Here is a confession I feel I must make:
I hate Google Docs.
This summer, Stry.us leaned heavily on Google Docs. And it started to crush me. In Google Docs, I could never figure out who edited what, and keeping track of stories got increasingly hard.
I know our Google overlords are out there, and I do not want to anger them. Because I love Gmail. I love Google search.
But I cannot use Google Docs anymore. I hate it.
Luckily, there are some excellent alternatives out there, including today’s tool:
Hackpad: Write. Edit. Share.
I love a couple of things about Hackpad, a free tool designed for writing and editing words.
– It’s easy to track changes — Alongside each document, Hackpad lets you know who’s responsible for which content, and it’s also easy to track the changes that are made in a “pad.” This would’ve saved me a couple dozen hours this summer with Stry.us.
– It’s easy to embed content — YouTube videos, Slideshare presentations, etc. — all you need is a link, and Hackpad embeds them directly into the document. This makes Hackpad a really good place to take notes. When you stumble across a piece of multimedia, just drop it in here until you need to use it in your story.
– It’s easy to share a pad — You can link to it, or you can privately invite people to your pad. Either way, it takes just a single click to make it happen.
– It’s easy to work offline — Hackpad comes with Dropbox integration. So if you write something online, it syncs up with your laptop or desktop. This really comes in handy when you’re traveling. Another trick for power users: You can send an email to hack@hackpad.com and it’ll create a new pad for you. (The subject line becomes the title of the pad.)
Alright, so let’s test out the power of Hackpad among us, the good people of the listserv. A number of you have asked me if you can share your favorite tool with the rest of the listserv. Here’s your chance!