Tools: Buzzword First Impressions

BuzzwordI finally jumped on Buzzword, Adobe's entry into the web-based word processing arena. Built with collaboration and change tracking in mind, it will require some use over time for an in-depth review. However, I want to offer some thoughts up front.

Good so far:
  1. Look and feel - Buzzword is sharp. Visually, it's the place I want to spend my time and Google docs feels suddenly harsh in comparison. The dark interface contrasts well with white pages, keeping the document the primary focus. Interface items are instantly recognizable and accompanied by ready tooltips. Everything in the interface slides, making for a slick feel.
  2. Clear version tracking - This is definitely a feature that needs to be used more before too much comment, but I like the history bar so far and it looks like jumping to previous versions of a document should be rather painless.
  3. Image support - Dropping in images, resizing, justifying, getting text wrapping well, etc. was easy and looked great. This wouldn't be a big deal if it weren't for the fact that adding images to other web-based WYSIWIG editors can be such a clunky experience.
  4. Per document spellcheck dictionaries - Although it's a tiny feature, I love that I can add a word to my spellcheck dictionary for all my documents or for just a single document.
  5. Export formats - Can currently export to pdf, doc, docx, xml, zipped HTML, rtf, and txt.
What I want to see:
  1. Search - Right now, I have a hard time not being sold out to Google docs solely based on my ability to search the content of my docs so well. I sometimes need to find a small piece of information lost somewhere in hundreds of pages. Buzzword may have this somewhere or have it in the works, but at the moment, I can't find a way to search all my docs at once (though there is a per doc find feature).
  2. More foreign character support - This is already slated in Adobe's to dos, but I want to add Japanese characters right now and that doesn't help me.

Tools for working together online keep showing up, but this is definitely a strong contender. Acrobat.com has unveiled other collaboration tools as well and I'll be covering those after a few test runs.

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