iBegin Source Launches

Where: iBegin Source

What: What is iBegin Source

Why: 15 things iBegin Source does Better

iBegin Source is coming ...

And it could be ... dare I say it ... disruptive.

Pop in your email at the iBegin Source site and find out when it goes live (T minus ~10 days)

Last Time

Okay you stragglers (I'm referring to you, 271 subs according to FeedBurner) - this blog is nothing more than historical archive.

I will make it easy.

The new site is Tech Soapbox
The new feed URL is http://feeds.feedburner.com/TechSoapbox

Rate My Web Hosting Speed

We recently created a little widget that lets your visitor's rate how fast your site loaded. Afterwards, we figure out their city locations by their IP and map it. Cool quick and easy way to see how fast your site loads around the world.

It is one of my underlying arguments of AJAX - something useful that does what it is supposed to do (without excessive frills).

Check it out: Rate My Web Hosting

On a related note, I will be expanding this original blog into a new blog that will contain my daily musings and thoughts. I was slightly holed by having 'ajax' in this domain, hopefully my endeavors will be longer lasting on the new domain

Local Search - we work as long as you don't give us a physical address

Even with geocoding provided for free by companies like Google (and thus finding an enterprise paid solution should not be much of a stretch), it seems like most local search sites have no clue how to find an address.

Lets try the ubiquitous search of 'pizza'. Our sample address: '1495 Union Ave, Memphis, TN' Memphis is a big city, but doesn't get the attention that cities like SF and NY get.

Google: pass
Yahoo: pass
Local MSN pass
Insider Pages: fail
JudysBook: fail
Local.com: pass (but all those ads make me want to gouge my eyeballs out)
Yelp: fail
TrueLocal: fail
YellowPages.com: pass (barely - it actually just did it by ZIP. Good enough, but not good enough for a domain that cost $100,000,000).

Tooting my own horn:
iBegin Memphis: pass

Just a caveat - iBegin Memphis isn't ready for primetime. But just like I mentioned in my earlier post about why Google keeps winning, the small details matter.

Article on User Trust Issues

I recently did a guest over at The daily j.d.a where I talked about headaches associated with user verification and validity.

Social media and the mob mentality failings.

Alas - Digg is having some serious growth problems (I will post about it soon).

The best example: Muslim community offended by NYC Apple 'Cube' Store

The sensational headline made me initially shake my head.

Reading the article made me incredulous. An uncited posting by one person on a single random website constitutes a community? Even more so, the organization that posted the no-references no-proof senationalist story has been accused of being pretty biased.

Alas, the mob went wild. ZDNet posted the raticle without even bothering to read it. So did TUAW. And then it hit Digg (and spread like wilfire onto other blogs). The comments were disgusting. People decrying a billion people because of a completely unsubstantiated report. Comments stating how the title made no sense were quickly buried. Mob mentality at its mind-numbing finest.

Update: Looks like Apple Gazette is help spreading truthiness.

11 Interesting thing about Google's Latest Offering - SearchMash

Hidden by all the noise about its Google Gadgets for webpages, Google has quietly launched SearchMash.

Stop reading this. The link above will open in a new window. Click on it, and give it a whirl.

The features page covers what they do pretty well, but a quick summary with a bit more detail:

1. The search box automatically has focus. Google, Yahoo, and MSN already do this on their frontpage. The difference with SearchMash is the search results page also has the input box have focus automatically. I personally don't like this (and wrestled with this choice over at iBegin) - I use FireFox and love the fact that if you start typing it automatically starts searching. This is very useful for me on the search results page, and forcing the input box active does not make me happy. The general population? I can see it useful there.


2. The [cached] [similar] etc links have been moved - while the page title links to the result page, the url is actually a drop down of those options (including open in this window, open in new window, etc). Not bad, but for non-JS users, it would be nice if the link worked like normal (instead of having nothing happen - always frustrating).


3. No ads. Not that big of a surprise there.


4. Image results right on the main search results page. Clicking on 'more images' gives you ... well ... image results. Clicking on an image simply takes you to the page where the image was found. I'm not a big fan of this as an image can easily 'roll off' a page that is being actively updated. The third image I clicked on - I could not find it anywhere on the resultant site.


5. AJAXified search results. I *much* prefer this than the stupid MSN live-infinite scroll bar. Click on 'more web pages' and the next 10 results are pulled inline . The only downside is that it will only go as far as the 90th result. After that - shucks for you.


6. CSS. While classic-Google has embedded and linked stylesheets, SearchMash is only linked. Incidentally they load up an additional stylesheet for IE. I don't blame them - I've done the same. Resizing the font-size did not cause the design to break (which I've seen happen quite regularly with CSS designs). No XHTML


7. Clean URLs. Search for 'toronto' gave me this: http://www.searchmash.com/search/toronto. The image search results is this page: http://www.searchmash.com/search/images:toronto


8. The frontpage has a 30000 ms 'idle' timer. If you don't do anything, it asks you to try exploring popular searches. The link: http://www.searchmash.com/explore. Clicking on that link forwards you to a random (popular) search.


