Category: Web building

Unlocking the Tao of TextMate

TextMate: Power Editing for the Mac cover imageI use TextMate almost as much as QuickSilver, and, like QuickSilver, probably make use of about 5% of its features. But now, a new book coming in February (get the Beta now!) promises to unlock the Holy Grail of this immensely powerful and award-winning app.

Oh, and if you haven’t checked out soft-spoken developer Allan Odgaard’s screencasts, you’re missing out on one of the best things about TextMate. Highlights:

Apple embraces microformats in new .Mac webmail

Apple .Mac webmail supports hcard

If you’ve been playing with the new .Mac webmail application, something under the surface very significant is present, but you’d probably never realize it. In fact, if it weren’t good works like Jon Hicks’ expose-mf.css browser stylesheet (view the above image without the stylesheet), you’d probably have no idea that beneath the surface, Apple was quietly giving a nod to an upstart open source community.

Given the source code that I’ve been provided, I can confirm that Apple has indeed added support for in .Mac webmail, though not without a few errors (notably the ‘n’ optmization).

The significance of this can certainly be understated at this point, as few applications are built to take advantage of microformats browser-side (adding address cards that are already in your address book to your address book doesn’t make much sense) however, with Greasemonkey and other ideas like making the rounds (okay, so I came up with GreaseKits), we can count this as yet another feather in our cap as more and more large vendors make their web properties more semantically rich, opening up possibilities previously inaccessible given the sheer cost of maintaining one-off scrAPI techniques.

Now when you write a script to parse, augment, enhance or “user-interface-ize” microformatted content, it will work everywhere that microformats show up — not just one site at a time. With Firefox 3 looking to add support for microformats, it’s positive support by folks like Apple that will provide fertile ground for what the next generation of mashable web services looks like.

Welcome to the Neighborhood 2.0

VOX header

Surely you’ve heard by now that Six Apart’s new neighborhood platform VOX has launched.

I really like it. In fact, it’s the first online “place” that my mom’s signed up with, who was shortly followed by my brother (who found me initially on Facebook and I cajoled him into joining VOX).

Now that they’re both on it, I actually feel pretty comfortable about them giving it a go without me chaperoning them along.

Don’t get me wrong… I mean, there’s a bit of complexity in VOX, but I kind of feel like, if they play around a little — with the teasers that incite you to actually contribute and connect (suggest a neighbor feature on the invite page is genius) — they might just get into all this “Web 2.0” stuff I’ve been yammering on to them about for ages.

So now, imagine going home for Thanksgiving and rather than having to explain “feeds” or “Flickr”, we can just follow up on posts that they read but never commented on… or photos of my neighbor’s that they liked… Imagine using VOX, with its facile design and attention to detail, to finally connect with folks who normally could care less about this stuff.

Yes, finally.

It’s funny, but lots of people talk about “designing for Grandma” or “soccer moms” or other supposedly technically inept audiences (though, who in reality are often just as — if not moreso — savvy than the folks making such comments). But I think VOX has gone further than many who have come before and have successfully built a product and a community that I wouldn’t mind introducing my mom to (in fact, I did just that) and who I wouldn’t mind taking her through so that I knew it made sense and so that she could get the most out of her time spent on it.

In fact — and this is critical — once she’s set up and off on her own, I trust VOX to not get in her way or insult her intelligence. Perhaps I’m belaboring the point, but there are just so many nuances that make VOX feel friendly and worth working with that it’s important to point out that VOX is, above all, an excellent example of applied restraint and the execution of clear intention.

The one geeky thing I’ll add is that I’m eagerly awaiting OpenID integration so that we can start pushing forward with making the experience of grassroots identity consolidation as easy and good looking as VOX.

Twitter is inventing trans-media

CellyIronically, the send-from-web side of Twitter was only released today.

This is actually something significant.

For one thing, web-first isn’t the only game in town anymore. And it ought not be taken for granted as always the best place to start. It’s just one of the places to start.

In fact, web-second might become more common as more and more devices become web-enabled but not web-based. I mean, once the iPod gets a web browser… then what?

