Sniff browser history for improved user experience

The social web has filled our websites with too much third-party clutter as we figure out the best way to integrate content with the favorite sites and preferences of our visitors. Intelligent websites should tune-in to the content preferences of their visitors, tailoring a specific experience based on each visitor’s favorite sites and services across the social web. In this post I will teach you how to mine the rich treasure trove of personalization data sitting inside your visitor’s browser history for deep personalization experiences.

Data interchange for the social web

Data portability is only useful if outside systems can comprehend the exported data. Well-described and interoperable data sets open new possibilities for context-aware social applications, importing your friends, photos, or genetic markup from an existing system into your current tool of choice. In this post I will discuss website best practices for exporting portable, descriptive data sets in the name of data portability.

Data Portability, Authentication, and Authorization

In this post I will take a deeper look at the current best practices of the social Web from the point of view of its major data hubs. We will take a detailed look at the right and wrong ways to request user data from social hubs large and small, and outline some action items for developers and business people interested in data portability and interoperability done right.

Windows Vista Gadgets

Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system includes support for widgets on every desktop. Windows widgets are permanently docked in a sidebar, providing up-to-date information and easy access to small tasks throughout the day. In this article I will walk you through the major components of a Windows Vista Sidebar gadget including major differentiating features, best practices, and tips for widget packaging and distribution.

Widget Basics

The total number of widget platforms and deployment options intimidate many newcomers. Each platform offers a unique audience and features, but widget basics remain the same across Windows Vista, Nokia S60, Google, MySpace. and more. In this post I will outline the basic components of a widget including static assets, user preferences, processing remote data, and rendering your final widget.

Widget Summit schedule complete

The Widget Summit schedule is now complete, and I am pretty happy with the results. My goal for the conference is to provide two days of intensive education about the current state of the widget industry and share best practices with the many new publishers entering the space. This year’s conference spans two days, October 15-16, covering both the business and implementation of widgets. I will share some of my speaker notes before the conference, but first let’s take a look at some of the overarching themes of Widget Summit.