9. No submit button. Sort of an odd choice, but it seems to have been killed. Not even on the inner pages.


10. Hiding the Google ownership. Not even the about page mentions Google. The Privacy and ToS page give it away.


11. Do a search (eg toronto), and the search results are numbered. Move your mouse over a number, and re-order the results (the original rank stays). They say they have no use for it ... for now.

Overall I have to say it is impressive. No ads, easy way of browsing results, and blazing fast. For now I am going to add it as my default search for FireFox and give it a extended whirl.

iBegin Toronto Donation Drive

iBegin Toronto is having a donation drive. For every review or picture added until October 15, 50 cents will be donated to The Assaulted Women's Helpline.

We want to raise $10,000 - please help make it happen.

AJAX Indicators

Get your AJAX indicators here. Simple yet useful.

iBegin:15 things that it does right (or just plain well).

I have mentioned iBegin here a few times. It is a project I have been working on for a while now, and today I finally released it for public consumption.

Obviously it is impossible for me to do an independent review. With that in mind, I have decided to point out 15 things that iBegin does right (or just plain well).

1. The front page is focused on search. There is no extra information to distract you - no tag cloud, no listings, nothing else in the way. The majority of users want to search, and don't need any distractions. The page loads fast (roughly 0.5 seconds form) and the search box is automatically focused.
2. We trust the user. You submit a listing, and it immediately goes live. Are we potentially open to spam? Yes. But as I had mentioned earlier, 99.9% of users are 'good' and have no intention of messing up the system. Trust the majority, and also trust them to help moderate the site.
3. Important search tips (highlighted on the first visit). There are various types of queries you can do, and it is important that the user can quickly see what different ways they can perform a search.
4. I sort of inferred to that on my public transit is important post, but iBegin does more than just simple text matching. The search attempts to give you the most relevant results on top (just like a normal search engine).
5. The results can be toggled between table-based or map-based. A small touch perhaps, but in some situations geographic location matters, whereas in others it doesn't.
6. The detailed page gives you the information you want immediately: contact info and address, summary review averages, details, and description. You can then scroll to see the map, pictures, and reviews. Pictures are embedded (thank you lightbox) so that they load immediately, instead of spawning a popup (which may be blocked) or loading another page. I can say that this can be slightly counter-intuitive to the power user, but after a few times it becomes much faster to just click or press 'X'
7. In-line (AJAX) ability to add/remove a favorite, add/edit tags, and to rate the usefulness of a review. 'Small' actions such as those should happen in the current page.
8. A searchbox to search for locations nearby on the details page. Make it easy on yourself.
9. Ability to toggle font size. A small feature, but if older people are going to be using the site it, it is a nice little feature. It uses JS cookies so it is remembered between pages (and visits).
10. A user system that ranks a user according to their contribution to the system. Imagine Google's PageRank but 'UserRank' instead. You can see how iBegin Toronto users rank.
11. Easily see what people have contributed. Unlike most social sites, users can submit a variety of different content. For example, see my own contributions to iBegin.
12. More of a social feature, but a user page that lets you view their contributions, personal information, and contacts all at once. Still the guinea pig, see my profile page.
13. Badges. A fun little addition that lets you 'earn' badges through contributions to iBegin. I only have five badges, whereas the #1 ranked user has six (but I have one that she doesn't). There are a total of 26 right now. Gotta catch em all.
14. A complete invitation system. This sort of boggles my mind - all this talk about the 'social web', and you get an invitation system that sucks (or doesn't even exist)! With iBegin, you can email your friends one by one, copy+paste, or import your contacts from Hotmail, Yahoo!, GMail, AOL, or MSN. Furthermore, you can automatically have the system re-email the user after 7 days if they haven't signed up. Lastly, any user that does sign up automatically becomes your friend (and vice versa).

So there you have it. 15 points that elucidate how iBegin is a better local search solution than what you have experienced before.

Now stop reading, go check it out, and tell your friends!

UPDATE: digg iBegin.

Ask.com Maps - Color me Impressed

So while browsing around the 'new' Ask.com I ran into their Map section. Hrmm I thought - with their fancy AJAX menu had something slipped in here?

After a bit of testing - color me impressed.

First off, I live in Canada. That immediately puts almost 50% of services on the web out of reach. Movie times, traffic info, etc etc - oh how I wish I could use them, but alas I can't.

So first thing - search for my old address.

An immediate big difference over Google. Instead of asking me 'did you mean?' the system automatically picked what it thought was the smartest choice, and had a little list of alternatives. Good start.

Furthermore, the map interface just seems a bit cleaner. I think the combination of the over-sized font + bold font weight + translucent popup made it look a bit nicer. to me. The colors also seemed a bit less bland. I also liked the zoom in controls - again, they seemed nicer.

So right off the bat I want to see how well it handles directions. Big plus here. Instead of having to click on a link, I Just 'add a location'. This of course opens up a lot of avenues - instead of just doing Point A to Point B, you can now do Point A to Point B to Point C to Point D and so forth. On top of this, the system remembers your recent locations. Why type in again when you can click! The location are easy to erase.

It doesn't end here. You can also see driving versus walking directions. In a developed downtown like Toronto, there are a lot of one way streets. It is nice to differentiate between a driving route and a walking route. Great job separating the two. You can also 'play' a drive through where it goes through instructions from each point to the next, showing you every time you have to change roads/directions.

