Archive for the ‘entrepreneurs’ Category
May 1, 2008
I haven’t actually used Iceberg yet but have been keeping an eye on it and staying apprised via their email list since ReadWriteWeb first published an overview last year. This week I noticed they announced a major launch and are now officially supporting all manner of free and paid user accounts.
So since my interest in Iceberg feeds into a more general interest in getting the various web platforms out there talking to one another, I asked Wayne Byrne over email for some details regarding interoperability and here are the points he shared:
- You can export any view to excel
- You can get any web app to send data into iceberg using web services
- Iceberg can make calls out to any app that has an api (like google, amazon, basecamp etc)
- Oh and since iceberg makes a regular sql server database people can integrate right into the database itself
Note that Iceberg has two “versions”, hosted and local, and I think point 4 above relates to the local Windows-only desktop version while the hosted version implements a flash-based interface for users.
With Icerberg’s ability to issue outbound requests to the web I can see some interesting possibilities for integration via the Zoho Creator API and perhaps even a possibility to use an off-line desktop application developed with Iceberg that could periodically synch with an online Zoho Creator application.
Once I get familiar with the flash interface and can actually develop something that works I’ll try to post a simple demo illustrating integration with ZC.
March 13, 2008
With this, my first post, I want to invite our readers to comment and vote on an idea we’ve been kicking around here - that of starting the Zoho Creator Depot (ZCD). As we currently envision it, ZCD would be a good destination if you’ve made up your mind about Zoho Creator as your platform of choice to deploy an application and you’re searching for tools, materials and advise or development help .
The ZCD would include:
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A gallery of production-quality ZC components and applications.
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Documented Case Studies and Success Stories.
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A list of ZC developers and consultants, with their credentials and areas of expertise.
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A knowledge base of different topics that apply to ZC.
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Frameworks for developing or deploying mash-ups with Zoho Creator
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A simple way to purchase previously developed components, applications or development services.
As a client of ZCD services, you could resell the application or component and recover part of your original investment. If you sell it multiple times you could conceivably make some money too. And if you’re a developer, ZCD would be a way to connect with your potential clients.
I’m just borrowing ideas from brick-and-mortar places I find useful, like Home Depot, the Weaver Street Market and Play it Again Sports. If there is enough intest in this we’ll go ahead and build some ZC forms, get a Zoho Wiki started and see where this takes us.
February 18, 2008
We’re starting up a list of folks who want to advertise their Zoho Creator skills to potential clients. Just contact me and I’ll add your info to the the page.
December 20, 2007
Awhile back someone in the Zoho Creator forum asked how to best design a ZC application and I wrote back to the effect that since there isn’t much design involved, it’s best just to suffer through the documentation and play with the interface until you get something close to what you thought you wanted. I’ll now amend that sentiment slightly by stating that it can’t hurt at least to try and write Deluge code that does not induce nausea.
Version 0.01 of Zyndafeed used a kludgy series of shows and hides in conjunction with 50 statically defined form fields to support up to 50 photo uploads. This worked OK from the outside but the implementation is embarrassing and in any case prompting the user with the option to fill out up to 50 text fields on one page is probably ridiculous in the first place.
Version 0.02 takes a different approach (and reduces signficantly the size of our Deluge script) by providing a separate form devoted to image uploads. A one-listing-to-many-photos relationship is established by inserting a listing’s unique_id as a non-unique identifier for rows in the Photos table. When it comes time to generate the feed, any image in the Photos table with a listing id that matches a listing’s unique id gets appended as a a child node. With this change not only are we providing Ted and the BuggyRocket customers with more flexibility (remember that we need to support at least 25 uploads per listing) but we’re also adhering closer to the DRY principle.
Design considerations when hacking out a Zoho application? It can’t hurt. In any case we’ll see what Mark thinks of this new version when he gets a chance to try it out and reply. Some ideas for more features include a monolithic view of listing data instead of views spread over 5 separate screens and some useful filters on whatever views are in place.
November 19, 2007
This is the third post in a series detailing a real-world example of using Zoho Creator as a small business software platform. If you’re interested in catching up, here are the previous posts:
False Assumptions
When we last left Ted, we said the next step was to publish a prototype that would let him enter a customer’s real estate listing and automatically post it to Google Base once it was ready. And a few days later in a tangentially related post about ZCrIS, I mentioned we’d be throwing ZCrIS into the mix of technologies for this case study. As it turns out both of those statements were lies, lies, lies.
We’re actually going to use Oodle instead of Google Base in our example because Oodle’s feed requirements are much simpler, allowing us keep our focus on Zoho Creator instead of Google Base’s API and relatively complex feed requirements. Furthermore we won’t need ZCrIS because as it turns out Oodle will actually come and get our XML feed from us (after we email them to tell them about it), instead of us having to submit it to them. It took a few iterations before this simple approach became apparent but our prototype in its current state is both fairly straightforward and entirely self-contained within a Zoho Creator application.
Meet Zoodle
The current prototype, nicknamed Zoodle, includes a couple unique features:
- A multi-part form: We break up one long record of real estate listing data into four smaller forms. Contrast this approach with the proto-prototype that implemented one big form.
