Hackers and geeks, ahoy!
We've gotten quiet a few requests for more in-depth information on how the system and our API will work. Adobe has also asked us to elaborate more on the underlying structure of our system (i.e. the fact that we're Flex based and will run on AIR). As we're close to releasing the first API for Aviary, now seemed as good a time as any to discuss some of the geekier bits of our system.
Our first API will allow developers to use and extend our GUI interface, basic components and store data in our file system. In future releases more code functionality will be accessible so anyone interested could join the project easily or develop their own tools. An example of the functionality the second API would bring would be using our built in undo/redo or ability to parse certain file types (such as .TTF, .PDF or .3DS).
How the whole system works
Aviary is developed in ActionScript 3 using Flex (and it will also run on AIR). It was developed using the Cairngorm design pattern created by Adobe engineers. The Aviary Framework is developed with interaction in mind; any developed application has to be able to merge trasparently into the suite, allowing the developer to focus on providing additional functionalities without worrying about building a GUI or framework. To achieve this goal the whole Aviary Suite has been built using a modular approach:
A user will only need to open one application (Aviary), which serves as a launcher. All of the tools are really just powerful independent modules that will be managed by this launcher application. Aviary will load and unload applications as needed, leaving the data available for another application and providing seamless interoperability between all of the tools.
The user workflow will be as smooth as possible. A user won't need to open separate applications to edit all the assets that will compose his final document, as the individual tools will be automatically loaded and unloaded by the Launcher to provide the functionalities needed to edit each asset. The Aviary framework will manage the synchronization to restore the tool which requested another tool for editing.
Graphical User Interface
The Aviary framework will provide a full set of custom components that can be used to implement homogeneous user interfaces between all the tools. Those components will also be styleable and skinnable, so developers can customize the appearance of their tool. We're also including support classes for the user interface: for instance a user customized workspace could be saved on our server and restored the next time the user will be online.
You will be able to create and customize different palette types and menus:
1) Left palettes (the tool palletes that affect very specific aspects of your workspace).
2) Right palettes (the global palletes that affect general aspects of the workspace).
3) Bottom palettes (also global palletes, but laid out horizontally).
4) Menus (a simple menu system reserved for common functionality that needs to be accessible at all times, such as UNDO / REDO, and copy / paste)
Your tools will even be able to support multiple workspaces (for example if you want to provide a simple and advanced version of your tools).
We will also provide developers with a library of button icons to use in the GUI.
Finally, we have prepared our GUI to be able to support multiple languages. You can easily add new language configuration files for your tools and if a user specifies to work with that language in their preferences, it will be displayed.
Connecting to Rookery, our file server
One of the best features of our API is that it includes a full, free filesystem for you to permanently store and retrieve user data. Our API will include a set of classes needed to access the server and retrieve data from it as needed. With those APIs a developer can access informations related to a given user, retrieve a list of assets that can be used in their program or share a creation with the community. In other words, there is no need to build a back end for storage.
Our file system, rookery, is a distributed redundant network that uses Amazon S3 for backup and failover. It can also be accessed independantly of Aviary, if wanted.
We save all work files with the .egg extension. Developers simply need to have their applications pass their completed work file data to our class, where it will be automatically wrapped with additional "egg metadata" used by our filesystem to store and track ownership of files. All files have protective shells. We automatically scramble the egg data (yum) so the integrity of file ownership shouldn't be compromised, even when users download the work files to their desktop.
Logging and session recording
One of the coolest aspects of Aviary is that it allows users to automatically create text-based tutorials and record a video of their workspace, to share with other users as tutorials. Using those APIs a developer can automatically log messages or record sessions so they could be replayed later or used to build a tutorial. We're also planning on releasing a chat module so multiple users can view and comment on a single users' workspace in realtime as they perform work. This will be useful for live tutoring sessions (which theoretically could also add another form of income for users of our marketplace).
AIR applications
We do plan on releasing an AIR version of Aviary, as well. We'll have a separate blog post on how this will work shortly.
If you're a developer interested in building your own Aviary application or otherwise want to access our marketplace, please drop us a line at aviary_api (a) worth1000.com.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt was recently asked to define Web 3.0. His response:
My prediction would be that Web3.0 will ultimately be seen as applications that are pieced together and there are a number of characteristics. The applications are relatively small, the data is in the cloud. The applications can run on any device, PC or mobile phone, the applications are very fast and they're very customizable and furthermore, the applications are distributed by virally, essentially viral... social networks, email..
You won't go to the store and purchase them. That's a very different application model then we've ever seen in computers. There is low barrier to entry. The new generation of tools being announced today, Google and other companies make it relatively easy to do, solves a lot of problems and works everywhere.