Furthermore, removing locations is a snap. I decided to remove Point B, and the system automatically showed me directions from Point A to Point C.

All of this wrapped up in snazzy AJAX. I did not run into a single page refresh. Everything reloads inside the page. The only time the page 'refreshed' was when I did my initial search. After that, everything was brilliantly packaged within.

The system comes with a mix of street, mixed (hybrid), and aerial (satellite) views. All were strong for me in Toronto. In the top right are quick links for Print, Email, Bookmark, and Link to this page. When viewing Aerial view you also buy a print through GlobeXplorer. The Bookmark linked worked perfectly in both FireFox and Internet Explorer. The Email link was just a direct mailto: - I would have preferred a nice DHTML popup form. Speaking of which, if you do go directly to a link (example), a nifty little AJAX animation is seen as the left menu 'slides out'. You can then click on the sidebar to make it disappear so you only have the map. Again, a very nice touch. And best of all, my scroll wheel works for zooming in/out. Fantastic!

In conclusion, I have to say that this is the slickest map system I have seen online. I cannot speak for the US and/or international coverage outside of Canada, but what I have seen has impressed me greatly.

Just waiting for the API

AJAX Chess

While never good at it, I have always had a soft spot for Chess. A truly thinking person’s game, chess lets you spend away your time just flexing your brain. And really, we just don’t get to flex our brains enough.

So when I ran across an AJAX driven Chess board I was rather excited. And as I progressed, the excitement only grew.

To note, I first ran across this site when it got frontpage on Digg. While it did admirably survive and stay online, the game was very buggy. I could not see the game pieces half the time, and my opponent couldn’t see half our moves.

But I revisited it a few days after, and it is a wonderful game. The homepage is as simple as can be, and it has a dynamic iframe/chat where you can talk to find a random opponent.

Creating a new game is as simple as can be. Just click on the link, enter in a room name, and instantly get transported to your new game (provided the room name is not taken of course). As the creator, you get to choose if you are white or not (white goes first). Once in, you idly wait until someone joins. The game is multiplayer only.

The game itself is very easy to play. Click on your chess piece, click where you want it to go, and viola. Wait for your opponent to do the same, and repeat. While doing moves, the game also records all moves on the right (I never did understand what they meant, but it is a nice touch – more on that later).

The game of course comes to a conclusion when you checkmate. There is no direct checkmate checking – my poor hapless opponent lost quickly (of course!), and every move he attempted resulted in a warning of 'Not possible - would be chess.'

The game also has some very nice touches:

Firstly, replays. Because it records your moves, you can watch a replay of your game. Even better, you can also copy paste replays from sites like ChessGames.com. For the true fan, a great way to learn from others.

The game also boasts a freestyle mode. Just an empty chess board where you control every move. A good way of playing vs a friend on the same computer.

Furthermore, the game remembers you after you quit. After the vicious drubbing I gave my opponent, I revisited the website, and was notified that the game had ended, along with a list of moves. This 'auto-save' option also is a great way of playing for an hour, leaving, and then coming back to renew the chess game.

Lastly, the entire game is open source. Released under GPL, right now you can only get the core javascript, but there is a promise that the rest of the source code + documentation will be released soon.

A great way of showing off what AJAX can do, AJAX Chess is definitely worth checking out.

SiteVista: Webdesign testing made too easy

Any serious web developer knows how important it is to make sure their website looks great in all browsers. But that is no easy task - common solutions (and used by me previously) include buying a Mac and installing various software packages, using online sites (especially to view what it looks like on a Mac), or just harassing your friends.

I ran into SiteVista a few months ago, and whew am I happy I did.

The site is wonderful. It allows you to input a URL, and their system will test across 12 different browser versions, three different resolutions, and three different color depths in showing off what your site will look like. Support browsers include IE4-6 (including IE5 for Mac), NN4-8, FireFox 1, Safari 2, and Mozilla 1.7. Resolutions supported are 640x480, 800x600, and 1024x768. Color depth support is 256 colors, high color, and true color.

The entire system is packaged into one very slick system. Once logged in (I have a monthly account), just enter your url, choose what browsers/resolutions/colors you want tested, and away you go. You can opt to immediately view results, where, driven by delicious AJAX, the site will update the thumbnails as they happen. Even better, you can opt to retest a specific test (eg 800x600 resolution). Even better, the system takes a normal window screenshot, and also a full-page screenshot (which is the entire document, even if it includes scrolling). Brilliant! Best of all, you can opt to be emailed when test results are confirmed. Simple and easy - I like it.

All tests are stored and archived online so that you can quickly and easily view them again if needed. The system also provides some raw statistics from w3schools to help you gauge the browser, resolution, and color distribution. Not a big deal, but a nice little touch.

My only qualm about the system is that there is no 'check all' option. It frankly drives me mad when I see more than 5 checkboxes and a website does not have a 'check all' option. Bad SiteVista for making me click excessively! One thing that might be nice would be to use lightbox (or offer it as an option) when viewing test results.

The 'tests coming soon' have me really excited. Loading speed and color blindness will be wonderful tests, and I look forward to those

This app is highly recommended. I have been using it for almost 6 months now, and it has been worth every penny.

