Web Tools the SonicSpider Way!
What are "Web Tools" anyway?
To try and answer this question, I did a quick search on the Internet. What I found did not really answer that question very well. What were called "web tools" ran the full spectrum from web development tools, blogs, and content management systems to little popup "cool" gadgets and simple script snippets. The conclusion was that a web tool was "whatever you wanted it to mean."
Web Tools the SonicSpider Way!
Over the last 5 years SonicSpider has created a number of "tools" that it uses to provide more interesting content and business functions and also keep the cost down on custom development. These tools have fallen into the the following categories:
- Widgets - Small buttons or styled hyperlinks that popup a larger application and maintain the current site location.
- Plugins - Larger real estate items that provide dynamic functions or content to a website
- Engines - More sophisticated applications that can have some part fed (via dynamic javascript tags) into a website or can be controlled via an API. These provide extensive back ends for management and configuration along with more complex tasks.
Starting in the winter of 2007 - 2008 SonicSpider began working to commercialize these web tools. This article is meant to give you a preview of what we are working on and the status of those offerings. We invite you to browse through our examples and demos. We are very interested in your feedback and any interest you might have. We are expecting to have most of these offerings ready by the early spring of 2009. We would like to provide some of them earlier to interested developers who want to work with us to make them more useful for web developers.
Fundamental Architecture
All of our tools attempt to adhere to a number of basic constraints, which are:
- the tool is business oriented and provides some needed business or web marketing function
- it can be embedded into a static web page
- tools are installable by someone with basic HTML skills (with the exception of the APIs)
- tools can be visually integrated and styled to the website so as to be largely invisible to the user
- where appropriate, the tool provides an API for more custom control
Now for a brief preview tour of what we are working on in the webtools space.
SonicWidgets™
Our definition of a widget is a tool that performs a business function without taking up any website real estate. So often websites can become very cluttered with all of the attempts to get the potential customer's attention. This clutter undermines the design of the website and leaves the user lost and frustrated.
A SonicWidget is designed to be "fed" into the page via a dynamic script tag and visually leave either a button or a stylable hyperlink. Clicking this button brings up a popup window (iFrame) that leaves the user on the website but provides access to functions that normally would consume real estate on that page. Currently there are three flavors in production: Tell a Friend, Basic Signup, and Advance Signup (with attachment links and download). On the drawing board are a number of new functions. A prototype demo page is available to review at:
http://server.sonicwebwidgets.com/widget/
Examples of a widget in use:
http://www.ipushfitness.com/ (Tell a Friend)
http://www.advantedgeonline.com/ (Signup for Newsletter)
Sonic Plugins
Plugins provide a greater degree of integration into the website function. These are tools that add dynamic content which encourage more frequent visits of both web surfers and search engines. There are currently two forms of plugins:
- HotSpotCM - A micro content management tool
- RSS Feed Manager - Enhanced RSS feed formatter
Both of these plugins can be styled to a small side bar or take up an entire page.
Sonic Hotspot CM™
One of the downsides of most content management systems is that it is an all or nothing proposition. With that commitment comes restrictions in design along with training and management. Therefore, unless there is the commitment to completely tie yourself to a specific system, there is no halfway point. The Hotspot CM™ provides that compromise. The plugin allows for targeted "hot spots" where content management is needed. Those spots can be very small, in a sidebar, or just a small announcement box, or an entire page. Using FCKEditor, the Hotspot CM™ has a very familiar "Word like" editor with a complete complement of styling and formatting functions. A prototype demo page is available to review at::
Some examples of the Hotspot CM™ in use:
http://www.camppendletonasymca.org/ (Upcoming Events)
http://www.gaslampgetaway.com/rates_accom.html (Rates and Accommodations)
http://www.gaslampgetaway.com/booking.html (Booking and Availability)
Note that the Hotspots are completely transparent and integrated into each web page.
Sonic RSS Feed Manager
Having used a number of "feed-like" tools, such as FeedBurner, I looked for some feed tools that did not "brand" the feed. I never was a "bumper sticker" type person and I especially don't like them on my websites.The free ones were nice but so limited. So, I built one that did what I thought was the most useful for complete integration into the website. The RSS Feed Manager allows for complete control of the feed presentation and seamlessly integrates into the website.
