J.A. Bal
Drive On
Looks like we now have the battle of the ‘drives’. It seems both SkyDrive by Microsoft and Google Drive have come out with desktop applications to make it even easier to store documents and more on the web by simply saving them to what appears to be a special file folder on your home computer (or your work computer if you have it set up there as well).
I’ve been trying both services off and on for some time now. Personally, I have been using Box.com as a storage location since the service has an easy to use plugin for MS Word. However, Box.com is limited in it’s free storage (only 5GB but that’s enough for docs) and it also does not yet have an app for my Windows 7 Phone (which I still love to death). So I have been hoping that SkyDrive will continue to be improved upon and take over as my main cloud storage. With that said, let me tell you how SkyDrive stacks up.
Being a writer, I am always working on my novel and I’m constantly picky about how the formating appears when I edit it using different applications. So keep in mind that if you are not crafting a document as complex with dialog, then you might not need to go by my strict critique.
SkyDrive
SkyDrive has recently limited the amount of storage available from 25GB to 7GB. All those who tried it out previous have the chance to keep 25GB of storage so long as you ACT NOW and declare your account active. So, provided you did so, SkyDrive has the larges storage capacity. SkyDrive documents open up seemlessly with MS Word and there is no change in formating when you save those documents to SkyDrive (other than the loss of truly funky fronts). However, when you try to edit a document on the web using SkyDrive’s Word Web App, there are serious issues. The first big issue for me was the loss of soft breaks between dialog. Instead of having an indentation there is a [softbreak] notation that bugs the snot out of me. I seriously do not understand how the document can be displayed correctly with the native Word app but the web one constantly has an issue with the soft breaks I use in my dialogs. Secondly, and this can be a problem for everyone, the online web app does not save automatically and can actually lose contact with the server – rendering your changes unable to be saved. Big problem.
Google Drive
Google drive has less storage, I believe it’s only 5GB of storage like Box.com, but Google has a refined web app experience. Not only is my novel in the exact same form as when I uploaded it, but the document opens quickly, is constantly being saved and does not have a hiccup whatsoever. What it doesn’t do is allow you to edit the document as a Word Document. When you wan to edit a Word doc on Google’s web app you must export it to a “Google Doc” and once edited you save it as such and this doc type cannot be opened by MS Word on your computer.
So in conclusion, if you don’t have the MS Office Suite, then you can definitely use the Google Drive. When you would need to send something as a Word Doc you could have it converted to such for that situation. However, if you have the MS Office Suite, and a Windows phone, AND could use the 25 GB storage of SkyDrive (provided you grandfathered it), then it’s time to bang on the SkyDrive developers and demand they take a lesson from Google when it comes to their online apps.
Personally, my message to SkyDrive is “pretty” is not as necessary as “useful”. I don’t care if the layout of the app looks exactly like the native desktop app; I want it to WORK like it. Until that time comes, I cannot rely on SkyDrive to be my primary storage for important/constantly-updated documents.
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WordPress
As I take the time to delete gobs of unwanted vague comments on my blog, I can’t help but notice how much I love the neat dashboard for WordPress. It’s pretty close to what I was use to at Blogger and it gives the blog author a nice ‘desktop’ to work with.
It actually made me start to wonder whether or not I should keep the Joomla side of my website and just convert the whole website to WordPress. I think the one thing holding me back is that I know for a fact that Joomla is more versitile. I don’t want to run into a wall as I try to add some nice functionality to the website or some behind the scenes widget.
But it could be a nice exercise is getting to know WordPress if I dedicate myself to seeing just how many options the platform has and how well I can make this blog look like a fully fledged website.
Of course, the more I want to add to this blog the more I am starting to get frustrated with it’s no-sidebar layout. The layout seemed to unique when I wanted to apply it to the Joomla portion and I still think that side looks good because I can change what pages show which modules. BUT when it comes to WordPress, all widgets are available on any page – or at least so it seems. So I can’t make the Tag Cloud disappear for a Static Page so that the page will look cleaner. I’ll have to look in to issues like that or consider changing the theme.
The issue with changing the theme is that I am using the same theme for both Joomla and WordPress thanks to a website that offers a theme editor and basic themes. They offer this same theme for multiple platforms and it works out great. I’ve tried scanning through their website again to find a theme with a sidebar that I like, but it’s difficult. For one, I’m picky and two, I can’t pick a theme that needs too many alterations because I would have to alter TWO THEMES and I am still not as proficent at altering WordPress themes since the theme is broken out over so many different files.
*Sigh* So, it’s a lot for me to consider and something for me to tinker with.
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Behind the Scenes
Now that I have a little more time at home, I’m going to be building the registered pages for those who want to see more of my novel work – like my curious beta readers. Currently, I do NOT allow registrations on my main website since there seems to be a healthy amount of spammers running around these days who think it’s hilarious to make as many false registrations as possible. I have enough of that problem with my day job’s website.
Pages I intend to make will include at least one page per chapter of my novel along with pages dedicated to my fanfiction. However, fanfiction can still be found on deviantart.com.
A separate group of registered pages will be dedicated to my freelance work, should I ever be able to pick it back up again. Those pages will include my portfolio and resume. I still have yet to build an application form for those interested in viewing those materials, but it’s next on my list.
In other news, I will have a guest logging in to my website for the purposes of learning more about Joomla!. This blog will remain unaffected since this is actually a seamless WordPress install running side by side with my main website.
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Sync Toy Discovery… continued
As wonderful as it was to learn that Microsoft’s Sync Toy would in fact sync a PST file provided is was located in the My Documents folder, I’m running into a new problem. (By the way, Outlook 2010 seems to automatically store the PST file in an Outlook Files folder under your My Docs)
It is possible to use the Task Scheduler built in to every PC to have Sync Toy run automatically at any given interval, BUT it doesn’t seem to run pairs that require reaching over the LAN. So if you were looking to sync files located on your to an external hard drive and files from another computer on the network to the same external hard drive – the ‘scheduled’ Sync Toy will only run the pair with your files and not the pair involving the other computer. Even if you use the operator -R that tells the Task Scheduler to run all pairs.
I wonder how many people understood all that! lol
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Bogus Comments
You know, I can understand aggressive marking in the form of leaving comments on people’s blogs so to generate clicks, BUT I REALLY don’t want the fake comments that are just barely worded properly and are so general that you can apply them to any blog. What irks me also is that they are usually flattering in hopes that you’ll leave them up since they only make your blog ‘look good.
That’s really low and annoying as all hell. Thank god WordPress offers you the ability to moderate any comment before publishing it.
So yes, the moderating of comments is another plus for WordPress. I have to say that I’m pretty impressed with the format. I wish it was just a tad easier to change the layout or add widgets, but overall it’s gotten much better than when I tried blog script 5 years ago.
Back then, WordPress didn’t seem to have any way to add ‘widgets’ without adding them directly to code. I still don’t like it that the code is broken up into so many separate files. It makes editing them a bit of an annoyance. Sadly, that hasn’t been improved upon.
I’m very happy with the new layout and controls though. It’s easy to add categories, tags, and modify the body of the post. I need to try out links and media though to get a full feel for the script.
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