Google Apps Hacks
Today, Google is growing its apps suite to what people have started to call a Google Office, or even a Google Operating System. It actually has features of both. There’s a platform called iGoogle to run your own small programs (which in turn are called gadgets). There’s a word processor (Google documents) and a kind of online Excel (Google Spreadsheets). There’s a filesystem explorer that’s found in the Google Docs program. The Google Gears program expands your browser so that you can use web applications even when you’re offline. Google Calendar lets you manage your events. Gmail lets you manage your email. Google SketchUp lets you create 3D scenery. Google’s YouTube hosts your video collection. Google Maps shows you information mapped in space, using satellite imagery, driving directions, and even detailed street view photos. And there’s much more in this Google apps suite.
However, most of these aren’t desktop applications you install: they’re hosted online. This approach brings with it some pros and cons. On the upside, not only won’t you need to install these web applications; you don’t need to care about getting the latest software patch, either. Also, as is the case with most of Google’s web apps, they’re free to use (as they’re partly ad-financed). And these online tools are very collaborative in nature—instead of editing the Word file all on your own, Google Docs allows you to edit along with others, simultaneously. And when you’re finished creating a document, you won’t save it locally to send out the attachment, but instead can simply point someone to the URL of where your document is hosted.
There are some downsides too. Microsoft (among others who provide office suites), although not a leader in searching, has immense experience in desktop applications. Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and others are featurerich, and thanks to the advanced desktop model, the interface can support many tricks and niceties that are still hard to emulate in the browser.
Google can certainly be expected to expand their tools over time. But today, almost universally across applications, Microsoft Office wins when it comes to the sheer quantity of features.
And that’s where this book comes in. There’s a long tradition in computing that when there’s a missing feature, you apply a hack to make the program do what you want. After all, software—the desktop model, or the new online model—is supposed to do the work for you, not the other way round.
In Google Apps Hacks, we’ll be presenting you with a wide array of hacks that guide you through getting more out of this new application suite. From easier workarounds (how do I attach a Google document to an email?), to more advanced tips (how do I skin my Gmail client?), to programming guides (how do I use the importXml function in my spreadsheet?). We’ll also introduce the more exotic programs of the Google apps suite, like Google Notebook, and provide you with approaches to apply to your projects. Google apps, it turns out, have their own “13 minutes” problems every once in a while; hopefully, by using these hacks, you’ll be able to route around some of them.
Publisher Make Books
Author(s) Philipp Lenssen
ISBN 059651588X
Release Date 16 April 2008
Download (pdf-zip, 18.92 MB)
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