Fullhits - tiny url AJAXified

I'm updating, but no promise I will keep on updating. Will try my best. My iBegin project is rounding out better every single day, and hopefully I can get that launched before March rolls by.

Onto FullHits ...

Fullhits is basically TinyURL without the page refresh. Put in the URL, click 'Make Tiny', and shazam, your fullhits short URL is ready. The link itself is devoid of any advertisements.

OT x2: My disappearance from a bright sun

AJAX Review was a lot of fun. A say was as I unfortunately have been so chock busy with making a living (aint it a pain) that it happens to have staggered a bit.

But I have been busy (and taking to heart my insistence of AJAX being a supplemental technique, not a primary). To that end, read my blog at iBegin and how you could win a quick $50

Instant Domain Name Search - domain searching made easy

I search for domains all the time. I even have a subscription to WHOIS.SC. It has a lot of useful information.

One of the biggest pains in the ass when searching for a domain (other than finding out it is owned) is the actual search - it is incredibly slow and cumbersome that I wish to hurt someone. So when I ran into Instant Domain Name Search and tried it out, I instantly loved it.

Not too difficult. Type in what domain you are looking for, and using AJAX it will quickly deliver the results you want. Taken or not, *bam* it lets you know. It also has some handy quick links to Yahoo Suggestions, WHOIS info, and backorder through SnapNames. I would have liked the WHOIS info integrated right there too, but I guess we can't have it all .

FeedBurner Glory: Hurrahs for everyone

While the image has not updated (yet), FeedBurner tells me that there are now over 100 subscribers.

Free hurrahs for everyone, on the house!

PS. Don't like something or want to see more? Comment and let me know

Meebo - AJAX Multi-format Instant Messenger

I was down in Florida for business for about a week (got out just as Wilma came to say hello). On the public wireless systems, I felt extremely uneasy about sending anything username/password related over the waves. So when it came to instant messaging, Meebo was my best friend.

Whenever using a site over wireless that requires any sort of username/password (even forums that I could not really care about), I always go through SSL. More often than not I get a nice little warning about the security certificate, but I plow ahead. Meebo was one of the few that has a valid SSL certificate. A small issue yes, but it is quite surprising how many large websites have no concept of SSL. Even better, the site utilizes 1024 bit encryption for your username/password. Hurrah

So what is Meebo? It is an AJAX-driven instant messenger app, capable of connecting to Google Talk, Jabber, AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger. Your contact list becomes condensed into one, with the IM's respective icon letting you know what they are connected through.

Really, there is not much more to say about Meebo other than that it works. You double click on a user to pop open a chat window. When you receive a message that has not been read, the username blinks in your contact list. The windows behave like normal windows - you can maximize them, minimize them (sort of reminds me of Program Manager from Win 3.1), move them around, and resize them. When in another tab (or window), the title tag changes upon receiving a new message.

I tested out the system on IE and FireFox and it worked flawlessly. No messages were dropped, and idle notices etc were all there. For those interested, a development blog is available for your reading.

I do find one flaw with Meebo - due to its taxing nature, and my inability to see how Meebo will make money, I am a bit cautious. I think the service is fantastic, but I am not sure how it will survive.

Back in action (tomorrow)

Subject says it all. I used Meebo while down there (public wireless network *shudder*) and expect some rave reviews about it tomorrow.

Remember The Milk - Task Management

Remember The Milk is a newly released task manager that is AJAXed up the hilt.

The premise of these applications (more include TracksLife) is simple - you (and me) are busy folks, and we need a way of keeping track of everything. Some go for the simple approach (a la TracksLife), which only manages your tasks. Others (a la Remember The Milk) go further, managing your contacts, giving you an inbox/outbox, and (of course) lists (folders) to play with.

Signup was a breeze. The use of AJAX was perfect - even my non-techie friends were impressed by the signup.

The system is a bit confusing (and overwhelming) at first. Your tasks are originally split by three tabs - Personal, Study, and Work. Choosing one of these presents a list of incomplete tasks at hand. Hovering over the current list of tasks updates the display on the right, which contains task information. Clicking on a task allows you to interact with the display on the right, which contains a tab for notes also. On its own, you can choose to share and publish your task list. Options include private, share with contacts, and share with everyone. The list can also be exported with an atom feed and through iCalender. The atom feed does require login for viewing (something many feed readers cannot manage). You can also opt to publish your task list. The printed page is nicely done with a big checkbox next to each task.

Furthermore, you could select multiple tasks at once with an associated checkbox to perform various options. These included moving to a different list, prioritize, deletion, complete, and so forth.

Adding tasks was easy, but a bit counter-intuitive. Clicking 'Add Task' would dynamically display an input box. Now there were two confusing elements here. First off, the abovementioned checkbox was present. Clicking on it made the input text disappear. Why have it then? Second of all, there was no submit button! Pressing enter caused the task to be added, but I am sure my father would be puzzled by the lack of a submit button. Bad UI here!

The other instance of bad UI was the addition of notes. I added three tasks, selected two of them, and then chose to Add a Note. The note was only added to one. I then selected all three, and added another note. That note only added to the task that had the previous note added to it. Odd behavior.