So during a conversation I had today with Jen Pahlka about the design track of the Web 2.0 Expo, she suggested holding a discussion about the changing context of content created or spread online, inspired by a post by Richard MacManus.

“Context” raises some very interesting challenges and opportunities for traditional web developers and designers (those who support web standards will be in better shape, but I digress).

So, let’s say your client tells you that they want a blog. “Okay” you say, and set them up on WordPress with a theme that looks like their corporate website. Woohoo.

Weeks later, out of the blue, the client calls you up frantic about their content showing up in some other unintended context. Like TechMeme. Or Tailrank 2.0. Or something. One never knows.

“How did they get my content?!” they squeal. “They’re stealing from me!”

To which you explain, hopefully in a calm, steady tone, “Noooo, actually, that’s how feeds and syndication work… Say, isn’t that why you started a blog? To get your ideas out there and engage in these kind of conversations? To connect with people? You should only be so happy that someone would republish your [blank] thoughts!”

Well, clearly what was missing from the initial conversation was a note about the changing nature of context and of the decaying control over where what publish or information shows up: “Well, to get your stuff out there, it’s gotta be put where people are — and hell if I know where people are! — so let’s make your content as accessible as possible and if they’re interested, all those folks will adapt it to and consume it in whatever context is appropriate to their situation.”

Facebook learned its lesson the hard way by not being upfront about this and setting expectations. Twitter, OTOH, is setting a new standard by pioneering what is effectively multi-modal trans-media content publicity: from web, mobile, email or API to IM, web, widget or feeds, with community built in at every stage of the process. In fact, it’s never been about Twitter, it’s always been about the Twitterers. And apparently, since it’s up to them, it’s okay to context-switch their content. They don’t mind. In fact, they quite seem to like it!

Writing history: Technorati adopts OpenID

Technorati adds support for OpenID

In an excellent sign of what’s surely to come, Technorati has adopted , at least for the moment, to claim your blog. This is a good first start and public display of support for this grassroots authentication protocol developer by Brad Fitzpatrick of LiveJournal, but until they fully support it to login to your actual Technorati account, this move serves only to whet the appetite.

But Technorati’s support does deserve recognition, as it is still early in the days of distributed single sign-on. Furthermore, the issues around remote login are many and require the involvement of and efforts from a wide range of diverse folks to help push through viable solutions for the myriad interface, user flow and communication challenges that this emerging standard brings with it.

As Ian Kallen of Technorati points out, there are still a number of issues to be resolved, chief among them:

I’m well aware of the concerns about phishy user interface vulnerabilities. The idea of logging in without a password may seem weird.

But that concern in and of itself should not prevent the continued building out of the OpenID network, especially as some smart folks are working on these, and other, thorny issues.

There are two things worth mentioning here as well.

First is that there was an agreement (perhaps a gentleperson’s agreement only) that stated that once Technorati added support for OpenID, LiveJournal would add support for microformats. Whether blog claiming constitutes “support for OpenID” as was intended by the offer is unclear, but it would be a rather positive development if LiveJournal did add support for , and other microformats.

Second, and more importantly, this example demonstrates the potential (I hate to say it) “longtail” value of support a decentralized authentication protocol like OpenID.

Consider this: let’s say that you blog on Blogger or on Yahoo! 360 or on MSN Spaces… as you probably know, each of the majors has their own authentication protocol (Google’s GAuth, Yahoo!’s BBAuth and Microsoft’s CardSpace, respectively). No doubt Technorati could add support claiming your blog using those protocols, no problem. But let’s say that you don’t want to play in one of those three de facto identity silos… what if you’re building your own independent blogging platform and want to offer authentication not provided by one of the Big Three? What are your options? What if you also want to use that same protocol to allow your users to have one login account across your other products?

Well, OpenID is designed to serve that purpose. In fact, you can run your own identity provider without needing to come close to the big three… and yet if did want to support them, work is being done (more thorny work I might add) to unify all your accounts into one OpenID that supports the big three. It’s highly unlikely, meanwhile, for the big three to do the same on their systems (for various appropriate reasons).

