I just tried out a feature from Google that was released last September-- the Google Docs Viewer. It is a pretty cool little tool once you realize its power!
The Google Docs Viewer allows you to email a link, place a link on your Web page or blog, or embed a stand-alone viewer to read PowerPoint, PDF, and TIFF image files directly in the browser. Right now, if you put a link to a PowerPoint presentation on a Web page, it has to be downloaded and opened with the PowerPoint software on the user's computers. And PDF and TIFF files will not open in a Web browser, either, and require software on the local computer to read these file formats.
Following are some examples using the Google Docs Viewer.
A PDF version of an ergonomics manual developed for our district. This will open in another window, but right within the Web browser.
A PowerPoint presentation created when we first began our current unit design process in the district.
Here is the embedded version using that option of the Google Docs Viewer.
I uploaded an image in the TIFF file format so you could see how that works, too!
The Google Docs Viewer is a interesting tool for you to try out! Let me know if you come up with other creative ways to use it!
