Scott's "SiteExperts" Place: Start.com

Start.com (Live.com) Gadget Builders Unite

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 07:23:58 GMT

This evening http://www.microsoftgadgets.com was updated.

You can now check out, rate, and post your links to your DHTML Gadgets for Live.com. DHTML Gadgets are built on my MSN "Atlas" Framework (which is the same development approach being used across MSN). Learn more at the Microsft Gadgets web-site or by reading web-development and start.com blog entries.

Talking about Sean Alexander (and others) - Windows Vista Sidebar and Gadgets

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 19:08:25 GMT

Another Channel 9 Video. Learn more about Sidebar and Start.com Gadgets and how they are built using both the WPF or DHTML (of course, the DHTML Gadgets are based on the framework). Check it out.

Quote

Sean Alexander (and others) - Windows Vista Sidebar and Gadgets
Sidebar lives!But it's even better, here Sean Alexander, David Streams, and special guest Sanaz Ahari of the Start.com team, demonstrate the new sidebar and gadgets that come in Windows Vista. Plus, we cover the three different kinds of gadgets and show how to build your own.You can learn more on the Microsoft Gadget site.

Start.com - Multi-Search Gadget

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 19:02:50 GMT

I wrote this Gadget at the PDC a few weeks ago. I almost forgot about it until I saw a post on Dave Winer's site and Channel 9's latest Gadget video about integrating other search engines. This Gadget is similar in spirit (once you have the search results, you can choose to combine, merge, aggregate etc., them in any way you please) and illustrates that it is possible to integrate any search engine that exposes RSS feeds directly into an existing MSN site.

This Gadget currently searches 3 search engine and presents the results. I can add additional engines by simply extending an internal array (I am thinking about exposing a UI for you to add your own search engines). You can then pin any of the search engine results onto your page.

This Gadget demonstrates that you can integrate with the existing RSS viewer and the mechanisms for adding new "modules" to the page. I will write up how this works within a few days. For now, to add this Gadget to your page:

Go to http://start.com
Click "Add Feeds or Gadgets" in the left menu (if the menu is not displayed, Click the "Start Preview" icon in the upper-left.
In the "Add a feed or gadget by URL ..." enter: http://siteexperts.com/bindings/search.xml
After the Gadget downloads, I recommend adding it to your page.
Click on Install (if you want this Gadget automatically installed on each visit be sure to check the checkbox)
Try searching!

You will get results from MSN, Feedster, and Google.

Enjoy!

Talking about view your gadgets on start.com...

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 02:20:34 GMT

Gadgets have been moved to prime time! You can now use your custom gadgets directly on the http://www.start.com site. To read about building your own gadget, see http://www.start.com/developer.

Quote

view your gadgets on start.com and new shopping gadget

did you build a gadget, but it only worked on start.com/pdc and not on start.com... well now you can view all your gadgets on http://www.start.com and import new ones through our add content module.

also check out our new shopping gadget powered by msn shopping - expand the sidebar and click on shopping under gadgets. you can search for any items you like,subscribe to a search query (this can essentially be a light fare tracker for anything you want to buy) and even view your recent searches.

Talking about Microsoft's Start.com opens up @ ZDNet.com

Wed, 21 Sep 2005 03:56:43 GMT

I don't know how i missed this one.

And, yes, I made a bold claim. Extensible applications have been around for a very long time. However, Start.com is the first fully extensible web-site that:

Provides a fully-distributed, web-based component model,
Provides a "Gadget" platform that opens the entire web-site for complete customization and enhancement,
Allows any feed to differentiate itself with a custom experience,
all from within a Web Browser built using JavaScript and DHTML.

I recommend checking out this article.

