Wyaworks

Google Wins Again

2007-08-02T12:37:00.000-07:00

The AJAX desktop space is as competitive as can be. WyaWidget was working hard at staying compatible with the 3 leaders (iGoogle, NetVibes, Pageflakes). So far this has not been an easy task. When WyaWidget was first launched it targeted iGoogle, but iGoogle was pretty plain and unable to share tabs. Netvibes was probably the nicest, but that was before some upgrades and it was running slow. It seemed the easiest and best place WyaWidget fit in was with Pageflakes. At that time Pageflakes was simple & easy, clean & fast, and made their features such as sharing tabs easy for everyone.

Well, time has passed... Pageflakes has released Blizzard... things don't work the same as they use it... Until the bugs are worked out, Pageflakes is no longer a WyaWidget favorite... in fact even the Add To Pageflakes button from our website doesn't work right anymore...(if you use IE) you have to setup pageflakes as a trusted domain before adding it (yuk). Netvibes has become a lot better and I believe when they get the kinks worked out of the UWA (universal widget api), that it will be even better. Not sure if I would prefer it to iGoogle, but to WyaWidget it's an obvious victor - iGoogle.

Google has come a long way with iGoogle. The major reason of WyaWidget's devotion, it remains consistent and working! The APIs aren't all of the sudden broken! Besides the wonderful consistency, they've advanced in both aesthetics and functionality. Probably the most important advancement is the Share the Tabs feature... and once again Google seems to do it the best. In conclusion, you can still pick your poison to place WyaWidget, but if you give them all a try, it's probably going to end up being the same place you continue to search.

New Features For WyaWorks

2007-07-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

Over the last several months WyaWorks has been silently gaining a plethora of new features. The first of which is a better look and feel. The user desktops have been tuned up for a more pleasant experience, helpful hints on every screen (the full manual and training packages will be coming soon), the ability to edit all your app widgets without taking the the app offline, new reports engine, and the overall look of WyaWorks and the apps it produces are much more eye pleasing.

Triggered actions were added to both WyaWorks and WyaWidget which allow for easy to setup triggers and actions for added functionality of your WyaWorks applications. Of course, WyaWorks has always had command widgets to setup complex functionality amongst teams, but the triggered actions are easy to setup, non-team specific functionality that can manipulate data or send emails across all your apps. The triggered actions fire no matter where the data is inserted/updated/or deleted, whether it be from the application used in the WyaWorks environment, run on it's own, or a WyaWidget posted anywhere on the web or sent in an email.

Along with a lot of fine tuning a few of the other noted features added to WyaWorks are: A new field type of CHECKBOX which was long overdue. The ability to add HTML LABELS to every screen widget is now easier than ever. So you're no longer stuck using the names you give to the fields and can setup easy survey's and questionaires. A VISUAL FLOW CHART for your widgets can now be viewed to see a blue print of how and where the widget will flow. So now not only can you read USE CASE documentation generated for your application to see how it will function, you can get visual representations of your widgets...

WyaWidget Now Has Triggered Actions

2007-06-09T13:57:00.000-07:00

After creating simple forms and databases using WyaWidget, you now have the ability to add some real functionality. Although functionality has always been an option using WyaWorks, admittedly it takes some real know how to get your app functioning the way you want. WyaWidget was designed with the hopes that anyone could build simple databases, enter/search/view information, share/publish their creations, tap into relational capabilities by connecting widgets, and do it all from your favorite AJAX desktop. Well now another piece to the puzzle has been added, triggered actions.

Triggered Actions can amp up your widgets with ease. First you just add a trigger (New Record, Updated Record, Deleted Record, or a Prompt Link - which creates a link to prompt a user). Next you pick which fields from your widget you would like to both set conditions to fire the trigger and pass the parameter values into the action. Finally you set the actions to be put in place when the trigger is fired. Send emails or create data actions which allows you to manipulate the data of the widget, or any of your widgets. With just a little practice you can really make your widgets work for you.

