Ajaxified!

The subscriptions page has been ajaxified! You can now move subscriptions, display more or fewer subscriptions, create folders, rename folders, delete folders, unsubscribe, and check for updates without an annoying page refresh. And it looks great. Thank you, ajax! Perhaps most importantly, this little exercise has taught me, after several years of merely tolerating JavaScript, that the language actually does have some redeeming qualities. I've learned to appreciate the wild, wild west that is JavaScript development. I will probably add some other minor ajax features to other pages as well in the near future.

Still working on AJAX

Still working on the AJAX stuff! Whew, learning new stuff takes a little longer than I expected. I'd say I'm about half-way done. This stuff is hairy too--there are portions that I have rewritten 5 times, just from discovering better and more efficient ways to do the same thing. The only thing I can really complain about is the lack of a good development environment for JavaScript. Browser error messages like IE's "Unknown Runtime Error" can test your patience!

Adding AJAX features

I'm currently adding AJAX functionality to the show subscriptions page, so that users' subscription lists will update automatically in the browser when a new subscription is added or a current one updates. This is my first foray into AJAX, so it promises to be interesting...

Welcome!

Welcome to Subscribable! This is an example of the sort of content that you can subscribe to using your Subscribable account. You can also subscribe to private content, like conversations, photos, and videos, with much more on the way. Since you're new to Subscribable, take a look around your account and let me know if there's anything your are curious or confused about by leaving a comment here. I'll try to help you however I can. Happy subscribing!

What's in a name?

I've decided to rename the site Subscribable, which actually was the original name of this project. I switched it to Inbox2 on a whim about a month ago, in the hopes that it would provide non-techies with a clearer picture of what the system does, just by hearing the name alone. But the helpful feedback of users has made me realize that while it does a respectable job of this, it's just too much of a departure from how the site works. Subscribing is what this site is all about. It has nothing to do with email or inboxes. And while the new name's vagueness instantly puts it out of reach of the general population, that doesn't really matter, because those folks wouldn't be interested in it anyhow. New technology like this has to earn it's worth in the techie population. And techies don't like confusing names, especially ones chosen for their marketibility alone. And that's the reason why I've renamed it.

Running around

Spent the past week moving to Texas and then visiting Kansas for family matters. Will be back working on the developer section again by Monday...

Developer Info

Been working on the "developer" section of the site, adding info for folks who want to create Content Provider apps for the platform. The Content Provider API isn't as clean or simple as I would like, but it is capable of a lot of things that wouldn't be possible with something more simple. So I've been throwing together some documentation for those folks, as well as a sample application to help them get started. The sample app contains some really useful stuff, and I've open sourced it under the BSD License. So developers who want to make Content Providers will have good head start. They can reuse big portions of the sample app in their own implementations without having to worry about licensing restrictions, whether their app is proprietary or open source. Hoorah for open source!