Quote

Microsoft's Start.com opens up | Web 2.0 Explorer | ZDNet.com
...
Most interesting though is MSN architect Scott Isaacs' blog post detailing the developments. He makes this bold claim:
"Up until today, most web applications were designed as closed systems rather than as a web platform. For example, most customizable "aggregator" web-sites consume feeds and provide a fair amount of layout customization. However, the systems were not extensible by developers. With start.com, the experience is now an integrated and extensible application platform."
Of course start.com isn't the only RSS Aggregator to invite developers in. The likes of Newsgator and Blogbridge also have platforms that developers can build on. Indeed Newsgator has just announced an API developers contest (good timing!). One thing this announcement from Microsoft definitely does - it puts the challenge out to Google to open up their RSS platform too. So far Google has been slow to release any substantial RSS (or Atom) initiatives. Perhaps this move by Microsoft will push them along.
The RSS Aggregator market will be shaken up by Microsoft's announcements - and not just because of start.com. Michael Gartenberg reported today that Outlook has integrated RSS support in the upcoming Office 12. This makes RSS aggregators a commodity, a point I made in my post earlier this week about The RSS Space. Indeed I said that the real value in the future of RSS Aggregation services will be in creating value-add services. I believe Microsoft's start.com has got the ball rolling on that one.

Declaring Gadgets for Start.com using "RSS"

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 04:33:04 GMT

UPDATE: To hopefully clear up some confusion, I added a slight clarification on the manifest introduction.

The following should get cleaned up, expanded, and posted to the Start.com/developer site some time next week. The past week I have been posting samples and details on creating Gadgets. I wanted to get more detailed documentation on creating the necessary Gadget manifests and associating Gadget manifests with RSS feeds posted as quickly as possible.

Introduction to the Gadget Manifest

First, let's look at the Gadget manifest format. For defining manifests, we basically reused the RSS schema. This format decision was driven by the fact we already have a parser in Start.com's application model for RSS, there is broad familiarity with the RSS format, and I personally did not want to invent yet another schema :-). While we reused the RSS schema, we do recognize that these are not typical RSS feeds as they are not intended to be consumed and directly rendered by an aggregator. Therefore, we are considering whether we should use a different file extension or root element (e.g., replace RSS with Manifest) but still leverage the familiar tags. For the sake of simplicity, we chose to ship reusing RSS as the format and then listen to the community on how to proceed. We are very open to suggestions.

Looking at the Gadget manifest, we extended the RSS schema with one custom tag, and one custom attribute. We defined those under the binding namespace. Below is a sample Gadget manifest:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:binding="http://www.start.com">
   <channel>
      <title>Derived Hello World</title>
      <link>http://yourhomepage.com</link>
      <description>A sample hello world binding.</description>
      <language>en-us</language>
      <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2005 04:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <lastBuildDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2005 04:00:00 GMT</lastBuildDate>
      <binding:type>Demo.MyHelloWorld</binding:type>
      <item>
         <link>http://siteexperts.com/bindings/MyHello.js</link>
      </item>
      <item>
         <link binding:type="inherit">http://siteexperts.com/bindings/hello.xml</link>
      </item>
      <item>
         <link binding:type="css">http://siteexperts.com/bindings/myHelloWorld.css</link>
      </item>
   </channel>
</rss>

Looking at the Gadget manifest, until we reach an RSS item, the semantics of the existed RSS tags is maintained. The title serves as the Gadget title, link typically points to your home page or page about your Gadgets, description is your Gadget's description, and so on. The added binding:type element serves as the Gadget class to instantiate from the associated resources.

Looking at each item, we do know that we left off the required title and description since this file is not intended to be directly viewed. However, adding those tags could be useful to help describe the resources being used.

The last change is we added a binding:type attribute to each resource. We currently support three types: script (the default), css, and inherit. Inherit would point to another "RSS" manifest file that would be further consumed.

UPDATE: In case I wasn't clear, the manifest format is a stand-alone file (you do not intersperse resources with your existing RSS feed items). We will be moving away from the RSS moniker as we know this is confusing. The only extension we are proposing to be included in existing feeds is the binding:manifest tag explained below.

Assocating a Manifest with a Feed

Start.com supports loading stand-alone Gadgets directly from a manifest. In addition, You can now define a Gadget that presents a custom experience your feed. This is very useful for a number of scenarios. First, consider the RSS extensions being proposed: how do you provide a relevant experience for Open Search, List, and any future extension without redeploying new aggreagtors. Furthermore, some RSS feeds may be better represented by a custom experience (e.g, daily horoscopes). Basically, while content representation is universal, why should the experience be? I would not be surprised to see extensions for geo-coordinates, and so on. When that occurs you will probably want to integrate a map, etc., into the experience.

