Content Management Matters ™

Standards, standards and more standards...This time we bring you news from the W3C Web API Working Group. They have published their Working Draft of "Progress Events 1.0".

Progress Events are event types used to monitor the progress of an operation. If you develop applications using XMLHTTPRequest or Media Access Events, then you need to understand how the progress events are being defined.

Blogging has certainly held its own as a popular social media platform, so it's no surprise that new blogging sites are popping up left and right. Add Profy to the list. Well into the second week of its alpha launch, Profy's integrated solution supports a full range of advanced AJAX blogging applications.

Forrester has released a list of 10 reasons why Apple's iPhone is no friend to IT.

You can probably think of a few already: the prohibitive cost, the first-gen factor, and fidelity to AT&T.

CEO Sridhar Vembu of Zoho wrote an interesting article about why the Zoho suite is AJAX-rich as opposed to Flash-heavy. For those of you who still think AJAX killed the info-architect, it makes for nice reading.

Vembu prefaces the post by stating Flash is a great tool for other stuff (like ToonDoo, par exemple). But for the Zoho suite, the flexible nature of Javascript simply serves users better.

The boffins at the W3C, locked in their dank MIT dungeon, have nothing better to do with their time than rattle off paper after paper on new development protocols.

The more they put out, so it is said, the less Tim Berners-Lee flogs them.

One Web, where content from a given domain will be accessible to any device, where one version of an application works everywhere, and where mobile content dominates in as little as five years.

The rumors are true: comment box-modding is now an industry.

JS-Kit has just released a new Comments widget that boasts lots of important features but is disturbingly easy to implement and use. (Seriously. Try it here.)

At no cost and with no advertising, users of JS-Kit Comments can:

• Monitor threads
• Create RSS data feeds to track comments. This also empowers search engines to index them
• Sort comments based on name, date and "karma" (based on user votes)

The feature doesn't cause laggage and comments materialize instantly, even without the whole-page twitch that typically happens when a site is over-AJAXed.

After trying out Comments we started checking out JS-Kit's other widgets. They include, Ratings, Top Rated and Polls -- all sound CRM tools with a professional veneer. Just pop the HTML into your site.

It's amateur-easy.

We've done a lot of talking about the democratic benefits of the 'net. Because it's so easy to become a web publisher, everybody's got a soapbox, right?

But what can web two-dot-oh do for opinionated people who don't blog and have no intention to start?

coComment may answer that question.

VYRE, the developer of leading-edge content management platform VYRE Unify, announces the release of version 4.3.1. The new version is an update to its enterprise class web platform and includes features such as bulk editing, an import module, and AJAX functionality.

Bridgeline Software has announced the release of its iAPPS® Content Manager, which is the premiere product in a set of four solutions on the iAPPS® Framework.

iAPPS® Content Manager is also the first web CMS product intended specifically to address analytics, ecommerce and emarketing needs surrounding web applications.

The solution marries a straightforward "desktop" interface to SaaS flexibility, meaning it can be as personal or as remote as you want it to be. Indeed, the Framework can even be licensed for use in dedicated locations, according to CNN Money.

No fresh offering is really an offering without AJAX: Content Manager's controls make generous use of it, making the interface robust and easy to use. Desktop-esque conventions also make the solution fully customizable and as personal as each user's needs and skill-set.

Now even citizen bloggers can get all Web 2.0'ed out. MT-Hacks, a resource for all your eyebrow-raising Movable Type plugin needs, has just launched an AJAX-powered comments system. It is called Ajax Comments.

Even if Microsoft can't completely get its act together when it comes to virtualization (cough-cough-Viridian), aficionados who see a niche to fill may still save the day.

Yesterday, and to raucous applause on our end, Michael Robertson launched ajaxWindows.

Imagine having your desktop -- no, your entire computer -- fully-functional and accessible from any system (Mac, Microsoft or Linux) and any browser.

Who doesn't love AJAX? It alters a site's content without users having to reload. It's rendered the pageview virtually worthless, inspiring Nielsen/BuzzMetrics to pursue a time-based site tracking model for calculating the popularity of sites. And in many ways, its availability is one manner of gauging the hip-with-it-ness of a site.

As with any snazzy and hype-ridden new technology, there is reason to take caution.

Joining Zimbra, Zoho and a web based office suite from a little ole Google; ShareMethods is the latest player in the effort to move the office suite from the desktop to the web.

Modera, an up and coming European Web CMS provider, has announced their latest core product release and the availability of a new Pro version of their CMS. The heavy focus is usability via AJAX with a touch of SEO for good measure.