thirteen is a baker's dozen

So I'm typing this before I even start to write a Zoho doc.  I have to or I will forget this very vital point for people like me- those that want to embrace technology but are terrified of it.  If you don' understand this terror I speak of see my first post about Computers and Little Shop of Horrors.  If you still don't get it, rent Little Shop of Horrors, Rick Moranis is hilarious.  So the minute you open Zoho Writer you will be immediately comforted by a simple palate- it's not nearly as busy as Word 07.  THANKS ZOHO!  So now to type things and see if the calm and positive relationship between Zoho and I will continue.

Ok, so it's not too bad.  Using the special characters was a bit of a pain, because the document went black and i couldn't see if it really was selecting my character.  I use special characters frequently when I write letters home to family because we spell Zoe's name with an umlaut over the "o".  It should really be over the "e", but I filled out all the paperwork on the birth certificate right after the took away my epidural, so everything was a bit foggy and I couldn't remember the rules for umlauts.  So that whole pointless story was simply to underscore the importance of special characters.  

The only other thing I had a small issue with was the missing spell check.  BUT  I can see using that to my advantage.  I will elaborate, and this will not be as pointless as the umlaut story, I promise.

Because buttons and too much going on visually in Word 07, I get a little antsy using it.  If I have students who don't have much technology experience either, using Zoho with them in the classroom may be a less traumatic way to introduce word-processing.  No spell check would be helpful with all my students, it would force them to try and figure out what the correct way to spell words are, instead of immediately relying on spell check (which isn't always correct, anyhow).  I also like the sharing aspect of the document, it would be very helpful for group projects.  The students wouldn't always have to worry about meeting face-to-face or complications of different software.

My overall feelings about Zoho in the classroom are rather positive and excited- there's a lot of potential using this in my class.  I mean it's English- when will word-processing not be important?