App's amazing, part 2
23/05/2008
What’s your favourite web app?
Social media and comms expert
Rachel Hawkes
Elemental Communications
Like most of us, I ditched bookmarks long ago for RSS readers, and I’ve since moved on to subscribing to my feeds through a customisable homepage. There are lots out there, such as My Yahoo, iGoogle, Pageflakes, Pageonce etc, but my favourite is Netvibes. I have Netvibes set as my homepage, and I use Mozilla tabs so it remains open throughout the day and it updates automatically, so I can see whenever there is a change on one of my feeds.
Netvibes serves as a gateway to my favourite and most frequented sites and I love it; it makes my life easier – and isn’t that what it’s all about? For the Social Media Portal (SMP), we write regular articles on what’s new, cool or different in the social media space and Netvibes helps me stay abreast of any recent developments.
I would say though, that what it is lacking is the integration with instant messenger and mobile that My Yahoo offers. The new upgrade to Netvibes Ginger should almost certainly have included such features – it adds the ability to stay involved and relevant in your user’s life beyond the confines of the internet. Sending me an update to my mobile phone (at no cost to me) when feeds that I’ve pre-selected to receive mobile alerts from are updated would be a personal touch that I would really appreciate.
With my charity hat on, I love what JustGiving is doing by allowing fundraisers to create widgets with their fundraising targets and plugging those into their own social networking environment (blog, network or utility alike). Great for charities and for fundraisers’ motivation.
Rachel Hawkes is an account director at Elemental Communications
Web designer
Andy Clarke
Stuff and Nonsense Ltd
Without doubt my favourite web app (Lordy, I hate that term) has to be Twitter. Twitter is an absolute phenomenon because it’s so simple, but is so many different things to different people. For me, as I work mostly on my own, Twitter is a number of things. It’s not only a way for me to keep in touch with my friends, but it’s almost even taken over from RSS. When my friends post links to interesting content, I (mostly) trust their recommendation. Best of all, Twitter is so addictive that it keeps me off the demon drink and drugs. Oh, and I’m sure it cures baldness too.
Andy is a member of the Web Standards Project, and is an ‘Invited Expert’ to the W3C’s CSS Working Group
Ecommerce specialist
Chris Barling
Actinic
I had a strange feeling when I saw this. I thought that I really ought to be able to come up with a really sexy web application, but nothing sprang to mind. Although I’ve been in the computer and web business all of my working life, I’m not an early adopter.
It’s often said that the scouts get most of the arrows. In other words, being the first usually means taking the pain and in business terms, I’m no masochist. I like solid technology that simply works. In that context, I’d select vBulletin, which we use to power our busy Actinic community. It’s easy to use, it scales to millions of messages and it doesn’t break the bank. It may not be a fashionable choice, but it does its job. So what’s there not to like?
Chris founded the well-known ecommerce software development company Actinic in 1996
Web video guru
Irfon Watkins
Coull
We’re seeing prolific growth in web applications that are bringing many uses to millions of people globally and connecting us all. So, where does one start in choosing a favourite? Working in the online advertising realm I’m drawn to innovations that spark creativity and as technology creators ourselves, we’re always interested in what’s developing in the UGC space that inspires people – video in particular.
I recently came back from webMission 2008 (webmission08.com) in San Francisco, and I’m pleased to report that along with 19 other UK technology companies, Coull held its own in the technology and web app realm and I look forward to returning next year to share more of what we do. I have a fondness for Gmail as it allows me to manage the out-of-work things that I need to, cutting a divide between personal and business life. I’m impressed with its development and the other services that Google hook into it like calendars, Google Talk, Google Docs and Sites. I am equally impressed with Google Apps initiatives, which are interesting developments from personal, academic and business perspectives. It’s just one great example of how web apps can benefit individual and business folk alike to share, learn and grow – and that’s what the web should be about. I’m still waiting for the web app that allows me to skip queues at airports, upgrades me to first class on long-haul flights and would prevent me from losing my luggage going through Terminal 5. With so many more people able to create such wonderful apps out there than ever before, maybe I won’t have to wait so long.
