Google Docs vs. Zoho Writer- Export Showdown
Looking at recent sales figures, it’s obvious the Netbook market is exploding. Also, with the downturn in the economy, more and more students are choosing inexpensive computing devices.
The philosophy of Netbook computing is to use cloud applications for the majority of the processing instead of running them locally. Users connect to remote applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, and databases though a browser. With much of the processing and storage requirements offloaded to the cloud, local horsepower requirements are drastically reduced. Netbooks are generally very small and lightweight, making them a great choice for the road warrior.
To date there are two primary choices for cloud office suites: Google Docs and Zoho. Microsoft is planning on providing an on-line version of its office suite, but it won’t be ready until later this year. Since Microsoft Office is still king in the corporate world, cloud products must be able to import from and export to the “doc” format reliably. For some reason that baffles me, this is not always as easy as it would seem. There are always inconsistencies with the process between word processing applications. The secret is to know what the inconsistencies are ahead of time.
So, I thought it would be interesting to do a comparison of the “doc” export quality between Google Docs and Zoho Writer. To assure consistency between original documents I created a basic Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) file to be used in both services:
p
{
font-family: Georgia,serif;
font-size: 12pt;
}
body {
font-family: Georgia,serif;
font-size: 12pt;
}
h1, h2, h3, h4 {
font-family: Arial,sans-serif;
color: #6699cc;
}
ol {
font-family: Georgia,serif;
font-size: 12pt;
}
ul {
font-family: Georgia,serif;
font-size: 12pt;
}
To modify the default “Styles” both service allow users to add custom CSS formatting. For folks who are not accustomed to editing CCS this can be a daunting process. I don’t understand why neither service has provided a menu-driven method similar to MS Word to make these modifications. It is what it is, so lets start by taking a look at the original Google Docs extract.
We have a clean layout with blue headings. Each level has a different size; the body and table contain a standard bock of text. The table is using the default font style for “table text” with a blue background for the header. This is essentially the same style I have used countless times before in Word for reports.
Unfortunately, what we get after the export to word is less than expected.
Google Docs has a real problem with exporting ordered and unordered lists. Google has had an open bug associated with this issue for quite a while. I don’t know about you, but I use lists constantly. If I have to worry about how Google Docs will export them, it’s a deal breaker for me.
Also, the heading colors were not exported properly and heading four is the wrong font.
Next we take a look at the original Zoho Writer document which was formatted essentially in the same way as in Google Docs.
Fortunately, working within both on-line environments is smooth, and the same CSS file can be used.
Zoho’s export is much better, but is far from perfect.
Zoh suffers from three major flaws:
1. The headings do not change size depending on the level.
2. Table borders are 3d.
3. The background color for the table header was not replicated.
All three of these items are much easier to deal with than Google’s issues with lists.
It really amazes me that neither company can get the export right. How long has the “doc” format been in use? This is crazy. Is it arrogance, incompetence? Perhaps a technological stumbling block? I don’t know. What I do know is that the consumer is the one who suffers.
Both Zoho and Google Docs have quirks. Which application is best for you really comes down to the type of document formatting you use most often. For me, Zoho is the best of the worst. One thing to keep in mind with both services is that images export to their original size. So if you have reduced a photo within Google Docs or Zoho to fit a specific area, it will export back to its original size. This isn’t a huge issue, but just another annoyance.
I really like the convenience of browser-based word processing. It means my documents are available wherever I go. I don’t need to worry about having compatible software at each location. Plus, it can be extremely cost-effective. I just wish someone would take a serious look at creating an import and export schema that works reliably.
As a side note, much of this post was written in Zoho Writer on my Linux Netbook while I was updating my Macbook Pro to Snow Leopard.
Mark Nassal
Editor: @malitchick
