Online Tools and Applications

The last assignment for my Library 2.0 program involved checking out various online tools and applications. Here is a list of what sites I checked out and what I thought of them:

Google Docs: This is a handy tool to share documents with your co-workers. You can create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and forms to share on this site. You can also convert similar Microsoft Office files to share. One of my Excel spreadsheets converted with no problem, but some of my signs made in Word didn't fair so well. The converted sign had no graphics. Also, as a result, the line spacing was thrown off. To my disappointment, Publisher documents can't be uploaded unless they are made into a html or pdf documents. Hopefully this will be added as a feature in the future.

Zoho: This one seems to be a major competitor of Google Docs and seems to have similar features. I like the look of Zoho Projects. I'm going to be trying this one out in the near future.

Basecamp: Basecamp looks very exciting. It is a way to collaborate online with your co-workers on a project. After touring it's options, I can see how useful a tool this can be. I was extremely disappointed, though, to learn that it isn't free. When you click on "Sign up for Free" it takes you to a payment page with an option of a 30-day trial. The minimum monthly cost is $24 a month for a basic subscription. Sigh. Zoho Projects looks very similar, and it really does have a "free" project subscription. I will be trying them instead.

Rollyo: Rollyo is a customizable search engine. Very cool. I've added it to my del.icio.us account.

Snipshot: This is a handy picture editor. I am definitely going to be using it at home. It has also been added to my del.icio.us account. This picture I took of Lake Point Tower to your left was edited using Snipshot. I was able to tilt the image and crop it. I love that it shows you the last picture you worked on and lets you re-open it in case you realize you missed something.



fd's Flickr Toys: I enjoyed playing with the Jigsaw puzzle creator. I wish you could make an online puzzle to play with, though. I love the Flickr Uploader. This tool makes uploading to your Flickr account a breeze. It also lets you add descriptions and tags as you upload. Definitely a time saver.

RedKid.net: This is a fun site that lets you make fun banners, signs, etc. for free. The smiley face sign on the top of this blog comes from RedKid.

Shelfari and LibraryThing: Both of these websites let you create and organize a list of your books online. LibraryThing has a little more flexibility, but they charge when you have more than 200 books. I use Shelfari. They don't charge (which is a good thing, since I've already listed 177 books in about 2 months), and they have a cool looking shelf widget that you can add to your blog. I used both the shelf widget and the list widget on the right sidebar of my blog. Clicking on either will get you to my Shelfari bookshelf (if you're interested). :-)

Zotero: This site helps you organize, collect, and site research resources. I plan on trying this one out with my next research project.