Collabedit Simple Collaborative Text

Transcription

1 ITWP Courses Using Collabedit Page 1 Collabedit Simple Collaborative Text Section 1: Some Basic Information Collabedit is a free online code editor that lets people collaborate in real-time. Collabedit works directly within your web browser, no software or installation is needed. It's also cross-platform compatible so Mac, Linux, and Windows users can collaborate with each directly within their web browser. Collabedit features include: Text editor Chat Document history Syntax highlighting for programming languages You can access Collabedit at Section 2: A Collabedit Session Collabedit is really simple to use and you do not need an account to use the tool (currently Collabedit is not accepting new account sign ups), all you need is a URL, Internet connection, and a web browser. 1. If a coding demonstration is needed for explanation, the instructor will initiate a Collabedit session and provide students with a URL that they will use to the access the coding session within their web browser. 2. If a student requests a Collabedit session with either the instructor or another online student, the student will create a new document and provide the URL to all of the necessary participants in the session. 3. Coding will take place in real-time accompanied with a chat area for discussion. Section 3: Instructor Initiated Session 1. Visit the Collabedit website at 2. If you are invited to participate in a coding lesson session, please see your course for the URL to access the session. 3. Open a web browser of your choice and enter the URL into the address bar, e.g., 4. The URL will direct you to the Collabedit website where a session has been initiated. An example screenshot is shown on the next page of a Collabedit session containing HTML source code. Any person that has the URL to this session will be able to collaborate and participate in the online session.

2 ITWP Courses Using Collabedit Page 2 Within Collabedit, you have the option to chat in real-time with the collaborator(s) and the transcript of the chat will display within the Chat window. You can ask questions by typing in the Chat Here box, press enter when you're finished, and the chat transcript will update (see next page).

3 ITWP Courses Using Collabedit Page 3 A list of the collaborators within the session is displayed within the Collaborators box. The list will update in real-time as new collaborators enter the session.

4 ITWP Courses Using Collabedit Page 4 You can make real-time modifications to the source code and the change will be displayed within each collaborator's browser window. If you would like to save the source code within the Collabedit session, click on the download link in the top upper left corner of the web page. The file download to your computer and you can view the source code within your text editor. To view the history of changes made to the document, click on the history link in the top upper left corner of the web page. Within the history page, you can use the controls at the top of the page to play, go forward, and backward through the changes made to the document. At the top of the history page, you can return to the document by clicking the Edit Document link, download the document by clicking the Download link, Purge History so only the current version remains, or go back to the main page of the Collabedit website by clicking the Home link. To exit the session, simply close the browser window.

5 ITWP Courses Using Collabedit Page 5 Section 4: Student Initiated Session 1. Visit the Collabedit website at 2. Click on the Create a New Document button on the main page of the website. 3. A new Collabedit session will open up within your browser window. 4. Select the programming language appropriate for the source code you want to collaborate on from the Programming Language dropdown menu. For example, if you want to collaborate on HTML code, you would select html as the programming language within the dropdown menu (see below).

6 ITWP Courses Using Collabedit Page 6 5. Paste your source code into the code window. 6. Invite collaborators to your Collabedit session by clicking on the invite link in the upper top left area of the web page. 7. A popup window will display that contains the URL that you can share with your collaborators so that you can work on the document together. An example is shown below. Once your collaborators join your session, you can use the chat transcript and coding window to work on the document in real-time together. Don't forget to download a copy of the file once you're finished if you wish to work on it after the session has ended. Have fun and collaborate!