The personal digital publishing revolution has been happening for awhile. But a few announcements today make it clear that the wheels of progress are turning faster than ever before. And, that we’re getting closer to the plug-and-play-don’t-make-me-think-open-standards era.
First, at Google’s developer conference, the search and Web giant presented its “intentions” with HTML 5.
Imagine a world without clunky Flash players and plug ins, imagine a world where videos can roam freely like the web widgets they seek to be without having to belong to YouTube, imagine a world where apps don’t make your browser crash constantly. This is particularly meaningful when we look at the growing number of personal broadcasting tools out there–from live mobile video service Qik to live internet streaming on Livestream. Now, HTML 5 could make connecting these services seamlessly easier than ever. Check out this fun test drive.
Next, also from Google, Web Elements. These are super-duper easy to install bits of content that any amateur publisher can add to their sites–from maps to calendars, to gasp! conversation. The presentation widget, however, may not make companies like SlideShare and Scribd very happy, as TechCrunch points out. I cannot wait to try these widgets out on my sites.
In today’s final bit of digital publishing glory, and not to leave Yahoo behind, Yahoo’s released images of its soon-to-come new home page. I’m glad they decided to ditch the previous designs that would have completely reworked their signature site. They made the page slightly less busy, while making it more widget-y–allowing users to determine which properties they want easy access to, and enabling users to list multiple email accounts (even GMail and AOL accounts!) and favorite third party news sources. This is a very far cry from Yahoo’s old policy of promoting only internal properties.
These announcements make me down right happy for the future of news, information, and private publishing sites. Let’s keep evolving!!!