Another minus (which seems to be a major AJAX affliction) is the inability to deal with a resized window. Just like my previous review (of The-Winning-Bid), the site does not display properly at 1000 pixels wide. And there was empty space available on the left.

Aside from these minor imperfections, there really is a lot the application offers. Colors are associated with each priority level (there are four levels), and a legend (which can be closed) helps clarify the colors when starting out. Dates do not have to be specific, so contextual dates like 'tomorrow' work fine. Each task can have its due date, repetition, and time estimate set (it would have been nice if there was a popup calendar for the due date). The addition of notes basically lets you assign a lot of meta data to each entry. Tasks complete are saved and you can quickly toggle between completed and incomplete tasks for each list. A quick postpone feature lets you push the due date back by one. Reminders can be sent to you via email, IM, or SMS. Instant messenger support extends to AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, and MSN. Even better, you can add a task by email. Very cool. Every time you perform an action it can be quickly (and easily) undone. Even better. Unlimited lists. Great!

The contact page is simple, allowing you to add a contact by username (these people must also be registered at the site). Contacts can also be grouped, and you can quickly invite your friends to become users of Remember The Milk. The ability to mass invite would be nice.

The default start page quick outlines the tasks due for today, and has quick tabs for tasks due tomorrow and those overdue. A quick link to weekly planner creates a printable. A nice feature is that if your login data is present, then going to the homepage automatically forwards you to your task homepage.

While a bit confusing, the site is well crafted and easy to use. There was not a single page reload while I used the site. Best of all, it was very responsive, something many of the latest AJAX applications struggle with. Lots of accompanying screenshots! (oh, and I hope they get a shorthand domain like rtm.com or something akin - too many typo opportunities).

The-Winning-Bid - Dynamic eBay Search

The-Winning-Bid is an AJAX-driven search that focuses on one thing - eBay auctions. It doesn't try to search everything, and it doesn't try to jam in useless functionality down my throw. Plus points for focus!

The engine is very useful and powerful. On the basic level, you type in keywords and the system suggests possible words for you. Typing in 'nirvana' yielded quite a few suggestions, including 'nirvana,' 'nirvana lyrics,' and 'nirvana tabs.' I could choose to click on those words to bring about search results, or pressing enter would bring results for the current word (some suggestive engines force you to click on a suggestion).

Upon choosing your keyword, you are notified by blinking text that a search is being performed. Plus point again for keeping the user in the loop that something is going on.

12 results are shown at a time, along with a banner ad to eBay and sponsored ads on the right. 12 results seemed to be a very arbitrary number, and considering the screen resolution they were expecting (more on that in a bit), the decision to go with 12 was even more confusing. You can change the number of results, but 12 just seemed so random! There were links for next page and previous page, with an indication of what number results were being looked at (eg 13-24) and how many total results there were.

A nice attempt was a yellow hover popup that would give you extra information about an auction, including item #, price, starting date, ending date, PayPal verified, and so forth. I say attempt because the area defined for the popup made no sense, and it flickered like mad when moving the mouse. This flickering happened in both Internet Explorer and FireFox.

What makes this tool really nice are the sliders on top. Dynamically one can choose the price range and time range for your search (both minimum and maximum). This was very nice addition as once you move a slider, it automatically updates the search results for you. There are also sorting options that you can choose.

My one qualm (and this seems to be a recurring issue with web 2.0 applications) is the resolution. Squeezing my browser smaller to around 1000 pixels, the design's headers and footers don’t shrink (you can see this in the accompanying screenshots). Really, how hard is it to make sure your text word wraps when needed!

Overall though this is an excellent example of how using a website changes with the use of AJAX.

Moworks DMS Search - Digital Media Search

Moworks DMS Search is an interesting niche search engine. The idea behind the engine is to help people find 'legal' music to download or buy, from the usual suspects such as iTunes, Walmart, MSN Music, and so forth.

The search is two-staged - the first part is AJAX predictive search. As you type in your query, the engine gives you suggestions on various artists. Typing in 'game' netted me suggestions of 'the game' (twice for some reason) and 'gamers in exile'. The next stage involves clicking on one of the artist's name and having a bunch of links on the bottom, each linking to a place to buy from the artist - iTunes, MSN Music, Wal Mart Music Downloads, Bleep, HMV Digital, Amazon Music Downloads, Y Music. Clicking on the link expands an iframe below with the page in question.

Options/preferences are non-existent, except for the ability to set the country for your iTunes preference. I would have liked the ability to have a default link set so that clicking on an artist would instantly take me to my preferred store.

The layout is simple, but confusing. Under the search are two columns - on the left is the latest Digg news and on the right are the iTunes Top Tracks. I saw no need for the Digg news, and the iTunes list was just text (make it linkable!)

Overall, sort of interesting, but it really does not bring much to the table (suggestive authors and quick links).

Tiny Tiny RSS

Even with all the hoopla around centralized RSS readers and all their fancy features/animation (looking at you Google Reader), sometimes one just wants a simple web-based RSS reader that they can put on their own server. No mess and no fuss of having to login at some other website - it is good to have the reading under your control.

