Thing #13

Today I looked at Zoho and Google Docs.

I actually never considered that there may be apps for creating documents. I've always just stuck with MS Word. I found Zoho to be incredibly useful. For someone who can't afford to buy MS Office or doesn't otherwise have access to it, Zoho would be perfect. You can create documents to turn in school work, make fliers, even do a mail merge. The main downside to this is that you need a good internet connection to use it. I live out in the boondocks where my connection is very hit or miss. Even while using Zoho today, it was very laggy. I don't blame Zoho for this, of course. But for this reason, I will be sticking with MS Office. Here is my test document from Zoho:



Google Docs is a similar application. I chose to do a drawing. The application is comparable to MS Paint, but not as good. I couldn't find a tool for actually drawing a picture, if that makes sense. So I pasted some shapes on top of a picture of me and a cat. Click here to see my drawing from Google Docs.

I can see both of these applications coming in handy in an art classroom. Zoho and Google Docs both have resources that would allow students to make their own documents for homework. Hoever, I probably wouldn't use the drawing application from Google Docs with my classroom. There are plenty of other resources for making digital art that are easier and better, like Photoshop or even MS Paint.