Although this blog is mostly about online reading, there is a flip side to that: online writing. Collaborative writing with other people can be a very productive and fun way to produce either a new story or a new program.
Until now, the major real-time collaborative writing methods available (as opposed to turn-based collaborative writing, like a Wiki) have required specific platforms, (the Macintosh-only SubEthaEdit, Windows/Linux-only MoonEdit) or else been unsatisfactory in terms of its refresh rate (Google Docs, which takes 5 to 15 seconds for any changes one person makes to show up on the screen for the other).
But TidBITS has an article about a new collaborative writing tool that works for any platform that can run a decent web browser. It’s called Etherpad. It had a brief launch yesterday, until its servers melted down and it reverted to a closed beta. (The site has a form to submit your email address to be invited.) During that time, however, I was able to use it to write some collaborative fiction, and it was a delightful experience.
Etherpad is a web application, so it does not require downloading or installation of any software packages. Unlike many web applications, it does not require registration, either. Simply click “Create a Pad” on the homepage (when it is again available) and you will open a new editing session.
You can then copy and send the URL of the session (http://etherpad.com/[unguessable string of letters and numbers]) to anyone you want to invite by any means of messaging (email, AIM, Google Talk, etc.) that you have available. By opening the link, they join in the editing. It is so fast and simple that it is no wonder that their servers melted down from people clamoring to use it. (But being featured on Slashdot probably helped, too.)
Etherpad works much like SubEthaEdit or MoonEdit in that each person can write simultaneously and the text is updated in real time (barring the odd few seconds of lag). Each person is assigned a different highlight color so it is easy to see who has typed what.
One great innovation over SubEthaEdit and MoonEdit is the addition of a chat panel separate from the writing panel, so that participants can exchange messages about what they’re doing without having to write them between paragraphs of the text.
There are any number of good uses for this kind of editing. Writing dialogue between two characters in a story, or one person writing a story while another goes through and spell-checks it as it is being written. But it would have similar utility for coding, where an entire team of programmers could work on a single program at one time in whatever division of labor they see fit. (In fact, this type of editor was originally invented for “extreme coding.”)
At present, EtherPad is fairly primitive in features, but that will probably change as time goes on. As a sparse, basic writing tool, it works wonderfully. Here’s hoping the closed beta is as short as possible.