With Gadgets for Start.com, you can associate your feed with any custom experience. You can develop your own, subclass or consume another experience on the web, or choose (soon) from a set of experiences on Start.com. When your feed loads in Start.com, if it is associated with a custom Gadget, the user is presented the option to use the custom experience or default to the traditional list-view (they can also swich between views so you don't have to worry about being trapped into a "bad" experience :-).

The custom experiences are defined using the "RSS" Manifest format described above. However, since these Gadgets for RSS feeds are driven by the feed itself, we needed to extend traditional RSS with a single extension. This extension associates a manifest with the feed. We created a new channel element, binding:manifest that can be included in any RSS feed. This element specifies the Gadget manifest to use for the feed.

<binding:manifest environment="Start" version="1.0">
http://siteexperts.com/bindings/rumorcity.xml
</binding:manifest>

We created this element to not be coupled to any single implementation. Hence the required environment element. Aggregators that understand the manifest tag can examine the environment value. If they support the specified environment, they can choose to present the custom experience.

Just like our RSS manifest above, we chose a simple and straightforward solution to answering the following question:

How does a feed associate itself with a custom experience?

Again, just as with the manifest format, we are open to suggestions that help us answer that question.

Last, I suggest examining the samples on http://www.start.com/developer and my earlier blog entires to see how you manipulate the feed from within your Gadget.

Be sure to send any feedback or pointers to any Gadgets you create to Start.com.

Start.com: Cross-Browser Development

Thu, 15 Sep 2005 22:15:30 GMT

This approach is how MSN enables all our cross-browser development between Firefox and Internet Explorer. You can now leverage our approach when building your Start.com Gadgets. Our goal is to elminate most browser detection code from our applications and Gadgets. We extended Firefox with an API compatible with Internet Explorer. The library we created equalizes the differences between Internet Explorer and other browsers. This approach allows us to centralize browser differences and even "fix" bugs or differences in API behavior.

This technique improved invaluable in helping us work around differing implementations of the onclick event (See Firefox and Click Events)

Below I introduce some of the APIs we added to Firefox to achieve parity with Internet Explorer. You can find details on these properties in MSDN.

Events
We leverage the IE event model semantics. To register for an event, you should use the attachEvent/ detachEvent methods rather than assigning functions directly to the events.

For example:
Instead of:
myElement.onclick = DoClick;

Use:
// Attach event
myElement.attachEvent("onclick",DoClick);
// Remove event handler
myElement.detachEvent("onclick",DoClick);

A typical cross-browser issue is handling the event object. For all your code, you can rely on the window.event object and the IE properties. Almost all IE event properties are supported.

Mouse Events
In addition to the standard mouse events, we provide universal support for the onmousewheel event, onmouseenter, and onmouseleave events on elements. In addition, setCapture and releaseCapture.

Accessing Elements
Instead of using the document.all collection to retrieve elements by ID, use the document.getElementById method.

Note: Care should be taken when building Gadgets with the id attribute. You need to make sure your id is unique across the document. Also, be aware that multiple instances of your Gadget may be created. In general, we avoid using id's in our Gadgets.

Element Methods
We added the following methods to each element:
removeNode
contains
setCapture
releaseCapture
insertAdjacentElement
click

Properties:
currentStyle.borderTopWidth
currentStyle.borderLeftWidth
currentStyle.borderRightWidth
currentStyle.borderBottomWidth
currentStyle.marginTop
currentStyle.marginLeft
currentStyle.marginRight
currentStyle.marginBottom
currentStyle.paddingTop
currentStyle.paddingLeft
currentStyle.paddingRight
currentStyle.paddingBottom
currentStyle.position
currentStyle.height
currentStyle.width
currentStyle.zIndex
style.pixelLeft
style.pixelHeight
style.pixelWidth
style.pixelTop
style.cssText (read-only)
style.filter (we support the opacity % filter)
parentElement
innerText

Rendering Fidelity
It is important to note that API fidelity does not necessary equate to rendering fidelity. While your code may run cross-browser you need to test and verify that your content renders appropriately.

I am sure I missed a few. We are working on a more detailed developer guide that will be posted to http://www.start.com/developer.

Talking about Gadgets...

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 23:38:14 GMT

Michael Gets it...

