HTML widget - what have you found?

Joe — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:40:00 +0000

So, it's been a month or so since we released the alpha (early testing) version of the HTML widget. We've had nearly 250 people download and try out the widget in our website builder from our site labs.moonfruit.com, so we know you've been using it. But the thing we want to know is what have you been using it for?

We're working away on getting the widget ready for a beta release (slightly more robust), which we will distribute more widely. And once we've done that we can start to produce specific versions for the things you want to use it for.

But firstly and update on the bugs. You might remember that currently the HTML widget only works correctly if you view the site using Internet Explorer 6 or above, with Flash Player 10. So for Firefox users, it displays the HTML content below the site so they can still see it, but its not ideal.

We've had some exciting news from Firefox that the bug that prevents the HTML widget correctly displaying in your site for Firefox users will be fixed in the 3.1 release of the browser, due sometime in the next couple of months (hopefully). This is great, as this bug was something we couldn't fix ourselves.

The main bug that we're looking at on our side is why some HTML snippets don't load correctly, which seems to be mainly those that use external JavaScript files in the HTML, e.g. Google AdSense or any Google Gadgets widget. Hopefully we'll be able to fix that too and open the net wider.

Once the HTML widget is fully robust we hope to be able to offer many different pre-configured flavours of it. There will always be the generic 'paste in any HTML' widget, but we'll also do some that are focused on particular services. For example a Youtube multi-video player (http://www.youtube.com/custom_player), or a twitter widget (http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/twidget). Both of these work with the current HTML alpha widget.

So which ones have you found that you like? Which HTML widgets do you think we should make available as pre-configured choices? Let us know and we'll add them to the list. Can you add a link to the widget you are using so we can see it?

As our customers you have the best idea about the things you really want to use yourselves, so if we can add them we will. Thanks for your help.

New release - 18th Dec 2008

Joe — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:40:00 +0000

So this is Christmas (laaa, laaa, laaa, laaa), and what have we learned (laaa, laaa, laaa, laaa), another year older (laaa, laaa, laaa, laaa), etc. In fact speaking of another year older, as 2009 approaches we'll be entering our 10th year of moonfruiting, so not bad going for the old website builder.

Anyway, you don't want to hear about that, you're interested in Santa's Goodie bag, or should I say Google bag...

Keeping up the theme of releasing Google based widgets at Xmas (see last year) we thought we'd add the much requested Google maps feature to SiteMaker so that you can help your customers find you - if you want them to find you ;-)

Google Maps Integration

Add a Google maps interface directly into your site
Set a location beacon to show your exact location on the map
Allow your customers to manipulate the map (zoom/drag) to help them get their bearings
It's in the 'functional' folder called 'google map'

Improved YouTube Video Feed

We have also updated our video player to use YouTube’s very own video API to ensure reliability. This will mean that if YouTube change how they serve videos, you don’t have to worry about your video failing, we will pick up any changes and ensure the video feed is maintained.

However, please be aware that if the video owner has set or marked the video as "private" or "embed only", the video will not be available via our player.

Some other stuff

4 new templates to choose from
File manager reorganisation, including up to date 'all' folders to help you find things more easily

And...that's it. Not quite the usual Xmas bonanza granted, but we've been working on several big pieces of new functionality and haven't been able to complete them in time to get them to Santa.

We tried outsourcing some of our development to Santa's Elves to speed things up, but the economy at the North Pole is still largely based on traditional manufacturing and hasn't yet made the transition to a service sector based economy with strong conceptual software skills, so that didn't work out so well. On the plus side they did make us a nice set of toy soldiers.

So you'll have to accept an IOU from us, for early next year, for the membership and e-Commerce features. But to give you a little sneak preview, I've got a couple of screenshots of the work in progress.

The enhanced membership features will arrive first. We're building them first as a platform the the e-Commerce improvements, e.g. to run a good shop, you want your customers to be able to create user accounts and we found our current membership tools a bit lacking. So the new ones will make it easier to create and manage members, set permissions for pages (e.g. members only), and communicate with those members via mailing lists. The above screenshot shows the 'permissions' section where you can select multiple pages and apply view/edit rights in one go.

One of the big limitations with the current PayPal tools is that you have to set up each product separately. Well no more. With the new system you will be able to use the product manager interface and manage the attributes of your products in one place, e.g. price, sizes, colour. Once your products are set up you can display them in your site using 'product display widgets' which make it quick to add and organise many different products on a page, e.g. you can add them just like adding images to a gallery which will automatically set-up the price display and the 'buy'/'add to cart' buttons for you. The above screenshot shows the product manager in 'product list' mode.

So there you go, we are working on them, honest! These are screenshots from the working prototypes, so not just pretty pictures, though the final designs may change a bit as we do usability testing.

Have a wonderful Xmas (or holiday season) and we'll see you all in the New Year. Ho ho ho.

Moonfruit Lounge - Youtube

HTML widget - what have you found?

New release - 18th Dec 2008