And so that is what Tiny Tiny RSS promises. Using the venerable magpieRSS to do the RSS fetching, Tiny Tiny RSS aims to give you a simple and effective reader.

The software is easy to use. Adding a feed is tucked under preferences, where you can add/edit, upload OPML file, filter out content, and edit labels. The slant of this software is obviously towards tech users as labeling actually involves setting an SQL expression to match up with the respective label. I can't imagine my mom figuring that out Mind you, it would have been nice to have a popup with the database schema if it gives you this option.

Viewing fees is done in the classic three pane style - feeds on left, entries at top right, and each entry at bottom right. One thing that annoyed me about the design was the top header - sure they want to mention it uses Tiny Tiny RSS, but 125 pixels? 50 pixels maximum!

When reading feeds, you can opt to read only new entries, all entries, or starred entries. The system keeps track of which entries have been read, and highlights the current entry being read. Click on the star icon and the entry is either starred/unstarred. There are quick buttons to mark all entries as read, and also to update all feeds. You can even view feeds by tags, but I was unable to exactly figure out how that worked!

The reader fetches the RSS feed every time it is loaded. It does use caching through magpieRSS, and for those that can setup crons, it allows you to use that option to automatically download feeds.

All AJAX notifications are done in the top left area - I would have liked it if it was a bit more obvious (maybe a black border around it or fade technique) - it was unnoticeable at first

Categories are promised coming (according to the mini-FAQ on the main page), and it also professes that IE support is spotty. My own testing went fine in IE, so maybe the warning is just there in case.

Death of the blog! (or not)

So much happening, and I'm falling behind. Unfortunately with being sick, your only desire is to get more sleep. Better now, so expect our regularly scheduled reviews beginning again tomorrow.

StatiX - AJAX powered web statistics

Currently undergoing development, StatiX is an AJAX powered statistics program.

Yet another shining example of my earlier plea to keep perspective.

The demo of the software shows the basic statistics - pageviews, uniques, and so forth.

The AJAX 'goodness' is the ability to jump through sections - going between 'General' and 'Pages' sections makes it go through AJAX instead of being direct links. This ability is also used for tabs on top.

The obvious question is - is AJAX really needed here? Has the usability, featureset, or speed of the stat tracker been improved at all because of the use of AJAX? Why not just use frames? While the stat tracker is decent, it really had no reason to use AJAX. This is without nitpicking into the actual stat backend(brown and green bars are used in the graphs - which is which?)

Inquisitor - Instant Search

Or so goes the claim from the Inquisitor website (still in beta). The site's about page tells us that the point is to get suggestions while you type in your query.

While the site does say its not feature complete yet, if it is in beta its fair enough for me to criticize (in a good way of course!) Furthermore, I was unable to find any list of feature enhancements to come.

So when it comes down to it, the site is mostly Google Suggest extended. Instead of just extended search phrases, it also lists the first three results for the search and also allows you to search other engines (A9, Amazon, Flickr, Google News, and Technorati). One nice feature is the ability to use the arrow keys to scroll (and one weird bug - you can loop around while pressing down, but not while pressing up).

So while this is nice, the search results page is nothing more than a results page on google itself. So while the usability of the AJAX dropdown is nice, it is rendered absolutely moot as it does not extend to the results page. This is of course not including the fact that the site style becomes completely different.

Google's RSS Aggregator - Google Reader

After the 'disappointment' of the Google-Sun announcement, the blogosphere has been abuzz about the Google Reader, their foray into RSS aggregation.

In their continuing push in becoming a portal, the login system integrates with Google Talk, GMail, and so forth. The first screen seen has quick links to adding specific feeds, and also for importing a list of feeds. Alternatively, you can search for feeds from the top based, using Google’s own internal search. A great way to find unexpected feeds.

I waited a day before testing out the service. I read quite a bit on Slashdot about how it was painfully slow, and while the system was mostly flawless, I did face unexpected slowdowns. Reading feeds was quick and easy, differentiating between 'new' and 'old' entries. Furthermore entries you had read were tracked, and there was the ability to keep an item as unread. Further integration showed up with the ability to blog about a post (through Blogger) or send an email (through GMail). The interface itself was quite slick, with scrolling, a cute 'Loading' popup and so forth. I did get stuck on Loading a few times, and saving labels was extremely laggy - I tried saving a label, got no response, and was reading another feed when I suddenly got a 'Saved changes' notifications. Not cool.

In itself, the system is well done, with extra nice touches. The ability to flag entries with stars is nice, and keyboard shortcuts are always appreciated. The hiccups in the system (which should be ironed out soon) do keep me away for now.

Orangoo - slick RSS reader

With all the press that the Google (RSS) Reader has been getting (and I will be reviewing it soon), I wanted to approach on another one first - Orangoo.

I first stumbled across the site on Slashdot. Its unfortunate - with all the press that web 2.0 applications have been getting, I have found no mention of this application anywhere.

The application itself is very cleanly designed. I like the gradient greens used throughout the design, and the simple registration and login system is a breeze.

Once logged in, you are given a three pane view - feeds on the left, the actual feed info on the right, and quick links on the top (refresh all, subscribe, and logout). The right pane is actually split into two - top pane for the list of entries and the bottom for each entry. The application keeps track of which entries you have read, and lets you easily mark all as read, as well as specific entries as read/unread (good use of JavaScript here).

