Mon 3 Oct 2005
(via Lifehacker) Writeboard is a new web service from 37signals that lets you collaborate with others on writing a document. It keeps a history of all the changes, and provides a really easy and intuitive interface for viewing them, rolling them back, etc. 37signals is also the developer of Backpack , a service which claims to be for ‘online organization’ but is really only marginally useful.
The obvious comparison here is with a wiki. The thing about Writeboard is that it’s much more of a single use service. It certainly has some of that simple elegance that most wikis forgo in the name of versatility. It’s so barebones that it just might work. You simply create a Writeboard, assign it a password, and then give out the URL to anyone you want to collaborate with. There’s no account signup - to participate you just log onto the Writeboard, edit the document, and give your name at the bottom to ID the changes. That’s it.
Check it out. Tear it apart.
October 3rd, 2005 at 4:52 pm
Kinda sucky: not impressed that they wouldn’t use a WYSIWYG editor - that is people’s main source of gripes with things like this.
October 3rd, 2005 at 4:54 pm
That’s fair enough. I think you have to leave formatting, layout, etc. for later with this tool.
The thing I love about it is that it’s not trying to be all things to all people. It’s for writing together, straight up. Forget all that other stuff.
October 4th, 2005 at 3:50 am
These online services come and go. I’d prefer a script that I can install on my own webspace. More control. So I’ll continue using my wikis, I suppose.
By the way, I don’t like the way he writes about wikis
October 4th, 2005 at 7:33 am
Good point. It would be frustrating to entrench it in a work process and then have it dissapear.
It seems like he’s writing with a different set of users in mind, though. For tech. saavy folks, especially ones who are already used to wikis, it probably doesn’t make sense to use Writeboard. But for people who want a simple, uncluttered tool, it might work better.
Case in point, I just learned that my wife’s company pays a ton for a similar software that is apparently a pain to set up and a hassle to use because of bad UI and special syntax. The social scientists at her job just can’t wrap their heads around it. Maybe they’d prefer Writeboard.
October 4th, 2005 at 12:13 pm
I’ve used Dokuwiki for a while now for verifying / correcting articles I wrote. Instead of sending Word-files again and again, people I’ve interviewed had to edit my texts online on the wiki. It worked (only one out of ten sent me thje text by mail). I suppose, most of them haven’t used a wiki before. Not all wikis are difficult to use. (PmWiki is also highly recommended! Many add-ons, very easy to use)
Yes, sounds familiar. I know of many similar cases, organisations / institutions paying far too much for publishing software. Many (non-techsavy folks?) don’t trust free software, there are many prejudices against freeware!