Ifron Watkins is CEO of Coull, a provider of online video advertising products
Web filtering specialist
Eamonn Doyle
Bloxx
The Joy of the Undiscovered – with the web now being so vast and the fickle nature of search engines that often serve up lots of non-relevant sites, I’m a big fan of Stumbleupon. Based on your personal interest and the rating and recommendations of people with similar interests, Stumbleupon serves up recommended websites to check out. I’ve found hundreds of great sites that I’d probably never have had the chance to find any other way. I’m sure there are other similar sites, but I’ve been using this for a few years now.
Eamonn Doyle is managing director of web filtering and internet blocking company Bloxx
Content specialist
Stuart Dean
Cognifide
Collaborative web tools become increasingly important for businesses and we’ve fully embraced this school of thought with great success. Cognifide works to an agile model in order to deliver projects for our clients and we use web applications to help us control this effectively.
Confluence and Jira are just two of my favourite tools that we use, and are invaluable in connecting client, development teams and other stakeholders on a per project basis. The way we communicate internally and with external parties was greatly streamlined by these two tools. As a company, we also use Skype for instant messaging, video and voice calls and it’s proved very useful – particularly as we have a team based not only in Poland and the UK but that also works from client sites.
From a personal slant, web apps that I use in my downtime include Last.fm for music and still one of my old-time favourites Netvibes, which helps me organise my feeds to keep up with what’s going on.
Stuart Dean is the CO at Cognifide, a content management service that helps its clients realise the value of the existing content
UI expert
Fazal Khan
Fortune Cookie
One of my favourite web apps is www.conceptshare.com. Conceptshare is a godsend for anyone who works with visual design, especially when you can’t meet those you’re working with face-to-face.
The core idea behind Conceptshare is that you can upload your design and have everyone involved with its production log their feedback and comments. It’s ideal for managing clients who are sometimes indecisive or prone to changing their minds, because you can show them the progression of an idea. Likewise, clients can make sure they get from you what they asked for.
The interface doesn’t get in your way and actually helps you get on with the task at hand by providing smooth and intuitive controls. The best thing about Conceptshare is that you can scribble all over an idea and stick virtual post-its all over it, which can be turned into conversation threads and then assigned to specific people to deal with. All in all it provides complete control over an idea, and allows you to manage the scope of a design, saving everyone time and money.
Fazal Khan is user interface developer, Fortune Cookie
Global brand expert
Richard Prenderville
Reebok
There are so many great apps out there and so many more being created daily, it’s becoming hard to keep up. It’s all about usefulness and accessibility for me – what’s quick to hand and doesn’t interrupt my business and personal space and improves my life in some way.
MyYahoo is so much more than just an app due to its range of functionality and flexibility. Already a fan and avid user of many Yahoo products like Yahoo Messenger, Flickr and so on, MyYahoo complements the array of tools that I need to organise my time on the web. It’s quick to add new feeds and customise as and when I need to.
There are other similar services out there to MyYahoo. But what really sets them apart in my opinion is that I can hook up my feeds with instant messenger or mobile and make sure I am always alerted of a new feed.
I am a frequent business traveller and MyYahoo makes my web-based life easier by collating all my feeds in one place and allowing me to upload and manage files whilst I’m away from the web. It’s important for me that I can stay in touch with my family whilst I’m away on business and I love that I can use Yahoo Messenger to chat to the family ‘cam to cam’ – especially important on the longer jaunts abroad. Also, I can hook my mobile phone into Messenger, so that even when I’m away from my computer I can still get important instant messages from colleagues and loved ones. Additionally, all of my bookmarks are always there.
Then there’s Yahoo’s oneSearch, which helps me find my way around new cities, find a local restaurant or hotel, and flight updates – all from my mobile phone.
Yahoo as a whole really is my favourite web application, for the simple fact that their products are intelligently implemented and add value to my life, both personally and professionally.
Richard is head of global brand marketing at Reebok International, where he is responsible for marketing, media and advertising for the brand on a global scale.
Hosting expert
David Price
Lycos UK
My favourite web application is Joomla. This is a Content Management System (CMS) that enables you to build websites and other online applications. Joomla is an open source solution freely available to anyone, you just have to download it from their website. It can be used to power anything from personal homepages, corporate websites and small business sites, to Government applications and community-based portals. I used the 1.5 version to build my personal website. It’s really easy to use and has a plethora of components, such as picture galleries, forums and chat systems, which I’ve used to give my site that ‘magic touch’.
David is UK head of product development at Lycos web Hosting, a division of Lycos that offers a hosting package for new and professional web developers
