This post was called, “How To Learn To Love Writely” but then the blogging feature didn’t quite work and the forums were unavailable.

Earlier, I reported on the choices that you had for online, collaborative writing and I mentioned both Writely and 37Signal’s tool Writeboard. I still love 37Signals, and for you minimalists, Writeboard is definitely the way to go. However, if you are looking for an online replacement for Word, Writely is the ticket.

The interface is a little rough and blogging your text has bugs, but overall it is functional. If you want every editing feature under the sun, you’re going to be disappointed. However, for general writing tasks it holds up extremely well.

Two selling points are the ability to blog your posts and a wonderful revision history interface. This is just a kick to work with. Every time that you make a correction, Writely logs it. Using the “Revisions” drop down you can browse through these corrections and revert back to any previous state. When collaborating, this will allow you to undo any “creative” edits that your co-workers may have added involving you and that French Poodle.

Think of the choice between Writely and Writeboard as the choice between Wordpad and Notepad. They both are wonderful pieces of software, but they work best when used appropriately.

If you enjoyed that why not find a job or read our guide to working in the 21st century. You can also join our Kiva team or hire me for your project.