Quote

Cross-Domain Portlets with Start.com Gadgets/Widgets/Startlets
Remote portlets take the Ajax portals to another level. In fact, the whole concept is one of the biggest developments in the history of the web. A9 pre-empted it with their “Open Search” capability, which allows developers to hook into the A9 interface with live search results. Now MS is going a step further, with Konfabulator-style interaction directly on the web. It’s likely Yahoo has similar plans, given that it’s now the owner of Konfabulator. What Google does is anyone’s guess. Strategically, MS has a big edge here because of its experience working with Developers, Developers, Developers! (YES!)

Start.com: Search Feedster Gadget

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 18:32:22 GMT

Did you know that Gadgets for Start.com let's you build also custom experiences that can also consume any RSS feed?

In this demo, I created a Feedster Gadget for searching for blogs via Feedster within Start.com. The results are automatically integrated into the Start.com experience (you can view a found blog and quickly pin it to your page).

Feel free to try out this Gadget on http://www.start.com/pdc.

1. Go to http://www.start.com/pdc

2. Click "Add Content" from the left sidebar

3. Add a feed or Gadget enter "http://www.siteexperts.com/bindings/searchfeedster.xml

4. This will add the Gadget "My Web"

5. Click "Search Feedster" and the Gadget will load

6. I suggest Adding this module to your page and then installing it.

7. Now you can search feedster and the results are returned in-line.

(note - It appears Feedster recently went down for maintanence - if it says results are offline try searching again later)

This integrated experience was developed in less than 45 minutes and is approximately 75 lines of code! We were able to leverage the rss base components built into Start.com to handle the presentation and display. I highly recommend you check out the code for more details:

http://www.siteexperts.com/bindings/feedstersearch.js

http://www.siteexperts.com/bindings/searchfeedster.xml

[Updated with correct URLs]

Start.com: Working with a RSS Feed

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 22:27:39 GMT

I am going to be posting lots of quick tips over the next few days to help you get started building Gadgets for Start.com.

If you associate a Gadget with your feed, the feed is automatically past into your Gadget as part of your arguments.

MyGadget = function(p_el,p_args,p_namespace)

{

// p_args.feed - Returns an parsed rss feed (see below for details)

}

In addition, using the Framework services, you can also manually request any additional RSS feed from within your Gadget (or refresh the current feed) using the framework's network stack. Below is a very simple code template to use:

function RequestFeed(strUrl,fnCallback)
{
var objRequest = Web.Network.createRequest(Web.Network.Type.XML,strUrl,null,fnCallback,Web.Utility.Prioritizer.Priorities.Medium);
objRequest.execute();
}

To request a feed, merelhy call RequestFeed passing in the url you want and a callback function:

RequestFeed("http://spaces.msn.com/members/siteexperts/feed.rss",FeedLoaded)

function FeedLoaded((response)
{
if (response.status==200)
{

// Let Start.com parse the feed or you can manipulate

// response directly (response is the xml request object)
var rssInfo = Start.Parser.ParseRssResponse(response);
// Process Feed
}

The Start.com can help you parse the feed. The parser establishes an easy to use object hierarchy.

var rssInfo = Start.Parser.ParseRssResponse(response);
rssInfo.channels // An array of channels

Below is a quick list of the properties avialable on each channel (e.g., rssInfo.channels[0]):
title
link
description
attribs // Associative Array of attributes from the channel element
items
image
    url
    title
    link
    width
    height
binding

Each item (e.g., rssInfo.channels[0].items[0]) exposes:
title
description
link
pubDate
guid
source
imgLink
other // Associative array of other item tags

We will be posting more documentation on the RSS parser at http://www.start.com/developer (documentation for this object is coming soon).

Start.com: Two Sample Gadgets

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 21:02:40 GMT

Two gadgets to play with.

When you visit http://www.start.com/pdc, click "Add Content" in the sidebar and enter the following feed URLs. Next, you need to Install the gadget.

1) http://www.rumorcity.com/rss.aspx

This demonstrates associating a custom experience with your RSS feed.
(warning: This is a site of user-posted rumors - sometimes the rumors may be considered offensive)

2) http://www.siteexperts.com/bindings/theme.xml

This Gadget allows you to customize the Start.com's stylesheet (IE only - I should have Firefox real soon)

I recommend first adding this component to your page, and before installing it, check "Save as long as I use this Gadget".