Each entry you read can be quickly posted to del.icio.us, and a read mode (which just toggles the size of the two panes on the right).

The subscribe option has a quick list of 35 feeds (15 of them Danish) to subscribe to. Custom feeds can be added also, but there is no OPML support yet. No feed search is directly supported - the user is referred to places such as Syndic8 and Feedster.

The application also supports a Refresh All feature - it nicely informs the user of each feed being refreshed.

Overall I was impressed by the system. It has a very nice and clean feature set, and properly utilized AJAX throughout the system. My qualms included the inability to have a condensed feed, inability to import OPML (which the developer said is coming), and a general feeling of it being a bit on the slow side. Oddly enough, the application does not work on under 1024 resolution (otherwise the Logout button disappears). And speaking of logout, everytime I clicked on 'Logout' it told me I wasnt logged in (but it did successfully log me out) .

Time Tracker - simple and niche

Time Tracker is available at Form Assembly, where you can find some of the coolest form libraries (including a CSS Zen Garden-like library for form design).

To quote the help,

What is this all about?
Well, this tool was designed to help you keep track of the time you spend on any given task. Use it for time management, to improve the accuracy of your time estimates, or for any other purpose you may find useful.

How does it work?
When you're ready to start a new task (or even before), come to this site and add the task to the list. A timer will run until you come back to pause the task or mark it as completed. It would be a good idea to bookmark this page now.

This sort of goes back to my plea from yesterday - building a tool that could be of use to people.

The system is actually very straightforward, making my review mostly un-needed . Registration is simple. I liked the fact that submitting your email was optional.

Once in, the system is fast and easy to use. Adding a task is simple - input the task and category (text input for both), choose the time, and let 'er rip! One nice feature was that the system remembers tasks and categories you input - while typing it tries to auto-complete them for you. Nice touch.

Once your tasks are added, the timer slowly ticks away. The status column lets you easily know if a task is ticking away, if it is paused, or if completed. Modification of each entry is done through a popup menu brought about a single click.

I do have a couple of complaints with the approach to the system.

First off, setting a start time that isn't right now requires playing around with an analog clock. Ugh. A pain in the ass and a bad decision. Better would have been the clock + input selection underneath it - the analog-only option was a very frustrating experience.

Next up - the menu. Barring the fact that it was also non-standard (left click for a right click menu!) it would not go away. Once I spawned that context menu, I could not get rid of it (focus, blur, nothing) - the only way to kill it was to select an option or click somewhere inside the list of tasks to do. Not good.

Overall the application is put together very well. The design is big and easy, in a good way. The little touches are done very well - from the save icon in the top right to the calendar date starting each row. Obviously a good time has been put into the design elements, and with a few tweaks (it still is in beta) this application underscores the usefulness of AJAX when applied correctly.

Webnote - name says it all

What really excites me about web 2.0 is that it not only works for complicated apps, but some of the simplest ones also.

And so rolls in Webnote. Relatively older compared to the latest and greatest, it aims to do one thing, and it does it well - a place for you to sticky notes.

The sample shows off its power very nicely. Arranged around the screen are boxes of varying sizes, each a note on its own. Each note can be resized as you want, and moved around wherever you want. Double clicking a note modifies it to a text area, with the ability to select from eight different background colors. HTML styling is allowed inside each note.

In case you make a mistake (or many mistakes), Webnote comes with undo, redo, and the ability to load previous versions. Saving is also a breeze, allowing you to save multiple instances while you work through.

Equally useful is the filter option - simply type in the regular expression you wish to search for, and all notes not fitting the criteria become mostly transparent, allowing you to easily focus on the important notes.

Lastly, an RSS 2.0 feed of your workspace is available.

The entire source code is also available to download.

Overall, the system works great - creating a new workspace is very easy - no need to register at all. My only wish would be a user registration system allowing you to make a workspace private.

Sunset Chat

Embedded chatting has always been a pain to me. Java apps integrating into IRC are such a pita. Funky PHP-reload based solutions were always odd.

So finding Sunset Chat - a chat app that not only worked but put it in an entertaining bar scenario was wonderful!

The application is pretty simple. Upon entering the room, you must choose an Avatar and a name (only letters+numbers - no spaces). At this time you are randomly placed. The avatars themselves are entertaining - there are the average ones, and then more exotic ones including George Bush, The Brain, and other unique ones.

Once in the room you are greeted by the helpful Gbot. He is just a simple bot that lets you get a 'I'm feeling Lucky' result from google on whatever search phrase you want. Like a standard IRC bot, it also does a few other things, like asking trivia questions and so forth. A nice touch.

Chatting is easy - just type in what you want and a little chat bubble appears above you. Every time a line is uttered in the room, your bubble extends further up. Interestingly enough there is no real ceiling - the bubbles keep moving up until they are forced out of the browser window (and not the chat area).

The chat system can be downloaded and modified as you want. Backgrounds, avatars, botname - it is an interesting (and well packaged) chat system. Definitely worth a look.

Pixel Group - Real Time Painting

Pixel Group may be nothing more than a silly diversion, but it really drives in the essence of what web 2.0 (and AJAX) is about - interactiveness.

