Web User - UK (2020-01-22)

Stop using software

COVER

FEATURE

22 Jan - 4 Feb 2020 45

Don’t get caught and scammed

by the web’s latest mouse traps

WH AT YOU

MUST NEVER

CLICK ONLINE

NEXT ISSUE on sale Wednesday 5 February 2020

WRITEINYOURBROWSER

Therearelotsofonline office

suites available to use for free, including

tools such as Google Docs (docs.google

.com) and Word Online (bit.ly/

word493). Though not as well known,

Zoho Writer (www.zoho.com/writer)

is an excellent online word processor

that lets you create, edit, share and

collaborate on documents. You can

create an account to use it, or sign in

using Facebook, Google or LinkedIn.

If you use Dropbox for all your

storage needs, then it makes sense

tousethecompany’sonlineword

processor,Paper(www.dropbox.com/

paper). Anaddedbonusis thatany

documentsyoucreatewithit won’t

counttowardsyourDropboxstorage.

Finally,there’sCalmlyWriter

(www.calmlywriter.com), a distraction-

freetexteditorthatoffersbasic

formatting(viaa menubar,markupor

keyboardshortcuts)andautomatic

saves.There’sa darkmode,forthose

whopreferwhitetextona black

background,aswellaswordcountand

anoptionaltypewritersound,if youpine

forthedaysbeforecomputersandword

processors.

Softwareyounolongerneed:

MicrosoftOffice

CREATE

F LY ER S

AND MORE

If you want to create

posters, party

invites, newsletters,

brochures or other

graphics, then you’ll

probably turn to

some kind of

desktop publishing

(DTP) software or

maybe use your

word processor for

thetask.Another

optionis touse

Canva(www

.canva.com), whichletsyouquicklyput

togetheryourownprofessional

creationsin a browserwindow.Thefree

versionofferseverythingyouneedto

designyourprojects,butthere’salsoa

Proversionfor$9.95(£7.46)a month,

whichgivesyouaccesstomillionsof

photosandelements,andovera

thousandfonts.

Softwareyounolongerneed:

MicrosoftPublisher

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Office

CONVERTFILESINYOUR

BROWSER

If youencountera fileonthewebthat

youcan’topen,thesolutionmaybeto

convertit fromitscurrentformatto

anothermorecommonalternative.

Therearesomeexcellentonlinetools

youcanuseforthis,suchasZamZar

(www.zamzar.com), whichsupports

over1,200fileformats,andOnline-

Convert(www.online-convert.com)

whichoffersseparateconversiontools

foraudio,video,images,

documents,ebooks,archivesand

more.Justselecttheformatthat

youwanttoconvertyourfile

into,thenuploadtheitemor

entera URLforit if it’sonthe

web.Online-Convertcanalso

pullfilesfromDropboxand

GoogleDrive.Youcancustomise

theconversion,too,adjusting

settingssuchasbitrate,filesize,

qualityandsoon.

Software you

no longer need:

Freemake Video Converter

If you’re writing late at night, consider

using Calmly Writer’s dark mode

Canva offers professional desktop-publishing tools online

Online-Convert saves you having to download

a program to convert a file