NewsGator launches Editor's Desk 2.1

Filed under: Design, Fun, Web services, web 2.0

NewsGator launches Editor's Desk 2.1

by Christina Warren Jun 19th 2008

NewsGator, the company behind award-winning RSS readers FeedDemon, NetNewsWire and NewsGator Go!, has just released an update to its widget platform, in the form of Editor's Desk 2.1.

Editor's Desk is a web-based tool for creating widgets that can display dynamic content (using RSS) that can then be embedded into your website, Facebook page (as an app), Blogger, TypePad, NetVibes, iGoogle,Pageflakes, Live.com and Live Spaces.

Version 2.1 boasts an improved interface that is not only better looking, but easier to use. Version 2.1 has also added two new widget templates, a search tool (for premium subscribers), the ability to clone widgets and a way to monitor the feeds within your widgets for problems.

We played around with the new version of Editor's Desk and were impressed with how easy the whole creation process really was. To create a widget, you can either add your own RSS feeds or choose a collection of feeds from categories provided by NewsGator. The free version of the service only provides minimal customization options for your widgets, you can select from a set a templates and then modify some of the colors, but if you pay for the premium version of the service, you can customize the CSS and HTML of the widgets. Some companies like USA Today and The Discovery Channel have already done that with spectacular results.

When it is time to publish your widget, you just paste the JavaScript code onto your site or embed using one of the supported services. If other users want to use your widget, simply clicking on the "Get This" button brings up all the options. For paid users, NewsGator offers widget analytics to track how successful your widgets are and how many people are using them.

Our favorite feature of Editor's Desk was actually the Facebook Application Wizard. Editor's Desk walks you through all the steps to make a Facebook App out of your widget. After you create the application, the option to embed into Facebook automatically appears in the "Get This" menu.

While the features with the most eye-candy and pizazz are part of a premium service, the free account can produce nice results with little effort. This is what we created today.

For companies or publishers who want an easy way to enhance their brand, Editor's Desk is a nice service and definitely worth a look.

Tags: editors desk, EditorsDesk, newsgator, rss, widget creation, WidgetCreation, widgets

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