Zoho Writer Gets an Extreme Makeover

Zoho Writer, the Web-based word processor that gives Google Docs a run for the money, just took the lead with its vastly improved 2.0 interface. See some of the changes in the above slideshow, then read on to learn all the gory details.

Although Zoho Writer's core design is the same (documents on the left, editor on the right, and tabbed documents), the toolbar has been totally overhauled.

Dubbed the MenuTab interface, it categorizes features in a decidedly Word-like way. (I definitely see some Office 2007 ribbon influences here.) But here you can either click on a tab to access the features therein or click the tab's arrow for a drop-down menu -- kind of a one-interface-fits-all approach. Nice touch, Zoho!

As they should be, commonly used features like save, undo, copy, and print are grouped together and omnipresent.

Zoho also added search capabilities to Writer's sidebar (which is home to your document list) and tweaked it to look and act more like Zoho Sheet's sidebar.

In short, Zoho has given Writer a long-overdue makeover, and the results are stunning. In the looks department alone, it easily trumps Docs. Your move, Google.