- A custom XML feed: Oodle requires its users to submit a feed using its own custom format. We manage to export a feed that matches this format directly from Zoho Creator.
We provided a diagram depicting a high-level take on the BuggyRocket customer service process in an earlier post, but let’s look at a slightly modified version that shows how the Zoodle-to-Oodle interaction fits in:
Zoodle will let Ted enter the listing data he gets from a BuggyRocket customer as it becomes available and only publish it for Oodle to pick up once it’s complete. Other features include:
- Listing detail page: Although it’s not the slickest looking thing in the world, we do manage to provide a “detail page” served directly from Zoodle. We also provide an image URL in the same fashion.
- Private application with some public pages: Ted’s use of Zoodle requires his authentication but the detail page, image URL, and Oodle XML feed are all publicly available on the web.
- Gradual approach to form completion: Through the use of several forms that are attached to the main “Essentials” form, Ted can easily fill out the parts of a real estate listing that he currently has data for and come back to finish the rest at any time before publishing.
- Republishing: Data can be edited, overwritten, and republished at any time.
Given our current understanding of the business need, Zoodle is probably OK as a conversation starter for enabling BuggyRocket’s information system. But we can’t rest on our laurels, Zoodle is only intended as a prototype so Mark can check in with our efforts and see where we need to go from here. Look for Mark’s comments on this very subject in an upcoming post.
October 27, 2007
As we press ahead toward Web 3.0 it’s becoming more evident to me that there are vast segments of the population that are not riding the technology wave. They are still Web 1.0 or even Web No Point O. BuggyRocket will be the bridge to allow the offline seller to present their major asset, eg. Real Estate, Vehicle, Collectible, to the online world without having to be online themselves.
I’ve used Zoho Creator for form creation before and in reading the documentation a few months ago, it occurred to me that there’s something very powerful here! However, I don’t have the time, or really much interest in learning Deluge scripting to take advantage of it. My wish list is pretty big and there are some application tools that I would like to integrate into BuggyRocket that I hope can be accomplished with Zoho Creator and the Zoho Suite of applications. After contacting Zoho to see if they could recommend a “guru”, Raffic suggested I contact Pete Thomas. Thankfully I did because I’ve discovered that Zoho Creator can do everything and more that I imagined. Plus, Pete has already demonstrated his expertise with ZC for me on a contract basis.
Since my target market is primarily offline, I don’t want to invest a lot of time and money into a state of the art DB and flash-based, ajaxy kind of site. My audience, if they have a computer, is often on dial-up. These prospects are serviced through traditional mail, fax and phone, not email. But my telephone CSR’s need to be online to simplify the process. And, I need a strong site for prospective customers who are online. Folks who aren’t fearful of technology and want Web 2.0 functionality. So, I need to be able to consummate the transaction online from start to finish. ZC should allow me to accomplish this, I think.
Needing to serve the customer from all ends of the technology spectrum is the biggest hurdle. I personally am an early adopter, but my customers are late adopters - at best, or orphans (if you use the adoption analogy). The way that obstacle is addressed, is by providing human beings to answer the phone - the good old fashioned way. Humans cost money and having a lot of CSR’s could really cut into our profit margins, but my hope is that I could create a backend consisting of a series of detailed ZC forms that would be utilized to allow a CSR to efficiently input the data, build the database, and process payment. Then ultimately, convert the data into an XML feed or other script to greatly simplify my listing and design process.
That’s a simplified vision of how I’d like Pete, Alan and Doug show me, as an entrepreneur, how to get the most out of Zoho Creator. I’m eagerly looking forward to seeing what really can be done with this powerful application and appreciate the opportunity to be here in the Land of Zoho Creator!
October 24, 2007
I’m excited to give an LoZC welcome to Mark Galloway and his young company, BuggyRocket. I was introduced to Mark a few months ago when he needed a little contract work performed on his site and at some point during our discussions he foolishl^H^H^Hbravely agreed to be one of LoZC’s entrepreneurial guinea pigs. Wish him luck…
BuggyRocket’s mission statement is Harnessing the Power of the Internet Marketplace for Everyone Else!
If you visit the site you’ll see that BuggyRocket is focusing on the “65 million Americans at least 18 or over do not have an email address” but what’s most exciting to us here at LoZC is that we’re actually going to be working with Mark over the coming months to explore how Zoho Creator can help BuggyRocket fulfill its mission.
This will be a “trial by fire” approach to seeing if and what Zoho Creator can deliver to a single small business; we’ll get each application online as soon as Mark OKs it.
You might be thinking, How is Zoho Creator going to help a business focusing on people who are offline?, and it’s a good question. We’ll let Mark explain. 
Mark is going to be an occasional guest contributor to LoZC as well; look for an upcoming post from him that delves into more detail about how BuggyRocket is interested in leveraging Zoho Creator and what he hopes LoZC can help him accomplish. As we go along and Mark finds time, he’ll hopefully be able to provide some status updates from his perspectve.
Welcome, Mark!