But here’s the thing: OpenID provides independents — individuals and small businesses — a way to play in the big leagues like the big guys without having to build the same kind of massive account infrastructure that they have. Furthermore, owing to the network effects of this standard, the more folks who consume and port around OpenIDs, the more valuable the network.

This is why we promote OpenID to all of our clients — as each one adds support for OpenID, all of our client’s clients (our real customers) can then log in and share their accounts across the services that our clients are building. This is a fundamental key to the non-zero sum economics that we preach! People like flexibility, they like control over their data and they like to be in charge of their identity and its destiny. That’s just good business. And the more that we decentralize identity and authentication services, the closer that control moves to the individual.

In the meantime, there is still much work to be done. But these small steps make a world of difference in terms of underscoring the value of this work.

The beast has awoken; or, The beginning of Web 2.0

we heard you

Executive summary: In considering the launch of Internet Explorer 7 in the context of the Spread Firefox campaign, I ask whether, now that the slumbering juggernaut of Microsoft has awoken and is learning to be more open-source-like, Firefox and open source advocates generally should continue to promote Firefox as a product or instead focus on promoting the movement and ideology of co-production and gift economics that produced Firefox.

Continue reading “The beast has awoken; or, The beginning of Web 2.0”

Gems from Matt

Dodgeball goes Gauth, reveals GOOG’s masterplan to p0wn your ass

Did you know that Dodgeball's been assimilated?

Don’t say I didn’t warn you, but now when you try to log into your favorite neighborhood spyware, you’ll be greeted by a prompt to login with either your old skool Dodgeball account credentials or your Gauth account (the one that you use for Docs, Gmail, Gcal, Orkut, or other Google Services like YouTube (whoops — did I just say YouTube?).

Should you choose to login with your Dodgeball account, you’ll then be asked what your Gauth account is… again… or to create a new one. I chose to eff it and just merge my accounts (hoping that there’s an export of my checkins to Google Earth). Now I can manage Dodgeball from Google (note the last service):
Dodgeball as Google Service

The BorgSo here’s an interesting theory. Or maybe a foretelling of the inevitable. But clearly everything that Google buys, it will, somehow, someday, assimilate. Just like Teh Borg a generation before it.

I mean, from a business perspective, it does make sense. Yahoo! at least had the sense to make it utterly optional for Flickr and Upcoming users to use or create a Yahoo account for logging in (though they’ve recently backslid into pushing straight-up Y! Auth at Flickr).

So in light of the GooTube buy-out, what’s interesting about this Dodgeball stitchover is what happens if they do the same to YouTube (which, of course, they will, giving them a lump sum portion of the nearly 20M monthly uniques as new or merged accounts under their proprietary authentication system). …Which then, of course, can be used at other Google Authenticated sites. But hey, how useful are those accounts on sites that don’t use their system? Yeah, about as a good as a false username and an incorrect password: utterly useless.

Which leads me to pimping OpenID, the open grassroots alternative I’ve previously discussed. If Google opted to interop with (or help develop) this emerging standard, users would be centrally in control of their data — and able to rely on vendors that they choose to represent them — hell, even run their own identity server if that’s their wont — and take their data with them. And now is more critical than ever to raise these issues as the major players push , BBAuth and GAuth while independent identity projects struggle to keep it together and muster their collective will in crafting a standard that keeps users’ rights and interests squarely at the fore.

Thus with Google standing guard squarely between me and more and more of the services that I use, I’m starting to bear witness to the rise of a very insidious environment — where, heck, the kids’ll just keep following the into unknown territory until Google single-handedly locks’em all up in its walled-garden-silo, never to escape with their data or their friends again (that’s not evil, is it?) — or at least that’s what it looks like from here, given their culture of secrecy and expediency in converting existing login systems to their own (Writely, Dodgeball, Blogger, Picasa, Google Earth, etc).

But hey, I still remain hopefully naive while decidedly skeptical; if it’s not Google that gets there first, maybe it’ll be Apple with their patent on transportable identities. And, if there’s something you want to do about it in the meantime, if you’re running WordPress, go ahead and grab the new . Perhaps if we take the identity matter into our own hands and do something about it first, they’ll have no choice but to keep the gate to their walled gardens, at the very least, unlatched.