Saying goodbye to zembly

I was involved with the leading-edge web site, zembly, beginning in fall 2007, writing example widgets, applications, and data services for the companion book ‘Assemble the Social Web with zembly.’ zembly, the brain child of Todd Fast, began at Sun Microsystems as a web-based social development environment, enabling users to write widgets and other software. The site automatically keeps track of versions and publishes code, deploying the services and widgets for you. You can share the widgets, embedding them in web pages or posting them on sites such as Facebook. The site also lets you build and deploy Facebook applications. The book was published early this year and we presented a sold-out Hands-On Lab at JavaOne in June. Sadly, the site announced its closure this week. Besides thoroughly enjoying the time I spent coding applications on zembly, I really appreciated the interaction with the zembly folks, including Todd, Chris Webster, and especially Jirka Kopsa.

I have two favorite examples I built for the book. One is a Facebook application, Capital Punishment, which helps you learn the world’s capitals using a 20-question multiple choice quiz. You see each answer mapped using Google maps. It includes all the usual social features of Facebook applications—challenging friends and letting you compare your scores with your friends.

Probably my favorite is a widget that shows you how to navigate the London Tube. It maps the station sequence (with Google maps), drawing a color-coded line (matching the tube station colors) to each station. The data comes from tubeplanner.com, via Dapper. With Google maps, you can follow the route. Markers locate the stations and information windows tell you the station name, line, and where you need to change lines.It's tough saying goodbye to zembly. It will be missed by many!!

zembly

For the last eight months (eight? has it really been that long?) I have been working on a book that shows how to use a new site: zembly.com. I am really excited about the project and have had great fun (fun? yes, creating is very fun) building widgets and social applications. The book will be available first on Safari Rough Cuts and then in traditional print form. If you sign up on zembly, you can read the tutorial chapter right now (zembly Basics). (zembly is still in private beta, which means you need an invitation to check it out. You can get an invitation below.)

What is zembly? zembly is a social programming site that lets you build (and host!) applications for Facebook, Meebo, OpenSocial (such as Orkut and MySpace). zembly also makes it easy to build services, widgets, and web applications for the iPhone. I have embedded 2 example widgets on my blog (look on the right side bar). The flickr slide show widget randomly displays my flickr photos with titles and the mlb scores widget gives you today’s baseball scores. Both were built and are hosted on zembly (and are featured examples in the book).

One of my favorite widgets lets you plan a journey on the London Tube. The widget is built with data from tubeplanner.com extracted with dapper, then finally a mashup on zembly brings in Google maps. Try it out.

You can view the widget and see how it's built on zembly here (after you sign up).

Do you have an iPhone? Here is an iPhone-friendly version of the London Tube widget.

How difficult is it to create and build with zembly? If you have even a little bit of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript knowledge, you’re set to go! Since zembly is collaborative, you don’t have to start from scratch. Go to the samples section, see what others are doing, and if you like something, clone it. You can then modify it to suit your own requirements. And, it’s fun. Here's the sign up: