Google Docs
OK, most of you already know about Google Docs- Google's online office suite. We all know Google is great- and Google Docs is no exception. But when you get to look at some other options out there, you'll see some features that Google has overlooked.


EtherPad
This up and coming tool provides real-time collaboration on a text document among invited users (Google Docs does this in a limited way in which screens must be refreshed every 15 seconds or so to see the changes). No registration is required and inviting others is as simple as sharing the link to your pad with them. Each person editing the document can choose his/her own highlighted color. You may save different revisions of your text, use the on-site chat feature, and more. In the end, copy the team-written text and paste into other applications!








Zoho
There's a whole suite of applications available here- most of which are compatible with the most popular formats, including the Microsoft Office formats! All this for free- and nothing to download! Like Google Docs, you can allow multiple users to collaborate on the same document.






























Adobe Buzzword
This is an up and coming online word processor from Adobe- and it's free! The application has a nice interface and is loaded with word processing features plus the ability to collaborate, set different permissions, online storage and many more. Check out all the features of this one! Oh, yes, it does import/export in popular formats: "Buzzword currently imports and exports plain text (TXT), rich text format (RTF), Microsoft Word (DOC and DOCX), and Word 2003 XML files. Buzzword also exports to Adobe PDF, Open Office (.odt) and HTML." Registration is required of course.






















Chart Gizmo
This free chart maker has a variety of chart types and layouts- and almost everything is customizable. It allows import from Excel, though I'm not sure why you'd use this if you had Excel available (except for maybe the Flash chart feature like that shown here).
















NCES Kid Zone: Create A Graph
This simple graph creator walks students through the process of creating a graph based on student-supplied data. The result is a graph that can be printed, stored, or a link sent via email. The link will allow students to go back and edit their graphs. Any graph not viewed or edited within 30 days is deleted from their server. The graph cannot be dynamically embedded. For comparison purposes, I used the same data for this graph as the one previous.

No registration is required at all.









Edit Grid
This is a full-featured online spreadsheet- not just a chart maker. Change some of the data below and see how the chart also changes dynamically. Free registration is required. You must enter an email address but it is not validated.