Using Microsoft Office Web apps on an iPad and possibly Android Tablets too

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Editor’s Note: The following article is reprinted from the Today @ PC World blog at PCWorld.com.

Microsoft’s combination of SkyDrive and Office Web Apps is great for working online...as long as youre using a traditional mouse-and-keyboard PC. But if youre using a tablet such as an iPad or one of the many Android slates, you must use app-based options such as Apple’s Pages for iPad to edit your SkyDrive docs...or do you?
Even though Microsoft does not yet officially support the iPad with its Office Web Apps, you can still access the online productivity suite on Safari or Google Chrome It’s not a perfect solution, but if you need to get some editing done in a pinch itll work. Read on ……………


Office 2013
Microsoft is expected to offer broader Android and iOS support for the companys Microsoft Office productivity suite when Office 2013 debuts, expected early next year. Microsoft is calling Office 2013 its most ambitious version of Office so far, with deep integration with online services such as Facebook, Flickr, SkyDrive, and YouTube. And the new version of Office will, for the first time, offer home users Office 365, a subscription-based service for the Office suite.
Microsoft says Android and iOS devices will be able to access Office 365 Web features when the company rolls out its new productivity software. There is also some speculation that the Office 2013 rollout will include a suite of Office apps for the iPad.
But if you dont want to wait for Microsoft’s official support, here’s how to get started using Office Web Apps on the iPad right now.
Show Me The Desktop
This workaround requires using the Chrome browser for iOS. Launch Chrome and sign in to your SkyDrive.com account. At first, Microsoft will show you the dumbed-down mobile version of SkyDrive, which only lets you view documents you’ve already created; you can’t edit files or create new ones. But if you tap the Chrome menu icon in the upper-right corner, youll see an option in the popover menu called Request Desktop Site. Tap that option and youll be redirected to the full version of the SkyDrive site. To create a new document, just tap the Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or OneNote icon as you normally would on your desktop.
So How Does It Work?
In my tests on a first-generation iPad, the results were not great, but the workaround is usable if no other options are available. Typing in a Word document using the onscreen keyboard was slow and the cursor was jerky. After switching to an Apple Bluetooth keyboard, the Web app felt more responsive. I had similar results using Excel, while OneNote had the slowest performance of the three. However, since Microsoft offers a free native OneNote app for iPad, OneNote’s performance issues were not such a huge concern. I didn’t try the PowerPoint Web app.
Your results may vary, especially if you have a newer iPad with a faster processor. Also contributing to the poor performance of Office Web apps may be Apples policy of restricting its Nitro JavaScript engine to Safari. Competing iOS browsers such as Chrome and Opera have to rely on a slower JavaScript engine. Since Microsoft’s Office Web apps are written mostly in JavaScript, having the best rendering engine possible is a must.
Nevertheless, if you really need to get some editing done on your iPad with Office Web Apps, using Chrome on iOS will let you do it.