A common request is to modify the font and font-size. This can be customized by changing the style rule on the BODY. For example, paste the following rule into the BODY textbox to change the font to Tahoma and the font-size to 8pt:

FONT-SIZE: 10pt; MARGIN: 0px 0px 12px; COLOR: #333333; LINE-HEIGHT: 1.5em; FONT-FAMILY: arial,sans-serif

After editing the style sheet, click Apply then Save. Assuming you installed the Theme Gadget, your theme will be automatically applied each time you visit start.com.

Start.com: A Preview of Web 3.0

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 21:01:24 GMT

Today, Start.com/pdc ushers in the next generation web application pushing the limits of browser-based technology.

Over the past 8 months I have been writing articles on advanced programming techniques and the limitations of the "AJAX" programming pattern (and I have at least 6 months more of articles to come). I was explaining the methodology and challenges we were facing and solving in our MSN platform (which has evolved into the foundation for Atlas). These articles start to present the technical foundation for our Atlas client frameworks and today's preview of Start.com's developer story.

Up until today, most web applications were designed as closed systems rather than as a web platform. For example, most customizable "aggregator" web-sites consume feeds and provide a fair amount of layout customization. However, the the systems were not extensible by developers. With start.com, the experience is now an integrated and extensible application platform.

Today's preview of the Start.com Developer illustrates fundamental shifts in web programming patterns:

DHTML-based Gadgets
Start.com consumes DHTML-based components called Gadgets. These Gadgets can be created by any developer, hosted on any site, and consumed into the Start.com experience. The model is completely distributed. You can develop components derived from other components on the web.
Adding Behavior to RSS
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an incredible platform for sharing content and information. Today all RSS feeds are treated equally by aggregators. Start.com integrates the world of RSS with Gadgets enabling any feed to optionally be associated with a rich, interactive experience. Some feeds present information that may be better presented in an alternative format. Other feeds leverage extensions or provide extra semantics beyond standard RSS (e.g., Open Search, Geo-based coordinates, etc). By enabling a feed to define a unique experience or consume an existing one, the richness of the aggregator experience can improve organically without requiring a new application. Of course, we also allow the user to control whether a custom experience is displayed for a feed.
Open-ended Application Model
Start.com is what I call an open-ended application. An open-ended application consumes Gadgets and provides core application services and experiences. This is and has been the Start.com model since its inception (how do you think they released new features every week?). By opening up Start.com, we have removed the boundaries around Start.com features and experiences. The community of developers and publishers can now define and control the richness of the Start.com experience.

These are the web-applications of the future - applications that can integrate not only content (e.g., RSS) but associated behaviors and services.

Today, via Start.com, the developer community can preview MSN's client technology and infrastructure. At Start.com/Developer, you will find early samples and documentation. This site will be continually improved with more documentation and samples. Go and build Gadgets and custom experiences for your feeds. Most importantly, since we are far from finished, please give us feedback. The platform can only improve with your feedback. Also, we are always looking for interesting Gadgets and custom RSS experiences.

Be sure to visit the Start.com team's blogs (Sanaz, Steve, and their team blog) to continue to learn more about Start.com. I am sure we will be pointing to some great developer-created Gadgets and enhanced feeds. Follow my blog for more technical articles, samples, and how we are using the Atlas framework to further improve our client experiences.

Note: We are providing a technology preview at http://www.start.com/pdc. We expect to update www.start.com in the very near future.

Announcing Microsoft Gadgets

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 18:59:45 GMT

The march begins.

Check out http://www.microsoftgadgets.com.

"What are Gadgets? Gadgets are a new category of mini-application designed to provide information, useful lookup, or enhance an application or service on your Windows PC or the Web. Examples might include a weather gadget running on your desktop or on your homepage, an RSS Gadget that pulls in your favorite feeds, or an extension of a business application providing just-in-time status on the pulse of your business.

...

Start.com Gadgets (a.k.a. Web or Server-based Gadgets) provide a fast, customizable homepage with a clean user interface – putting the user in control of more of their online experience. Currently in incubation/public preview, Start.com is a place where consumers can customize the web to their liking by adding their own sources of content including RSS web-feeds and web-based Gadgets that extend functionality of their site- anything from custom calendars to service integration. Start.com demonstrates the use of DHTML and ASP.Net Atlas, which separates the data from the UI resulting in significant performance improvements. In addition, Start.com Gadgets can easily support docking into the Windows Sidebar. "

More coming real soon now. See Sanaz and Steve below working on the start.com update live from the pdc!