Of course this is just one (very influential) man's opinion, but he's just outlined several tenets that define the next generation of web applications:
- Applications are composed of smaller connected applications
- Application size is small
- Application data is stored online
- Applications can run in different PC environments and mobile phone environments
- Applications are very fast
- Applications are customizable
- Applications are distributed virally
- Applications are downloaded or accessible via the Internet
- Applications have low barrier to entry (cost and learning curve)
- Applications work everywhere
What is interesing for us is that Aviary's application model would appear to meet every single one of his criteria (the possible exception being mobile phones, which are not yet running ActionScript 3.0 in their versions of Flash but no doubt will as mobile processor technology improves).
Here's the video:
Aviary is going to release it's development API on September 1, 2007
If you are a developer and would like access to the API when it is released, please contact us at aviary_api(a)worth1000.com.
The API will allow third party developers to:
- Develop new ActionScript 3 based tools that use the Aviary platform framework (including our GUI and codebase).
- Develop new ActionScript 3 plugins and controls for use by other tools in the Aviary GUI framework.
- Access and sell third party digital works through the Aviary marketplace.
- Access and store digital works on our distributed file network, Rookery.
- Search for and return digital works from our distributed file network, Rookery.
The GUI uses the Cairngorm pattern framework, which will allow for easier integration into other tools.
Here are some mockups of the new GUI interface. Every aspect is templatable and customizable for whichever specific tool will be made:
Larger 
Larger 
Larger 
Larger 
Larger
We also will include horizontal panels that are not featured in the screenshots (i.e. these would be good for applications that use timelines).
Only this time it's of the non-feathered variety (unless you count the stork involved)...
Congratulations to team member Iz Derdik and his wife Efrat on giving birth to a baby boy!
I'm also opening up comments on this blog, beginning with this post, so please feel free to leave well wishes for the happy family here.
We've just finished a quick, but tiresome move. Here's some pictures of the team settling into our new digs. We haven't had a chance to carpet it with newspaper yet.
And here's our new mural wallpaper, purchased via the interface in our marketplace itself.
Of course, you'll be able to buy your own mural wallpaper shortly. :)
Update! Our summer intern Josh put together a video of us putting up the mural. It took about 30 minutes total (the last segment taking about 20 minutes of that time to line up correctly).
Katie Graham from deliciousmint.net is doing a research project on web-based applications and sent a few questions our way. I got her permission to share her questions, along with our answers.
What was your inspiration behind starting Aviary?
We had a problem: Allowing users to sell their Worth1000 images was very inefficient because it attracted some angry copyright holders whose rights had been infringed and we had no way to verify what content was actually uploaded legally. Finally technology's advances allowed us a way to perform that regulation in the form of a platform that tracks works from start to finish. There was nothing like it online and artists who don't yet know they are artists ( i.e. people with non-artistic day jobs and hidden potential) need some sort of powerful free tool set to discover themselves. And so we conceived of Aviary.
How would you determine if your site is successful? What kind of usage are you aiming for, and how do you intend to generate this?
We already have a user based of almost half a million registered members at Worth1000, so we are confident we'll have many users right from launch interested in using the service.
Where do you see Aviary heading in the future?
Open framework, so people can build their own tools into Aviary. Plugins for other third party desktop applications, so users are free to use whichever tool they like to create (not just ours), while still gaining the benefit of Aviary's content platform. More power and a smaller gap between desktop applications and online applications as technology catches up.
Do you see Aviary as having socio-cultural impact? If so, how?
I hope it will make it feasible that businesses won't feel they automatically need to charge for people to use their tools when they are used for fun. For example, most uses of Adobe Photoshop are probably non-commercial, yet the software (even the light version) is still prohibitively expensive. If we as the software industry can all provide ways for people to use our tools and services in financial partnership with us (instead of a client relationship with us), everyone wins.
Google is already doing this with each company they acquire (Urchin, Writely, Feedburner) and are providing an advertising marketplace where they ultimately make their money back.
What are your thoughts on the internet generating new communities?
That's a whole different interview, but I have published some thoughts on the value of communities on my personal blog.
Are there now new notions of community in the digital age?
Well, I don't think community is something that can be broadly defined anymore, if that's what you're looking for. 15 years ago community was interpreted along general terms: family, neighbors, school and religious organizations. Now it can mean anything and everything, no matter how niche.
Is Aviary beneficial to society? If so, how?
Yes, because it means free on-demand tools to create and refine content in different mediums? Before Aviary creation was mostly linear. Now it will be more tree-like (if you would visualize artwork created in it). The end result will be more refined, reusable and affordable content for the world.
