The Beta testing trail took us to an interesting new private beta site called Zude. This app is deploying cross domain drag-and-drop technology to allow users to create a unique Web presence. This development is like a 2015 version of Netvibes, or Pageflakes on steroids. 5g’s technology has enabled perhaps the most powerful personal expression platform I have tested. Users do not need any technical skill to essentially drag and drop their entire Web experience onto the Zude platform. The platform also incorporates an advanced tool set, nimble enough for experienced coders to fine tune their creations.
Note: at the end of this review, we give you a link and access code to test out this private beta.
5g and Zude
Fifth Generation Systems’' (5g) founders Jim McMiel and Steve Repetti have utilized Steve’'s decade long development of 5g to create the ultimate personal web experience. The magnitude of this vision is obvious, because 5g is developing a platform that will cross domains, allow total customization and essentially incorporate any Web media into a user’'s creation. Repetti'’s unique software combined with the FifthGen Engine in the vehicle of Zude, allow for ultra high performance integration and the simplification of complex operations. Zude is a privately funded startup based in Roslyn, New York and backed by $5 million in private funding.
What Does Zude Offer?
The most innovative tool in Zude is the cross domain drag-and-drop. I felt rather foolish after testing the interface for a few hours, before Matt Wulkan Director of Product Marketing mailed me and told me to simply drag whatever I wanted onto my pages. Beyond this great aspect of the product, Zude enables users to utilize these features:
Drop Zone Technology - Take images from anywhere; desktop, websites or viewers
Drag and Drop Wallpaper - Create wallpaper from any image and customize
Add Pages - Users can build multiple pages rather than a simple online profile
Text Boxes - Text exactly where and how a user wants it
Advanced Properties - Add borders, headers, footers, shadows and transparency to images, text and other objects
File Manager - Add Widgets and gadgets from Zude, Google, Yahoo etc. Simple drag and drop does it all without the need to write a line of code (unless you want to).
Templates - Modify existing Zude templates or create and submit your own
Tag - Everything you add is an object and can be tagged for user defined searchability
Rate - Ratings can be used to determine appropriateness, or as a measure of popularity
Community - Zude already has an intricate community and categorized content areas like music (featuring Amy Lee of Evanescence), Video, News, Business, Sports, Travel, Night Life, People and others.
What Can Zude Do?
15 minutes after Matt emailed me I had Read/WriteWeb and a whole YouTube page of surfing videos on my pages. Zude'’s home page says the service "“enhances and extends a users online presence, empowers personalization and turbo-charges creativity". Indeed Zude blurs the line between desktop application and web, for either the novice or guru. This platform has virtually every Web 2.0 tool I have tested in one form or another, and the space is fully customizable. Object oriented sites are notoriously easy to organize and this one combined this ability with unlimited content aggregation and flexibility.
Testing Elements
Initially I sized new elements via the advanced properties pop-up menus, but I found it much simpler to stretch or move them via cross domain drag-and-drop. The screenshot below renders one of my pages after I dragged a YouTube surfing video to match my template. Note the transparent pulldown.
The YouTube element is a functioning page, simply sized
Feel the Power
I decided to see if I could kidnap Read/WriteWeb, so the next series of screenshots illustrate dragging the R/WW page onto my Zude page - un-scaled and followed by the fully functional tailored version, and a pulldown I copied from the previous page. The interesting thing about this is that theoretically every one of my sites could be added as links, buttons or fully functioning pages in just about any configuration imaginable - to one page or a series of pages.
Dragging R/WW into Zude
R/WW fully sized and functional
Conclusion
There are two main elements that separate Zude from Netvibes and Pageflakes. Zude is not simply a homepage where favorites are visited and utilized, it has an unlimited depth of possible pages and uses. Secondly, Zude uses a sophisticated and fast cross domain drag-and-drop aspect to simplify and dynamically change the way people add content to their pages One really amazing thing to me is that this development is still in private beta. I can'’t wait to see what the finished product looks like.
Try it out: If you would like to test Zude, they have provided us with a link and the access code (the letters only: zudeme) to sign up. Be advised that Zude now supports Firefox and IE, but pop-up and cookie settings may have to be adjusted.
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