15 May 2008

Google Docs Can Now Generate & Track Polls

Google is continuously developing collaboration tools that are housed online. Google Docs, although limited in their functionality, are a terrific way to work from a distance.

You can use Google Docs to create word documents, spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations. All offer stripped down versions of their Microsoft counterparts. You can export and import all files. You can even turn a Doc into a presentation with a click of the mouse. You can share all your docs with team members and choose who gets to edit the material and who can just sit by and watch in on your development.

Now, Google has created a way for you to create and track polls. Whether you send them out by email or embed them in your site, all answers will be sent directly to your spreadsheet, updating it with the latest results. Below is my test poll:


Please help me test out how well the latest and greatest from the folks at Google works and take some time to answer the poll. In hindsight, I realized that I didn't include "none" or "GMail" as options. My apologies.

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After posting this, I noticed these issues with this poll...

Issue #1:
No way to customize text colors. These polls are not especially suited to blogs with dark color schemes.

Issue #2:
I chose to have visitors choose multiple answers, but the poll you see above only allows single responses.

Issue #3:
Post polling message shows up in scroll box? This is ugly, ugly, ugly. I prefer the Blogger sidebar polls over these, as the poll then shows the current results.

Conclusion...
Google, you need to add some elegant touches to this before you roll it out en force.

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