Is everyday life being transformed through the use of sites such as yours? Are we moving closer to reaching the potential of the internet?
We have just reached the tipping point where streaming computing has become possible and communal thinking has become accepted. We're not even close to reaching the zenith of the Internet's usefulness.
Do you think there are problems associated with levels of regulation in uploaded / user generated material on the internet?
Certainly and that is precisely why we created Aviary. We need a framework that people can use to verify that content is unique and problem free.
Do you consider your site a web 2.0 site?
Everyone's definition is different. I wouldn't consider ours just a "site". I'd consider it a web 2.0 "suite". :-)
How would you define a web 2.0 website?
I can't define it, but I can offer a parable: It's an online garden: An entity that expands and becomes more rich and independently chaotic as time goes on.
We had the opportunity to demo some tools from Aviary for Nick Gonzalez from Techcrunch last week and it resulted in a really great write up and encouraging comments on their blog and other blogs.
We took our time going through them to find the ones we particularly enjoyed:
Nick from Techcrunch said:
"The lingering question is whether online tools will be of a high enough caliber to produce marketable content. So far, signs are pointing to yes..."
"I'm normally very conservative about new sites/services/applications based on the Web 2.0 cool-aid but I think there might be something to this... It really is that mapping of creative tools and marketing that makes this stand out.
Will this attract the already employed graphics artist? Unlikely. But this will open up a nice niche market for the skilled but new and/or underemployed or freelance graphics artist AND the small/medium business or personal site owner who doesn't have a lot of bucks looking for some graphics to incorporate into their site (without worries of being sued for "theft"), or music to embed into their podcast or YouTube video... Whether it ends up becoming successful or not, at a minimum, it is innovative.
"While there is no shortage of online image editors on the web today, this is certainly the first project (that I'm aware of) that will bring such a full suite of functionality to content creation. Indeed, it's hard not to compare the project to Adobe's Master Collection. Will creative professionals be inclined to switch from desktop tools to their online counterparts? Will they have to switch to take advantage of the marketplace? According to the TechCrunch article, the tools are all created using Flex - which means that there's also the potential that Aviary could create desktop versions of the tools using Adobe AIR. This is definitely a project I'll be following. Stay tuned!"
"This would be a great AIR story and already sounds like a great Flex story. Some of the commentary focuses on Adobe being in trouble because of all these free, browser-based tools that are coming out. But I actually think these tools and our software is complimentary. We cater to a professional crowd that needs the features, capability, and speed of a desktop application. The consumer/hobbyist market however could really use something like this that is easy to use and a bit lower level."
"Sounds too good, and too robust, to be true, yes? But all signs so far point to a polished set of apps, not least of which is a sample 3D rendering they posted to their blog today.
I am crossing my fingers and hoping that Aviary is one of those rare examples of a fresh idea totally changing the software landscape - in this case, developing web applications with extremely narrow functionality to eliminate bloat, streamline uptake, and provide a service in a way people didn't know they needed until they found it, and later will not be able to imagine doing without. Time will tell."
"The project is quite a big one and a hard one to achieve. Also how do you trully replace photoshop or gimp by a flex application? As a flex developer myself, I am quite puzzled about the end result. However, the few samples presented on the site look quite professional and now we just have to wait"
And finally, a post that really thrilled us, by Joshua Jeffryes, because he completely gets what we're doing:
"This is potentially huge...By creating a guarantee of authorship, Aviary could become a very powerful marketplace for work. It would protect end-buyers from copyright violation lawsuits from inadvertently using pirated work. Multimedia creators would have a strong incentive to use the tools to protect their work from being stolen. It's a win for everyone involved."
This morning we put up our new site design; one which we feel reflects the level of professionalism, freedom and fun our tools will demonstrate.
Because of the nature of Aviary being a creative suite, our site design plays an important part beyond just being window decoration for our content: Every bit of polish underlines the effort we are putting into all of our tools.
Also part of this design is an update to our tools page, with completed logos accompanying each tool.
CNet's Webware blog has just posted a great read on Aviary. And as Caroline McCarthy, the author, is actually the first outsider to get a chance to see some of the different projects we're plugging away on, we're more than pleased that it excited her as much as it excited us!
A very special thanks to Caroline for taking a trip out to our offices to visit us and see what we're up to and of course, for the nice write up on Webware.
You can read the full article here.
We're pretty excited about all of the different Aviary tools and related projects coming down the pipe beginning this summer and we want to get you all just as excited...
So we made a quick teaser video that showcases a few projects at various stages of development.
From this point on, we'll be posting updates about specific tools in the suite and our development process behind it.