Webware: Beyond the Essentials

I’m researching an article on web applications and have a list of great stuff for micro-business folks like us:

Business essentials require email, word processing, spreadsheets, scheduling, and project management. For these, I use Gmail, Google Documents, Google Calendar, and Basecamp.

My reasons are pretty straightforward: they’re free, they’re flexible, there’s little or no advertising, I can access them from anywhere, they’re feature-rich and well supported, new features are added regularly, and did I already say they’re free?

Sometime Essential Webware

Essentials aside, here are Web applications that come in handy on the few occasions when I need them:

• USPS.com
  I use Stamps.com software when I’m at home, but this is it for printing postage when I’m offsite.
• CatPrint.bz
  100% online professional printing services—type in your document information, upload a PDF, check your online proof, and pay. Best bit: their printing cost calculator has saved me hundreds of dollars by showing the impact of design decisions (document size, margins, etc.) on the bottom line. I love these folks.

Could be Essential Webware

Here are a bunch of sites—mostly Web 2.0, one not—that are totally new to me. I haven’t tried them yet, but most come highly recommended:

• WordPress
  I blog with it, but I hadn’t considered using WordPress as a content management system. A grand idea: building, customizing, and editing a website without paying a penny for software.
• Picnik and Splashup
  Along the thought of free design applications, these offer online image editing with plenty of features and power.
• Blinksale
  Simple online invoicing that costs nothing if you only send a few invoices each month. Nice options like customizing invoices with your cool logo.
• Box.net
  For digitals that need a home you can access from anywhere. Perfect for sharing files and offsite backup.

Missing from this list is a desktop publishing application. Service providers for business card printing and whatnot sometimes have design/layout features built into their websites, but wouldn’t free-standing desktop publishing webware be the cherry on top?

There are plenty of web applications out there for business functions (critical or no), these are just what I use and unearthed (so far). If you have favorite webware that you use in your micro-business—especially a desktop publishing app—leave a comment and tell us all about it.

P.S. Reading back through this post, it appears someone could run a business entirely on webware. Huh. Now there’s some good news for folks looking for a low- to no-cost startup…

Tagged as: going_noware

Photo credit: Microsoft Design Gallery Live