MSN: Extending Start.com Using Startlets

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 05:53:11 GMT

The Start.com session has been published at:

http://commnet1.microsoftpdc.com/content/sessionview.aspx?TopicID=77e5c436-2fc7-48f0-8d1d-945798dbcb17

PRSL04 - MSN: Extending Start.com Using Startlets

September 15, 1:00 PM - 1:45 PM
408 AB
Scott Isaacs/ Sanaz Ahari

MSN's Web incubation team is creating a new AJAX-based personalized Web experience at start.com - here is your opportunity to get under the covers and see how we are building this site. Start.com allows for consumers to personalize their web experience to the things that matter the most to them. See how we build Start.com modules (Startlets) such as the Stock Picker, Weather Picker, and Blogger Map. Learn how to create your own custom Startlets for Start.com. We will also present how your RSS feed can also define a unique experience when viewed within Start.com. The Start.com team and architect will give you a tour of code you can use today. Join us for lunch and catch the latest wave of innovation from MSN's Web incubation team.

This is going to be an intense 45 minutes where we will introduce how to extend Start.com using the Framework and Start.com Application services. I will be posting much more details starting tomorrow.

UPDATE: The talk is Thursday at 1pm. My earlier posts that stated the talk was on Friday were incorrect.

An additional Hotmail talk was also added:

PRSL02 - Case Study: How Hotmail Used Atlas and ASP.NET to Build a Great User Experience

September 14, 12:30 PM - 1:15 PM
152/153 (Hall F)
Walter Hsueh

Microsoft's Hotmail web application team is developing the successor to Hotmail: a modern webmail experience focused on safety, simplicity, and speed. We will walk you through the scale and performance requirements of the Internet's largest distributed webmail application and show you how building on ASP.NET and Atlas technologies provides the right solution for the problem space. Learn from our experiences and design patterns of how we leveraged the "Atlas" programming model and "Atlas" components to build rich, interactive Web applications.

Start.com Browser Support

Fri, 09 Sep 2005 20:44:05 GMT

Start.com currently runs in the latest versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer (although there are some bugs in some versions). We've received feedback questioning why we don't support additional browsers. The browsers we support is currently a technology driven decision. We want to support additional browsers, but not all browsers support the necessary standards. I am going to explain a few technical issues we have faced that are critical to us expanding Start.com's support.

First, the browser must support the DHTML event and object model. I am not going to list the specific standards, but assuming a browser can meet the following three requirements, the remaining support will most likely be sufficient.

Support for dynamically downloading code

We download most scripts by dynamically creating SCRIPT tags. Unfortunately, we have found some browsers do not expose any events or properties that we can use to detect the script has been loaded. Specifically, we have not found an appropriate onload event or readystate-type poperty in Safari.

Support for adding custom properties to base DOM objects

Our goal is to avoid writing browser specific code within our application implementation. To accomplish this, our framework equalizes the object models and even extends built-in behavior by extending the prototypes of the base DOM objects. For example, we add properties to the base HTMLElement and Event objects. Specifically, we have not found a way to do this in Opera.

Support for parsing and retrieving xml tags

We embed custom tags into our documents. These tags need to be properly parsed into their appropriate tree. For example, in the HTML document we may have tags such as:

<web:binding selector=".list" type="Demo.List"><web:defaults></web:defaults></web:binding>

We need to be able to query and extract these elements, their associated attributes, and any child elements.

These represent the typical requirements that have blocked us from running on a larger set of browsers. If you represent a browser that does not run Start.com, we would appreciate any help resolving these issues. You can reach me directly via the e-mail address listed in my profile, or you can contact the start.com team directly. For the rest of you, we are working hard at enabling Start.com on the widest array of browsers and devices.

Start.com has been promoted...

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 16:39:15 GMT

Start.com is has been promoted from a semi-obscure URL (http://www.start.com/3) to become a full-fledged, "real" web-site! You can now find start.com directly at http://www.start.com. You will also find lots of new features (with more always in the works - the start.com team never seems to sleep)

Feed read/unread support
More/fewer headlines support for rss feeds (click the +/- icons when hovering over the feed)
Improved
- look and feel
- feed subscriptions
- default experience
- sidebar behavior
Feeds auto-refresh every ~15 minutes

Also, for those of you speculating about http://www.start.com/developer, be sure not to miss our talk at the PDC currently scheduled for September 16th (we are not listed on the online agenda yet). Sanaz and I will be presenting .... (wait until the PDC to find out)

What's this?