The app is simple. There is a blackboard setup, where each dot can be either black or white. Click on a dot and it inverts color. The ingenuity of course is that you are editing the same blackboard as everyone else on the site.

In itself, the app could be extended as a rudimentary whiteboard for clients and so forth. Set up a private room for you and people you invite, and draw out your idea. With that in mind, I would have liked the ability to hold down the mouse button to change multiple dots at a time (the current system requires you to individually click each dot). It could very well be that this functionality is not there because of the number of users that could be using it, so just a thought.

The other interesting part is that a frame is saved every minute and can be downloaded from Pixel Group Movies. It is interesting to watch it transform over the day.

TracksLife - track your tasks quickly and easily

As the latest sponsor for CSS Reboot, I was looking around and what the founder was cooking up. I ran across WebJillion and their latest product, TracksLife

The premise of the web app is simple - There are tasks (daily, weekly, monthly) that you need to keep track of. From working out to making sure you performed your accounting, TracksLife makes it simple and easy.

Signup was a breeze. Offering one track for free, all you needed to input was your name, email, desired username, and password. The ability to offset time was also a good touch.

Once in, the UI is simple and obvious. Your current tracks are listed and below them are quick feed links to your reminders and updates. Unfortunately while testing the updates I got a Ruby on Rails Application error. Whoops!

Adding columns to a track is a breeze. Give a name, allow it to be viewable to the public, and specify column name and column type. The AJAX is in work here when adding more columns (the free version limits you to five). You can then specify reminders (email or RSS notifications if you don't update within a set period). Simple and clean - I liked it.

Viewing a track was easy - dynamic sorting is included which is a nice touch. For the individual track both of the RSS feeds worked just fine. Double clicking an entry allowed one to quickly edit or delete an entry. On the top was a 'New Entry' link - using AJAX an input form appeared below it where you could quickly and easily add a new track.

A few qualms about the service. One, clicking on 'New Entry' toggled opening and closing the input form. I would have liked it if when the input form was open it would say 'Close New Entry'. Furthermore, modifying an option left a 'Loading...' blurb in the top right. On 1600x1200 resolution, it was way out of the way (and I missed it the first few times). Something front and center would have been nicer. Continuing on with the criticism (only said with the best intentions! one you double clicked on a row, you had to close it before you could edit another row. Sometimes you make mistakes - the software should allow me to double click on another row, making the process more streamlined. Mind you, when an edit was successfully performed, I did like the yellow fade in effect of the entry being modified.

On the topic of double clicking, it would have been nice to make that more obvious. From the face of it, there is no way to edit or delete a row. Only because I read the blog did I know that double clicking worked - would have been nice to have had a 'Tip: Double click on an entry to edit or delete'

The biggest hole in the system to me was editing a track you made. Track settings let you change the track name and column names. Missing for some reason was the ability to change the data types of columns and the ability to change the reminder time period. Furthermore, while adding columns was previously an AJAX affair, adding a column now required it to be done one by one. I can understand the design reasons behind this, but it breaks continuity of the application when changing things around like this. Deleting columns also required a page load - a simple JavaScript dialog box asking for confirmation would have been more efficient. I did like the ability to export the data as XML or CVS - good touch.

TracksLife comes in four flavors. The free flavor allows one track. The paid versions up the limit to 10, 30, and 100, respectively. As the site was just released today, I think as they improve the backend it will be a viable a no-nonsense solution to keeping track of things.

Writeboard released - the promise of collaborative writing

37signals is loved by a lot of people (me included). And why not? Their sites are easy to use. Their Signal vs Noise blog is fun to read. So I was a bit more excited than usual when trying out their latest - Writeboard

The Writeboard frontpage is classic 37signals. Easy to read with no damned frills or hoops to make me jump through.

First looks, I'm a bit confused. I see a huge textarea box to write my text, but that is it. No WYSIWYG (damned Writely has me spoiled). Hell, not even some quick JS boxes on top. Instead, we have 37Code.

Now I have a bone to pick. Sure, HTML can be confusing and hard for some. But we already have bbCode. Its generally accepted - we have semi-standardized tags for bold, italics, lists, etc. What compelled 37signals, masters of usability, to go out and make their own? Sure, it is simpler to use, but when so many web users are familiar with bbCode, why change it all up?

The other part that annoyed me was indentation. Viewing source, indentation was done by using blockquote. Ugh! The HTML tag is self explanatory - it is for quotes. If you want to indent, use padding-left!

The last thing I didn't like - subscription. To most people, RSS is still a foreign concept. The ability to email subscribe to updates would have been nice.

To be fair, the system does have some great things going for it.

The versioning system is nice and easy. Comparing versions was cake, and jumping between them was also easy.

The little touches were nice. Export as text (would like an HTML option), comments, send via email, RSS - all good little additions.

Overall, I found Writeboard felt like it was in beta. For a collaborative application, it should offer email subscription. For an editing tool, it should at least have quick JS buttons (over on their blog they specifically mention it will never have WYSIWYG). Lastly, comments should be viewable in a threaded manner - again, when collaborating, it is important to be able to keep a conversation organized.