WyaWidget + Pageflakes = Easy Custom Systems

2007-04-16T11:40:00.000-07:00

After porting WyaWidget to Pageflakes we realized that it can be even easier than we thought to create custom systems to meet your needs. Not only does Pageflakes create a great looking easy to use environment, but it also is very fast and flows smoothly. Pageflakes is ideal for WyaWidget because it allows us to put the power in place to easily publish flakes created in WyaWidget (on your Pageflakes desktop) and then share the pages to the public or to a team. Therefore creating mini-systems (CRM, PM, HR...) can again be created in no time, but then sharing that system in Pageflakes to your team members is extremely easy as well.

A whole lot of features have been added over the last couple of weeks to WyaWidget including (related records & show only abilities, advanced publishing options, security layer, interface clean up...). Not only is it easy and fun to create your custom gadgets/modules/flakes, but the power these published widgets/pages can pack is enormous.

WyaWidget - UWA leads to a higher GPA

2007-04-04T06:53:00.000-07:00

The UWA - Universal Widget API ability now added to the WyaWorks Widget Creator has opened the door to all kinds of possibilities. First of all the raw power of being able to share complete pages now instead of just widgets grows this exponentially. For example... you can now add the Widget Creator to say Netvibes... build some project management widgets that make complete sense for you and your team(s)... post the widgets to a Page on your desktop that makes sense... then share that page with your team(s). All they have to do is click on the link you sent them and the page with all the created project management widgets are placed instantly on their desktop. Now instead of just sharing widgets you can share complete systems.

Of course there are other benefits of UWA as well. In theory when other platforms incorporate UWA you should be able to post your widgets anywhere. Right now you can download the UWA widget to your Apple Dashboard and paste in the url of your created widget (or WyaWidget - the actual widget creator) and run them from there. The thought of empowering non-programmers with the ability to create widgets (interconnecting to form systems) in the environment of their choice, share them with whom they want, and allow themselves and their team(s) to operate from where they want is now a reality. Not to mention all the other little things individuals can do with the ability to create their own widgets to share: to do lists, shopping lists, training schedules, diet information, party invitations, ....

If you'd like to give it a try just go to Realtime Apps - watch the demo video, paste it where you want...

Thanks for all the mentions of WyaWidget so far in the blogging world. We appreciate it:
Squash
Googlified
Google Blogoscoped

Google CRM In 5 Flat

2007-03-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

To put the new WyaWorks: WyaWidget - Google Widget Creator to the test we decided that the most common use for Online Development Environments are CRM systems... So we did one using the new WyaWorks - Google Widget Creator... some of us even took it a step farther and created a tab for CRM, HR, PM...

Here is a video showing how you can create your own simple CRM in 5 flat: DEMO

It's pretty nifty because you can also use Google Page Creator to create custom pages for people to contact you... all you do is paste in the code from the Publish portion of WyaWidget and the Page is almost instantly ready... then you can direct customers there... at the end of the video clip shows us doing that to capture Leads..

You can put the new gadget on your home page and start playing around if you like:

This is turning out to be a pretty fun Gadget for us... and with all the new improvements with Google Home Page it is turning out quite nicely. Started playing around with the Google Themes last night and I really like them.

I'm sure if the Gadget gets some traction we'll move it to other ecosystems as well such NetVibes...

Google Widget Creator

2007-03-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a while since posting so I thought it was overdue. I'm going to start posting at least once a week. So what is new with WyaWorks? Lot's of things but let me start with:

WyaWidget - Google Widget Creator!
So what can it do? Well it creates widgets of course. Tried this approach nearly a year ago with WyaCracker and although we got a lot of very good (and bad) feedback... never really felt comfortable with taking it out of beta. Mainly because of the IDE... seemed people didn't like the flashy red Non Web 2.0 look... So now we are going to try something a little different. Make your Google Home Page the IDE and then allow you to publish your widgets that you create to your home page and others. This way mini google widgets can be created with ease allowing others to share in your joy.

Technical upside of things... the reason we are going with this approach is to test out WyaWorks very extensive WidgetAPI... so in theory with it you can create your own IDE using the WyaWorks engine (if you like all that coding stuff).

