evolving Google docs

I've been a fan of Google docs from its inception, thrilled with their web presence, which made it easy for me to access documents whether I was at home, the classroom, or a coffeeshop. I love the ability to share writing with others, and the one-click revision history; it's all been good.

Every once in a while, however, I'd have to print a document, or send someone an attachment in Word format, because that's been the industry standard. Google docs allows saving to Word, but it still required using that desktop standby, and its concurrent loss of visibility and easy revision tracking. As functional as Google documents were, they didn't look pretty.

Now they do. If you've been reluctant to use Google docs because everyone around you uses Word, that's no longer a concern. You can format your document (the default looks like Word) from the print function, which is practical because that's where you're most likely to need special formatting. Documents print beautifully and professionally.

You can even see exactly what your documents will look like as you type them. The view tab now provides the option for you to type in page view.

Sometimes I think Google is reading my mind.