Freeloader Friday Download of the Week

AJAX Applications, Part 2

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Two weeks ago we looked at some exciting new AJAX projects you can run from your own server. This week, we're going to take a look at some other great examples of AJAX in free web services.

Writely

This one has to be my favorite of the bunch. Writely is an online word processor that supports Word and HTML documents. You can create docs from scratch, upload them or even email them into your Writely account. From there you can edit, share and collaborate on them and publish them to your blog.

Writely has all the convenience and power of a wiki, without the obnoxious markup and with support for Word. The AJAX provides a fast writing and editing experience that makes it as slick as a desktop application.

Writely, like all good Web 2.0 apps is in beta, and someday, some kind of advanced features will cost money. But basic accounts are, and should stay, free.

NumSum

Now that you've all signed up for your Writely accounts, I'm sure you're wondering if anyone has come up with something similar for Excel. Enter NumSum. This gorgeous implementation of AJAX grants you an online spreadsheet with live updating and sharing capabilities.

NumSum can not import or export Excel files - yet, but you'll be surprised how easily you can cut and paste multiple cells right from Excel. NumSum also supports formulas.

TiddlyWiki

This is an interesting AJAX product. TiddlyWiki is a very popular, portable wiki. You can run the file from your desktop, add and remove items as well as edit existing ones and save your changes. All of this happens instantly, in slick AJAX. There are many adaptations including plugins and a hosted service called ServerSideWiki.

Kiko

Now, calendaring. Kiko is a sharable, dragable event calendar. Kiko has all the interactivity of a desktop calendar, with the added convenience of online access. Future plans for this tool include iCal import/export.

Meebo

Meebo is an AJAX powered multi-protocol chat client you run right from your browser. This instant messenger has an instant response, and lets you chat from any computer without downloading a thing.

There's no doubt that AJAX will change the way we interact with the web. With s start like this, one can only imagine the possibilities.

Brian   


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