Some examples best illustrate this:
http://www.gaslampgetaway.com/index.html (Local events)
http://www.gatewaypodiatryclinic.com/commonconditions.html (Common Conditions)
http://www.werock4kids.org/ (What's New)
http://www.werock4kids.org/news_release.html (New Releases)
Future features will include feeding full articles using the BlogAPI. We are also interested in "feeding" other data sources, like web services or other web pages. Let us know what interests you in this area.
Sonic Engines
Engines are generally embedded devices that are largely invisible to the user. This is exactly the purpose of the Sonic Engines. Following is a subset of architectural constraints that define our engines:
- Functions of the engine can be surfaced on a static web page via a "feed" style dynamic script tag.
- An API is available for controlling various functions from any source or programming language that has HTTP capabilities.
- There is an extensive administrative back end for configuration and management.
There are two engines available at this time:
- eCommerce Engine - A full feature ecommerce application that can be driven from any platform.
- Registration Engine - Gather memberships, register for events - there is always the need to collect "people" type data.
eCommerce Engine
There are more shopping carts out there than one can count. Why another? First, this is not JASC (Just Another Shopping Cart), though it does have that functionality built in, if needed. What it is specifically, is an eCommerce engine. First, it adheres to the architecture of what we are defining as an "engine" Next, what we have found is that few small businesses really want "a shopping cart", but a PayPal button is just not quite "professional" enough. Also those buttons are not all that simple to setup if you want more than "one-at-a-time" shopping. SonicSpider has certified PayPal developers so we completely understand how "PayPal" buttons have their value and we have the skills to work with those solutions. Unfortunately, the kind of integration needed is not quite there in the PayPal system. This is ONE situation which the eCommerce engine is designed to solve.
The other is for the programmer that needs a real custom solution but does not want to get into the proprietary systems of most commercial shopping carts. The developer wants complete freedom to design and program the shopping experience, but wants to avoid having to program the back end administration "stuff", such as:
- Account management
- Interfacing with the payment gateway
- Tracking invoices and payments
- Uploading products and formatting images
It would be nice if those functions were available without programming so that all of the focus can be placed on the upfront, customer experience. And this is the other place where the engine is designed to solve with the API. The API allows the programmer to control any part of the engine and provide posting and retrieval of any information in the system.
Summary of features:
- Product feeds into static pages
- View cart on any static page
- Full featured checkout process
- Flexible payment plugin solutions
- Integrate into multiple eCommerce functions
- Complete administrative control panel
- Xml-rpc for remote control of engine from any HTTP language.
Though it would be hard to demo the API, I will be outlining a number of features in a later article. Currently we use the engine to attach it to our registration engine as well as other internal uses. To view the product feed feature, for now you can view a good example at these websites:
http://www.benchfit.com/product_pearls.html
http://www.remediescure.com/homeopathy.html
A few examples of the engine being used as a standard "shopping cart":
These demonstrate how the full shopping cart can also be styled and integrated into a static website.
What if a feature I need is missing?
It has been the philosophy of the SonicSpider development team, that we only build what customers have actually requested. This will continue to be the case as we don't think that we are very good at guessing what is actually useful. Our goal is to work with you to provide the features you need. If a feature you need is missing, let's talk about a generic way to provide that feature. We will then build it. It is as simple and straight forward as that.
Registration Engine
There is frequently the need to gather information about people and related data. From a simple registration to memberships and attached surveys. The registration tool is designed to be driven from a static HTML page. This means that as a web developer you don't have to configure much at the back end (mostly email routing and related messages) and by using a fixed naming convention for fields, the engine gathers your information and stores it. You can even change what you want to store at any time, add a field, remove a field and the engine will adjust to those needs "automagically".
A summary of some of the basic features:
- Survey questions
- Opt out settings
- Mulitple registrants at one time.
- Registration page on main site for complete control
- Online management tools to track registration progress
- Plugin payment systems - Paypal, eCommerce Engine (for Payflow and Authorize.net solutions)
- Remote xml-rpc query of data and status
- Export to common formats and Email marketing services
- Vendor, exhibitor/partner marketing tracking codes
- Marketing source tracking codes
- Email response - attachment, directions, "e-ticket"