Agreed, the profile is a major challenge to producing an acceptable emulator.
One thing I have working in development is a version that works in the same fashion as a flash-based profile box. It displays the gadget 'screenshot' jpg (or other graphic), then comes to life when the viewer clicks on it. This loads the gadget iframe straight into the profile. In any case (and hence I've focused on canvas pages for now), Facebook have announced major changes to the profile page coming up. An app will have a small space for static content in the narrow column, plus its own tab (if the profile owner allows) which will take up much more of the screen than previously. It's not yet clear whether that will allow dynamic content (as per canvas pages). Obviously, that would bring OpenSocial-style 'surfaces' to the dynamically-served content. As for whether it matters, I certainly think that on Facebook the profile is seen mainly as another channel for user acquisition, alongside invites and news feed, etc., rather than to provide full functionality. Remember adverts are not allowed on the profile. On the other hand, OpenSocial gadgets may be written with the ability for full profile display in mind. Either way, I don't see this as a showstopper, and I think I need to look into Facebook's imminent changes before deciding on a solution. Any suggestions as this plays out, technical or practical, would be most welcome! Dan -----Original Message----- From: Bruno Bowden [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 05 March 2008 18:15 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: OpenSocket This is very interesting work Dan. OpenSocial apps require javascript, which means they can't run in the Profile view for Facebook, only the Canvas page (which supports iframes). What do you do for the Profile view? Is this much of an impediment? On Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 9:56 AM, Dan Lester <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > In case anyone's interested, I've now incorporated Shindig into a beta > version of OpenSocket, which allows gadget authors to convert Open > Social gadgets into Facebook apps. > > It actually works quite well, so thank you Team Shindig! Still in > beta, of course, with people and persistence supported so far (just > about)... > > I'll let you know if there are Shindig bugs/suggestions arising from > this. > > See http://www.opensocket.org/blog/ for more information. > > A sample app/gadget is http://apps.facebook.com/profilegadget/ > > Thanks, > > Dan > > -- > Dan Lester > > >