What else is new you ask? WyaBase! This is very interesting to me because Freebase just got a lot of good publicity - especially by Tim O'Reilly... Anyhow WyaBase had incorporated many of those Semantic Web beliefs in the fact that if you cross a bunch of data it will build it's own correlation to other data... I think it's pretty neat although it still might not be implemented in the most intuitive of ways. But nonetheless give it a try and let us know. The cool thing is the WyaBase WIKIs... there you can actually add EDIT fields to your WIKIs with the click of a button and use the WIKI to gather data into your WyaBase.

Still more, well it has been a year. WyaWorks has gotten a lot more features (More Extensive IDE, XML Power * 2, WyaSQL, Generated Use Cases...) and probably a lot more complicated as well. It is extremely powerful and will allow a person with general programming knowlege and Training in WyaWorks to develop some pretty powerful things. It is still what supports the company... consulting projects done in WyaWorks because they can be done so much more efficiently than the traditional ways with the flexibility to really let things be customized if need be. The XML backend is extremely powerful.

Well that's all for now... have to save stuff for the next one. In the meantime please give the Google Widget Creator a try... and send any feedback to questions@realtimeapps.com !!

Wyaworks buzz

2006-04-30T20:46:00.000-07:00

We've been lucky enough to get some nice buzz from around the blogosphere, which we thought we'd share with you...

Wyaworks - App Builder for Non-Coders
"I really like applications like this that perform a task that is easy for coders but hopelesly complex for non-coders. I hope they give the site a redesign to allow the underlying application to shine, and I’m looking forward to future product releases."
Mike Arrington, TechCrunch

Wyaworks unveiled
"Ah, but the beauty of the WyaCracker system is that the data from that form is sent to WyaCracker's database (which is MySQL) and stored there for private (or public, I think) access. Effectively, WyaCracker allows you to create database tables from scratch with all the fields set up automatically, and then enables anyone to use HTML forms to enter data into those tables... without anyone in the process having to know anything about database management."
Paul Montgomery, Tinfinger

WyaCracker turns your blog into a custom application
"WyaCracker provides the environment you need to create database driven forms and tools in a drag and drop environment. It’s the next generation blogging tool which goes beyond traditional plugins and creates endless possibilities for blog owners requiring power, agility and customised forms... Don’t be fooled by the simple website design - WyaWorkss delivering the next generation of tools to turn your blog into a simple, powerful framework for custom applications."
Andy Howard, Andy Howard blog

Other mentions:
SquatCrunch, Zoli's Blog, De Gardener

If you've blogged or written about Wyaworks and we've missed it, please let us know and we'll include it here.

Wyaworks on it's wyaway

2006-04-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

Well Wyawork's first product is out in the wild with the launch and public reception of Wyacracker. After getting some attention on Techcrunch and Squash we have a good chunk of beta users and we're really pleased with the feedback we're getting.

Thanks to all the beta users for giving Wyacracker a try. We'll open up the beta to all fairly shortly and our intention is for the service to always be free. So go ahead and use it to build whatever Widgets you can imagine. Wyacracker isn't going anywhere.

The reason we don't need to charge for Wyacracker, is because this isn't our main game. Behind Wyacracker is a whole, different world of functionality that is the Wyaworks platform and that's where we're focused on right now. A lot of the feedback, we're getting we're already using in the way that we build out Wyaworks and then it will flow down into Wyacracker.

Thankfully, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive - besides for some who haven't even seemed to have looked at the product. We realize there are issues with the design and we may have been too blunt with the colors. We are working on it. It is strongly noted that before the beta release of wyaworks there will be much more emphasis focused on a pastel friendly, full screen design. However, with that said it seems the core functionality is doing what we wanted it to do. From the hundreds of emails we recieved, it seems as if this might fill a need we thought existed. It gives us great encouragement that we are on the right track for wyaworks.

There is a blog setup for beta issues which I will be posting to: WyacrackerBetaIssues.blogspot.com. It has also been setup for an email post address for beta users to post their issues with as well. Email me at beta@wyacracker.com if you would like to be a part of the posting and I will send you the email address.

