meOwns Web Widget: Truly Web 2.0

There has always been a debate about the definition of the term "Web 2.0". Back in 2004, Tim O'Reilly first introduced the term "Web 2.0" as the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform. However, since then, the term "Web 2.0" has gained new dimensions. In another common point of view, Web 2.0 applications are observed in terms of usability; how close does a web application's usability and performance approach those of desktop applications. Regarding both definitions, meOwns is truly Web 2.0.

meOwns web widget, It's all in

meOwns widget can be considered as a perfect example of packing a maximal set of features in a minimal screen space, at the same time that usability and performance are given the top priority. The user interface is intuitive and almost everything is done in place without leaving the current web page. The widget owner can manage his collections from within the widget. He can add, edit and delete collections and items, and even upload pictures to items through the easy to use widget interface. Anybody else can view the widget and play around with it, and will be only required to log in (in place) when taking certain actions.

Talking technical

The meOwn widget is indeed an HTML iframe element that refers to a user-specific url within meOwns website. Feel free to view the frame source, and to your surprise, you'll see that the source HTML is almost nothing. The reason is that the widget contents is totally managed using JavaScript. The server side of the application is modelled as a uniform REST web service. The widget client side extensively relies on JavaScript to consume the application's REST resources in a JSON representation. Then the JSON representation of the resources is evaluated into JavaScript objects, which are used to update the view of the widget HTML.

meOwns web widget adopts the priciple of Web 2.0 in both senses:

• Users collaboration: all of the application data is supplied by users. The main target of the application is to enhance blogging and social networking experience.
• Usability and performance: The widget interface and usability is closest to desktop applications. Performance is enhanced to its maximum by extensive use of caching and minimizing trips to the server. Server requests are not made except for committing updates, with minimal request and response sizes for bandwidth optimization.

Tools

Let's take a look at the main tools used in the development of meOwns. The server side of the application is deveolped using the magnificent Ruby on Rails. As mentioned before, the sever side is developed as a unifom REST web service that can be consumed by multiple clients in different representations. The client side of the application is mainly developed using JavaScript, along with a set of mini-tools that fit right in. Prototype Ajax is used for server requests that consume the REST resources in a JSON representation. Then the views updates are done using a great client-side templating invention called "JavaScript Templates". JavaScript objects that are evaluated from the retrieved JSON is used to evaluate JavaScript templates into pure HTML that's directly used in the view update. To me, being a part of meOwns development team was a great opportunity to work with this set of bleeding-edge technology tools.

meOwns: Your Personal Property.. Your Personal Figure

People spend hours customizing their personal web pages, blogs and social network profiles. When you're customizing your personal page, you're actually personalizing it. Your target is to make it match your personality as much as you can. In other words, you're actually building your web personal figure. You express yourself through your pictures, your thoughts and other stuff that people can know you through.

One of things that can help you build your personal figure is your personal belongings. People that visit your page can tell what kind of person you are just by taking a look at your stuff.

What is meOwns?

meOwns is a web application that helps people complete their personal figure on their blogs, social network profiles and other personal web pages by publishing their personal collections. By creating a meOwns account, you can add your owned items and group them into collections. Then you can enhance your personal blog, social network profile or any other personal web page by adding the elegant meOwns widget to it. People that visit your page can view your meOwns collections and interact with it without any extra effort from you. You can maintain your collections using basic meOwns features from the widget, as a part of your page personalization.

What can you do with meOwns?

meOwns offers a number of friendly, owning-related features. Even if you are not a registered meOwns user, you can view others' collections and search for items and users on meOwns. However, creating your own meOwns account, you mainly can:

• maintain your collections of your owned items
• maintain your personal wish list
• add items from others' collections and wish lists to your collections and wish list
• maintain a garage sale of items you would like to sell
• request to buy items from others
• manage all this from your own personal web page

Why is meOwns worth trying?

The prime advantage you get when you decide to use meOwns is that you get most of the features in a minimal space of your personal page. You are naturally used to spend a significant amount of time on your personal web page, and you needn't change this fact. You can import meOwns to seamlessly any web page. You can enhance the look of your personal page, grab more attention and interaction to it, and let it describe you in a more fascinating way. All you have to do is create a meOwns account, customize your widget by selecting its dimensions and theme according to the place you are going to embed it in. Then you can get your widget html and add it to your page in the suitable place.

Welcome

Welcome to meOwns blog!