Web 2.0 Stores > Fast, Simple, Search Engine Friendly Ecommerce

I have finally gotten time enough to launch my new eCommerce blog. If you already run an eCommerce store or are thinking about getting into selling online, jump on over to eCommerce Optimization and get helpful insider tips and tricks to assist you in selling more through your online store.

(more…)

Google this week announced the release of the Google AJAX Feed API. What is it? It’s a JavaScript library that lets you mashup RSS and Atom feeds entirely on the client, thus no need for server-side coding. In addition, one of the useful core features is that it can automatically map XML attributes to a JSON result format. To get a sense of what it can do, one of their example mashups has been added to our listings: the Google AJAX Tune Bar that lets you add iTunes RSS feeds to any page. If you’re familiar with JavaScript programming you’ll note that typically this sort of client-side mashup would have some limitations due to browser security constraints restricting data to only come from the same server a given page was delivered. But Google works-around this by having their servers act as a proxy cache for all feed requests made via the API. Which leads to a couple of other implications: “The AJAX Feed API, like Google Reader and the Google personalized homepage, caches individual entries within feeds and reconstructs feeds based on those entries. Consequently, feeds from the AJAX Feed API may not reflect the exact XML file from the URL you request. In many cases, you can request more entries from the AJAX Feed API than are currently available in the live feed.” It is also interesting that we’re seeing more JavaScript-based APIs from Google, including the AJAX Search API and the ever-popular Google Maps API. We’ll probably see more in the future given that they’ve introduced a new base url of google.com/jsapi and a generalized JavaScript API load process: “Loading the API requires two steps because Google is moving to a new model of loading AJAX APIs to make it easier to include multiple Google APIs on your pages. Subscribe to the Google AJAX APIs Blog for announcements as we start rolling out this new AJAX API loading mechanism.” This is one of those very useful but somewhat subtle APIs that has more power than may be initially apparent.

The Google AJAX API team has announced a genuinely useful Feed API that gives an Ajax developer the ability to access feeds, cached in the fast Google edge cache where appropriate, from across the web using a simple JavaScript API. This is a subtle service that does one thing that is currently a pain-point for developers of certain applications. Ajax developers now have a clean way to access public feeds on any domain, and get access to the content in a uniform way. Gone is the need for us to create a proxy on the server to access feeds from other domains. Gone is the need to have to deal with all of the feed types. RSS, Atom, RDF, we can now use either MIXED_FORMAT or JSON_FORMAT to use the uniform access. The full set of feed formats supported is Atom 1.0, Atom 0.3, RSS 2.0, RSS 1.0, RSS 0.94, RSS 0.93, RSS 0.92, RSS 0.91, RSS 0.9. The unified feed result elements are: title, link, description, author and a list of entries[]. The entries[] list has the following elements: title, link, content, contentSnippet, publishDate, and categories. XML and mixed formats allow you to also get access to the XML document itself, and then you can use standard DOM tactics to get what you want from that content (e.g. getElementsByTagName). You would want to use XML if you needed to grab out something specific from the feed, such as the digg:count. RSSBling Redone Funny story. Ben and I created Ajaxian.com as a place to host RSS Bling back in 2005, as you can see via the Wayback Machine. It was only later that we started the blog. RSS Bling was an offline RSS reader that we create as an example of doing offline and Ajax before it was cool. We got a lot of mileage out of doing presentations and unplugging the net and seeing that it still worked. One of our problems was getting access to feeds. We could have created a proxy to feeds, but instead we used bloglines as the proxy, and got the data from there. With the new Feed API we can go directly to the feeds itself. We ported RSS Bling to use the API, and you can view it here. Once you load the Feed API, you can grab a feed using google.feeds.Feed, passing in the feed URL, setting any values on it (e.g. the mode to use, how many entries you want in the result size, etc.), and then calling load(callback). The callback allows the API to grab the feed asynchronously, and holds the result itself. Here is an example from RSS Bling that loads a feed and shows the entries in the main window: I am really looking forward to seeing how the API is used. For more infomation you can visit the Ajax Feed API home or check out the FAQ.

The initial Google Reader launched to mixed reviews. Google has learnt from some of the critisism and has launched a new beta that has many changes:

• Expanded view and list view
• Simplified sharing functionality
• Improved read-state management
• Infinite scrolling
• Unread counts
• Mark all as read
• and a bunch more…

The list view stands out, as it shows how Google Reader could merge with GMail in the future (Yahoo! Mail has integrated RSS already). This makes sense to me, as what is the difference between the two? Subscribing to an RSS feed is pretty similar to subscribing to a mailing list. Coverage:

• New-look Google Reader Is Stunning!
• Google Unveils Big RSS Reader Upgrade
• Google Reader steps it up with new version

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg just published an open letter to users apologizing for the privacy problems around the new News Feed and Mini Feed features (see Facebook’s Facelift). Zuckerberg says they were trying to provide members with a stream of information about their social lives, but failed to give enough control of these features. He also points out that Facebook’s aim is to help people share information, as well as having control of that information. Facebook’s extensive privacy settings, says Zuckerberg, are part of that mission: We really messed this one up. When we launched News Feed and Mini-Feed we were trying to provide you with a stream of information about your social world. Instead, we did a bad job of explaining what the new features were and an even worse job of giving you control of them. I’d like to try to correct those errors now. As a result, Facebook have added more advanced privacy controls for the News Feed feature, as many expected they would. The new controls allow you to decide which types of stories go into your Mini-Feed and your friends’ News Feeds. The feature also lists the actions that Facebook will never inform your friends about. You can, for instance, remove profile information, photo comments, group discussions, wall posts, added friends, and your relationship status from both of the feeds. The Mini Feed also allows the removal of time stamps. And in the name of open discussion, Zuckerberg and the team will drop in to a group called “Free Flow of Information on the Internet” at 4pm EST tomorrow - they’re inviting Facebook users to join them. Will this be enough to reverse the Facebook backlash? I don’t think so. Facebook should have simply provided an “off” switch for the feature, allowing you to disable the feeds completely. Instead, they’ve just added more confusing privacy controls that you’ll need to tweak. Opposition groups like “Students against Facebook News Feed” might declare a small victory, but I don’t think this battle is over yet. (hat tip to Adam)