Also, if you feel you've done something cool in wyacracker and would like to make your application a template let me know and we will do so. Also, if you would like to post it on our example blog let me know and I will email you the email address to post to.

Thanks again to everyone for trying, using, and blogging!

Welcome To Wyaworks

2006-04-19T06:58:00.000-07:00

Let me introduce you to Wyaworks

Our mission is quite simple. Wyaworks aims to do for web development what blogging has done for publishing.

That is we want any Internet user to be able to build or customize web applications that do exactly what they want it to do. We want people to be able to make the Internet work the way that they want it to work.

In order to do so, we need to give people a way to build applications that are ridiculously simple and easy. Point and click. Drag and drop. Applications in minutes not months.

How do we do this? Wyaworks is a widget-based development environment. Wyaworks enables you to quickly and easily build application widgets to collect information, display information, manipulate information and then drag and drop those widgets onto a page to piece together what can be very, powerful Web applications. Furthermore, we want users to then be able to pull apart applications, dismantle and then reassemble them so that they customize the application to work exactly the way they want it to.

If Read/Write is Web 2.0, Wyaworks believes that Build/Rebuild is going to be Web 2.5. The Internet needs to learn to work the way the user wants it to work, rather than asking the user to learn to work as has been dictated to them by the software developer.

Our first toe in the water is an online service we've called WyaCracker. WyaCracker is a Widget builder. It allows anyone to build simple widgets or mini-applications that they can email, paste into their blog or plug into their home page. Need to take a quick poll of a group – build a form, press the email button and then log into WyaCracker to view and manage the responses. Want to announce a new event on your plug? Plug in an RSVP widget and start collecting registrations without any pain or hassle. Want a guest book for your home page? With WyaCracker you can create one, in any style or in any form you like, in minutes. Want to spruce up your MySpace page? Your only limit is your imagination.

WyaCracker in many ways is a proof-of-concept product. We want people to start thinking about how they can do things more effectively by building Widgets or applications, rather than manualy collecting and collating data via email or paper forms. We've focused the initial release of WyaCracker on enabling people to build data collection Widgets because that's where we think the biggest gap in the market is. As we build out WyaCracker we'll enable users to create more display-oriented Widgets that use data that may be pulled in from an RSS feed or other means. But right now, we want to keep things very simple and let the user community direct our development. Nobody has yet brought application development to the wider Internet community and we recognize that in order to do this, we need to listen to ordinary Internet users and really, understand how they might approach Widget making. Our initial market research indicates that we needed to create something that was bright, fun and simple. Please tell us if we've succeeded or what we need to fix or do better.

What is unique about the Wyaworks platform is the same system that enables one to build these very simple WyaCracker Widgets has already been used to build mission critical or complex applications for companies as large as Boeing. Wyaworks is a start-up in so much as we're starting with a new brand, strategy and vision but the technology that underpins Wyaworks is not new. Originally called WyaNet, this platform creates fully-fledged SQL-based, J2EE-compliant applications that can be plugged and ported anywhere. There's no lock-in.

We like to say that our goal is to enable your Mom to build an application but if your mom just happens to be a certified J2EE software architect then all the better.

This unique facet of the Wyaworks platform has enabled us to develop a patent-pending, secure Intranet-in-a-box device called WyaWall. A company simply plugs the WyaWall device into their network and they can immediately start making use of the WyaNet suite of pre-built Intranet applications that sits behind their firewall and which then can be simply and easily customized to suit individual requirements.

WyaWorks believes this will be huge to value-added resellers who can build their own vertical applications simply and easily on Wyaworks, run them on a WyaWall device and then offer their clients a complete plug-and-work, customized Intranet solution. What can be simpler for both service provider or customer?

So don't let WyaCracker fool you. This is no Web 2.0 built-to-flip pretender. We believe we can take this baby all the way. Wyaworks is disruptive. Wyaworks can be game-changing. And behind it all is real technology and a real revenue model.

Welcome to the WyaWay.