place. It would seem that this web app is definitely still experiencing some startup problems. Editing very large documents is also a laborious process.
What are the differences to other applications?
Zoho Writer appears more professional than other web-based word processors, such as Google Docs. For example, when typing your document, you can set the page width to A4, meaning that the text will wrap automatically, as it would with a standard computer-based word processor.Multiple documents can be opened in one browser, and an inbuilt tab system is used to switch between documents. This is another feature that puts Zoho Writer ahead of other web based word processors.
How does the application look and feel to use?
Zoho Writer appears just as you'd expect a computer-based word processor to appear. Anybody familiar with a computer-based office suite will be familiar with the icons used for formatting your document. Unlike Google Docs however, the menu system is slightly different to a typical word processor and it might take some getting used to.
How does the registration process work?
To use Zoho Writer you will need to complete a basic registration process, where you must provide your e-mail and specify a password. You won't have to verify e-mail to start working, but you will be asked to verify it eventually. Your Zoho login information will give you access to the entire Zoho suite.
What does it cost to use the application?
Zoho Writer is a free service, but you can also upgrade to a paid premium package with more storage and features.
Who would you recommend the application to?
Zoho Writer is a very impressive online word processor with bags of potential. Unfortunately, it seems to be a bit buggy at the moment, and like other online word processors, it is not quite as powerful or easy to use as computer-based software. While it's not quite ready to become a useful replacement for all your office tasks quite yet, it's certainly an app that you should keep an eye on.
