Mash-ups, Personalized Pages, Widgets

Class 9

PDF Handout:  09_mashups.pdf

A mash-up is a webpage that allows you to take content from other sites and display them all on one page. It is a Web application that combines data from one or more sources into a single integrated tool or application.

An example of a mash-up is www.HousingMaps.com which combines Google Maps location information with data from craigslist.com, thereby creating a new and distinct Web application, which was not originally provided by either source.

Companies whose APIs have been extensively used to develop mash-ups:

·         Amazon

·         eBay

·         Flickr

·         Google

·         Microsoft

·         Yahoo

·         YouTube

 Developer Tools for creating mash-ups

•  Yahoo Pipes
•  Microsoft Popfly  
•  Google Mashup Editor / AP Engine

Personalized Pages

Instead of preselecting what content will go on a Web page, it in now possible to let the user decide what they want to see on their own start pages or personalized pages. We can now pull content form a variety of sources and display it on one page. These pages can also include widgets.

•  Pageflakes
•  iGoogle  
•  MY YAHOO
•  Netvibes