Given the recent growth in DOM parsing capabilities of modern web applications such as Dapper, it's great to see this UI metaphor entering mainstream content management. We all know UI experts wax and wane over the benefits of certain approaches to building accessible yet efficient interfaces for content, but lets consider the realization that most approaches are variations of the same core scenario or workflow. For example, there's really only been 2 classes of content entry (perhaps even data entry?) worth mentioning in the last decade of web content management.
- Entry via forms, or structured authoring
- WYSIWYG authoring, or unstructured authoring
- Hybrid models of the former
It sill surprises me that 90% of enterprise vendors do not offer hybrid authoring; that is, the ability to demarcate certain placeholders or elements on a page as "editable" along side other unstructured, free form elements. MOSS 2007 barely does this, IBM WCM doesn't. Blogs? Don't get me started, they come up short.
That aside, I think that the folks at TypeRoom may have stumbled upon an entirely new paradigm not just for content entry. More specifically, I think that whereas it's obvious that this type of DOM-directed content authoring has it's merits, there's clearly areas in which the best practices or even the applicability is not proven, such as:
- How to handle content creation, not just editing of existing items
- Controlling security, permission and workflow upon page elements, not just entire pages
- How to map the underlying storage / data model underneath robust, reusable templates
While it's obvious that TypeRoom is using it's TypeRoom Lite offering as an online demo for the IP they've created in their WYSIWYG editor, it's understanding the final point about reusable templates which is key. Their tool allows authors to make changes without conforming to templates - you can just modify the end result, the DOM, without interrogating or otherwise being coupled to the underlying template from which it was cast. This alone has great uses - portability of the solution, abstraction from a server side language, etc. But ironically enough, I think the most value derived from such a codebase is not from its use as an authoring tool, but as a templating tool.
CMS experts will agree with me that if TypeRoom can use their DOM inspecting codebase as a mechanism for creating CMS template definitions (the process for turning an HTML design into an author accessible template with editable elements and placeholders) then they stand to become a strong aquisition target for existing ECM providers, or other SaaS-centric vendors looking for a solution to their "templating for non-techies" quagmire. Because after all, it's all about empowering the non-technical business users, and who says that they can't create templates as well as edit pages?
After talking about this same topic last night, Umair from HBS posts about the impending doom of traditional business strategies focused on informational based competitive advantages. I could not agree more. Frankly, if your IP can be digitized, you are stuck out of luck for a business model. From Umair:
Here’s a quick example. Where orthodox strategy advises hiding information and making things less liquid, what does edge strategy advise? Exactly the opposite: release information bottlenecks and make things more liquid.
This just in, a Google Chat from Tomur Ho regarding my FF from 30 seconds ago... And yes, Tomur is just kidding about the client interactions. Hysterical.
Tomur: Have you read the black swan?
me: noTomur: Touches on some topics that you've noted in your comments.me: join FFTomur: : FF?me: ill give it a readthanks for the tipTomur: Basically covers event prediction, the discernment of information and how the "experts" are largely in it for self preservation.me: exactlyprofessional bodies are simply cartelsTomur: That nobody knows and that you're better off going against the grain.me: whats interesting from a psych standpoint is that spoken language, french , englishis potentially a method of self defenseits inherently adversarialme: so "not speaking" someones language, or chaning your own, is inherently offensiveprotectionary, etc.
Tomur: Yeah. I do it all the time during client interactionsSent at 12:47 PM on Friday
![[smile]](http://mail.google.com/mail/images/cleardot.gif){kind=small}
Amazing. We'll here's the body of my comments on HBS blog.
My how thoughts ripple across the world, I jsut had this conversation with my flatmate last night, a recruiter for financial advisers.
I completely agree.
The eminent democratization via internet enabled technologies will diminish historic "information advantages" that so called "professionals" have in fields such as real estate, finance, etc. Is an expert (some 25 year old b-school graduate who is trained to type in your details into a packaged, autonomous BPM software tool for income tax accounting, investment portfolio advice or an MLS listing at a F500 firm for generating automated results) truly acting in your best interest by applying their expertise, or simply a job waiting to disappear?
Web sites like www.redfin.com, online tax software,etc. obviously know the answer. No one will ever care as much about your interests, than yourself. Cut out the middleman, and only seek the advice of higher level experts when necessary - who themselves actually provide true value.
Who knows, perhaps the same could be said of the cartels of medical practitioners, lawyers, etc. Ever wonder why they use obtuse language the lay cannot commonly understand? How else would they persist their "information advantage" if anyone off the street could speak their language?
Finally, as we see the information advantage in investing erode thanks to increasingly ubiquitous access to information by the masses, one can only begin to realise that, along these lines of thinking, that the only way to significantly beat the market is to have information you are not "allowed" to have, as per insider trading.
It's interesting to see what other advantages have been eroded by the internet, such as the existing patterns based on time-shifting, digital distribution vs. physical (Music industry), etc.
Great post.
Not only am I enamored with FriendFeed (which I twitter'ed as the next Google acquisition) I was pleased to find that Barack Obama was already knee deep in the application... before me! I would love to talk with the "Social Networking" guru in his campaign team. (Read: the tech savvy intern in his camp ). Not to diminish Barack's technical chops, as regardless, he deserves credit for being so open minded when it comes to delegating / trusting their staff compaired to other candidates. Reminds me of Mr. Diamond's book Guns, Germs and Steel and his research on how "resistance or the embrace" of change is deeply rooted in a society, or individuals, culture. Hence the term "dinosaur" and the notion of predetermined extinction. Sigh. Maybe it's safe to move back to the United States after all.
