Go Visualizing With Google
| Google today introduced a couple tools to boost the appeal of its spreadsheet application in Google Docs for developers. First, there is Gadgets-in-Docs for spreadsheets API, which I alluded to in a case study for eWEEK Mid-Market here. Gadgets-in-Docs is a great idea. Just as Word and Excel form the crux of Office, Google Docs is the heart of Google Apps. Making spreadsheets more dynamic with gadgets will significantly bolster the value of Docs, and by extension Apps, for enterprises. Users can test Gadgets-in-Docs buy going into Google Docs, opening open up a spreadsheet, clicking on the chart icon, and clicking Gadget to choose their gadgets. Or, to see what Google has done with this feature, check this out:
Google said the Gadgets-in-Docs for spreadsheets API is geared for developers who want to create user-facing features which are accessible from within the spreadsheet editor of Google Docs. This combines the Google Gadgets API with the Google Visualization API, the second cool tool Google released today, to allow the developer to access data on the spreadsheet for use or presentation in any form they choose.The Visualization API lets programmers access several structured datasets to create, contribute and reuse visualization gadgets for the developer community. The API was mined from Gapminder, which Google bought last year, and can be used punch up the way data is rendered on Web sites. Google said developers can start building apps immediately using Google spreadsheets as a data source. Again, this API is a winner or programmers looking to spice up their sites with cool graphics. The more Gadgets developers create, the more value they will add to Google's collaboration snowball.Google Blogoscoped and Google Operating System and get down and dirty with both tools in posts today, providing plenty of screenshots.
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