Microsoft launches Popfly web site/mashup creator

Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Web services, Microsoft, Beta

Microsoft launches Popfly web site/mashup creator

by Brad Linder Oct 18th 2007

Microsoft has launched a public beta of a web page creation tool for dummies. That's not what they're calling it (probably due to trademark issues with the folks who make the dummies books), but that's kind of what it is.

The new service, called Popfly, lets you create a web site from scratch without any knowledge of HTML, CSS, or anything else with an acronym. Just choose your style, upload some images if you like, and type away. What sets Popfly apart from the similar Google Page Creator service is that Popfly includes a built-in mashup tool.

What does a mashup tool have to do with creating web pages? Well, it lets you create all sorts of interesting content for your web site by taking bits and pieces of other web-based objects. For example, you can create a slideshow from Flickr photos matching a certain description, or even create an interactive puzzle game from those photos and put it on your site.

The mashup tool is built on Microsoft's Silverlight platform, which is the company's answer to Adobe Flash. You can drag and drop all sorts of objects into your editor, making the whole process pretty simple, if not exactly intuitive. We highly recommend reading the instructions. Not that we wasted a half hour trying to figure things out before looking at the easy to follow instructions on the sidebar.

[via WebWare]

Tags: google-page-creator, google-pages, popfly, web-page-creator

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Victor Agreda Jr said 10:23PM on 10-18-2007

I wonder how standards-compliant those pages wind up being? Because, you know, FrontPage was a model of web citizenry.

Evan Young said 11:37PM on 10-18-2007

Be very careful of the Microsoft Live Services licensing terms, anything you post is treated as a 'submission' and they can potentially use your work without your permission.

Evan

Sammy said 12:13AM on 10-19-2007

MashupMania.com is another visual mashup builder thatjust recently launched. Not as fancy as PopFly, and definitely a beta, it seems to takesa different approach than PopFly, and even Yahoo Pipes. Might be worth checking out if you are into mashups. Note that the web-based tool runs only in Firefox...

Alex said 10:11AM on 10-19-2007

Also check out Orchestr8's AlchemyPoint ( www.orch8.net ), another mashup builder platform released in the last few weeks. It doesn't require Silverlight, and offers some neat capabilities you won't find in Popfly (like visually copying/pasting parts of any website, not just data from content partners).

michael said 5:07PM on 10-19-2007

@Evan Young:

Like anyone cares?

@Sammy & Alex : Alternatives are for losers. Popfly is the real thing, and I've used it before, and it beats the pants off of anything. Firefox only practically kills MashupMania. And Silverlight is the next best thing since Flash.

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters