Embedding a Spreadsheet on a Web Page with Google Docs

09/20/2009

Embedding a Spreadsheet on a Web Page with Google Docs

I am having fun this morning experimenting with Google Docs. I have uploaded a spreadsheet listing all the sizes of circular knitting needles I own. (Even though I have inherited two grandmother's worth of knitting needles in just about every size and type imaginable, it is amazing how the one size I need for any given new project turns out to be the one size I do not have.

My goal is to have a list of what I have so that when I am out shopping and viewing patterns I can use my Blackberry to see the list and fill in any missing blanks. Now that I know how to use the embeddable Google Doc viewer, I can even have my spreadsheet show up embedded in an iFrame on my web page. As long as I format it for mobile viewing I should be able to see what knitting needles I have and what I still need.

By the way, here is the code I used to embed the spreadsheet into this blog post using an iFrame. There are other ways to do it, but I wanted it to look clean and simple, without the editing controls so it will look ok on a mobile device. Tip: make your sheet very simple with small cells. Use the "merge cells" button on the toolbar to get text to show across multiple cells.