Meanwhile, though simple blog and wiki entries represent a big step forward as the beginning of a read-write web, they are anything but Rich - especially in cases when you are forced to enter text in a simple edit control. If self-expression were only about the words themselves, and not about graphics, layout, page control, and a range of fit and finish items that turns writing into a craft, then blogs and wikis would be sufficient unto themselves. But Rich Authoring goes beyond the words and is based on the idea that "experience matters" - both for authors and readers.

With Buzzword, we think we are combining the richness of desktop tools with the advantages of life on the web. To achieve this, we followed a few guiding principles that helped us focus our efforts:

1. Make common tasks easy and accessible

Word is an incredibly powerful tool, with over 1,500 commands by some counts. On the other hand, Word's strength is also its liability - it's virtually impossible to make all those commands accessible and comprehensible to the vast majority of the authoring world.

So, fully aware that we weren't going to replicate the full range of Word's arsenal any time soon, we instead focused on the set of tasks on which our users most depend - many of which are complex and obscure in Word.

In some cases - for example, when adding and arranging graphics in a document - we think Buzzword provides about 80% of the capability of Word, with about 20% of the complexity.

2. Take advantage of the inherent strengths of the new platform

One of the primary values of a web-based authoring environment is that there is no separation between the authoring environment and the content. Both are available to you regardless of location or point of access (as long as you have connectivity). We've all had the challenge of a document being unavailable either to ourselves or to others. Overcoming that challenge requires forethought and a variety of strategies like emailing documents to oneself or fumbling with various small external drives (USB, CF, etc.)

The other area where the Internet is naturally better suited as an authoring platform is the Collaborative part of "Rich Collaborative Authoring". Word is brilliant at tracking changes, of course, and merging documents. Word also has an excellent UI for adding comments - so the challenge is not one of functionality or UI.

For collaboration, the value of having your content stored on the web is that your collaborators have access to the only copy of the file, rather than making multiple copies and distributing which can result in version chaos.

3. Make the experience engaging and enjoyable

We'll have more to say on this in the near future, but the Flash platform especially enabled more than just a rich graphical environment. It inspired user interface innovations and engaging devices that we think make the environment not only more effective, but also more enjoyable. In fact, we even think that we're encouraging and ennobling the craft of writing simply because Buzzword raises the bar on the overall experience.

Summary

Word enables Rich Authoring, but it is generally solitary, sequential and desk-bound. Wikis enables collaborative authoring with ubiquitous access to content, but the results are generally drab and barely formatted.

But Buzzword has the potential to create a new category - Rich Collaborative Authoring - which will bring richness of a desktop authoring environment to the reach and connectedness of the Internet.