Fri, 19 Aug 2005 01:20:08 GMT

Start Speculating

(click it!)

Build a feature - get scoble-ized!

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 03:53:09 GMT

A little short story that came to mind as the MSN Blog Map got scoble-ized.

When I heard the Virtual Earth team was shipping, I decided to see how quick I could build a new feature based on VE. A few hours later, the MSN Blog Map was born. I forwarded the link to Start.com and their response was "wow", "cool", "we got to ship this", and finally "This will get us on Scoble". This reminds me of the credit card commercial - was it for the miles? Did I build this to integrate cool features, or just to get scoble-ized?

Since Scoble most likely already has a big enough ego, I do not want to give him all the credit for driving innovation :-) - let's just say that I believe the entire phenoma of blogging is greatly changing the rules around innovation and product releases. Traditionally, simply explained, products were released in waves on specific schedules with big fanfare to generate as much PR buzz as possible. Releases with lots of "key" features had to be properly messaged and presented during media and analyst tours. However, with blogs, PR (or buzz) can be generated at any time. While major releases are still essential, it is now very clear we can also innovate out-of-band and ship cool features at any time. If it is an innovative and useful feature, it will get noticed and quickly adopted by our users (and hopefully Scoble :-).

Start.com/3 preview is out

Sun, 05 Jun 2005 04:43:05 GMT

The latest start.com preview available (http://www.start.com/3) You will have to answer a few questions before you are let in. When you get past the questions, if nothing is displayed except a search box, make sure to click on "show" in the upper left.

This latest release is full of "AJAX"-goodness. Everything is asynchronous - the feed lists, the rss contents, stock quotes, weather, etc. You can personalize your page (including rearranging content by dragging modules).

Feel free to check it out and remember this is just a preview (there are some FIreFox issues that still need to be worked out).

Enjoy.

Start.com and Accessibility

Wed, 18 May 2005 00:23:57 GMT

Earlier today I did an internal review of an update to Start.com that went live minutes ago (http://www.start.com/1). If you haven't been following some recent posts, Start.com is an experimental "incubation" site (See http://spaces.msn.com/members/steverider for the key developer behind start.com). Start.com/1 is an interactive RSS aggregator.

I believe this is the first attempt to solve a very big problem - How do you make AJAX-like sites completely accessible? While impacting a very small percentage of our users, solving this problem is critical to building these rich web-sites.

George Young, working closely with some accessibility folks, discovered techniques that enable accessibility tools to interact with the site. The page uses proper XHTML semantics enabling accessibility tools to quickly parse and represent the page. In addition, accessibility tools are properly notified in response to asynchronous callbacks. Establishing this notification structure is essential to make AJAX-like applications truly accessible.

To experience the accessibility "navigation" mode (structure is properly represented regardless), you need to turn it on from the link at the bottom of the page or go directly to http://www.start.com/1/default.aspx?accMode=1. The reason we have a flag to turn on this mode is the "navigation event" in accessibility mode generates the default navigation sound. That navigation action is necessary for the tools, and the resulting sound may not always be desired.

We are hoping to keep learning from this experiment. Feel free to give http://www.start.com/1 a try.

Talking about Start.com support for FireFox

Thu, 21 Apr 2005 03:39:28 GMT

If you have not had a chance, check out http://start.com/1 and http://start.com/2. There is some almost real-time experimental work going on over there. You can follow the latest at the http://spaces.msn.com/members/startcom blog.

BTW - I can't take all the credit for the FireFox fixes. I got some appreciated help from a long-time acquaintance, Brendan Eich, the chief architect over at mozilla, who very quickly got back to me with suggested work-arounds. For those interested in why start.com broke, you can find a public discussion of the same issue in a mozilla newsgroup.

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Support for Firefox version 1.0.3

The recent release of Firefox version 1.0.3 had some security fixes that broke parts of the start.com framework. We've identified the issues and have added workarounds to bring it back in line. Thanks to our chief javascript and DHTML wrangler Scott Isaacs for making it all good again!