CINXE.COM

<html> <head profile="http://www.w3.org/2002/12/cal/hcal http://www.w3.org/2006/03/hcard"><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://2008.xtech.org/public/schedule/detail/549","20080516194212","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1210966932"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <link href="/web/20080516194212cs_/http://2008.xtech.org/stylesheets/general.css?1209820294" media="screen" rel="Stylesheet" type="text/css"/> <script src="/web/20080516194212js_/http://2008.xtech.org/javascripts/themed_js.js?1209820309" type="text/javascript"></script> <link href="/web/20080516194212cs_/http://2008.xtech.org/public/template/css/5?1209554070" media="screen" rel="Stylesheet" type="text/css"/> <script src="/web/20080516194212js_/http://2008.xtech.org/public/template/js/5?1209554070" type="text/javascript"></script>  <title>XTech 2008: Design Strategies for a Distributed Web — IDEAlliance</title> <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="XTech 2008 (Atom)" href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/atom"/> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rdf+xml" title="XTech 2008 (RSS 1.0)" href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/rss"/> <meta name="description" content="We might be standardising around a handful of web development frameworks but we're still re-inventing the wheel when it comes to the things we build. A vibrant ecosystem of commercial grade API providers, such as Amazon with their S3 and EC2 services, could change all that. But what needs to happen to make this web services dream a reality? And where are the potential pitfalls for successful apps?"/> </head> <body class="en_c_schedule en_a_detail" id="en_schedule_detail"> <div id="en_content"> <div id="en_main_parts"> <div id="en_header"><div id="graphics"><a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/"><img id="logo" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212im_/http://xtech06.usefulinc.com/images/xtech06-logo.png" height="80" width="266" alt="XTech logo"/></a> <img class="pic" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212im_/http://xtech06.usefulinc.com/images/fun80.jpg" width="107" height="80" alt="People in cafe"/><img class="pic" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212im_/http://xtech06.usefulinc.com/images/paoli80.jpg" width="107" height="80" alt="Jean Paoli speaking"/><img class="pic" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212im_/http://xtech06.usefulinc.com/images/rooftops80.jpg" width="107" height="80" alt="Amsterdam rooftops"/><img class="pic" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212im_/http://xtech06.usefulinc.com/images/crowd80.jpg" width="107" height="80" alt="XTech delegats"/></div> <div id="strapline" class="vevent"> <span class="summary"><a class="url" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/">XTech 2008</a>: “The Web on the Move”</span> — <abbr class="dtstart" title="20080506">6</abbr>-<abbr class="dtend" title="20080509">9 May 2008</abbr>, <span class="location">Dublin, Ireland</span> </div></div> <div id="en_menubar"> <ul id="en_navbar"> <li id="en_nav_28"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/" title="">News</a> </li> <li id="en_nav_38"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/content/register" title="">Register</a> </li> <li id="en_nav_39" class="active"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/schedule" title="">Schedule</a> </li> <li id="en_nav_40"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/schedule/speakers" title="">Speakers</a> </li> <li id="en_nav_37"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/content/venue" title="XTech 2008 will be held at the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel, Dublin">Hotel & venue</a> </li> <li id="en_nav_29"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/content/sponsorship" title="">Sponsorship</a> </li> <li id="en_nav_34"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/content/media" title="">Media</a> </li> <li id="en_nav_30"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/content/about" title="">About XTech</a> </li> <li id="en_nav_31"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://2007.xtech.org/" title="">XTech 2007</a> </li> <li id="en_nav_32"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://2006.xtech.org/" title="">XTech 2006</a> </li> </ul> <div id="en_feeds"> <div id="en_feedheader"> <img src="/web/20080516194212im_/http://2008.xtech.org/images/feed-icon-24x24.png" width="24" height="24" alt="RSS and Atom feed icon" id="en_feedicon"/> <b>News feeds</b> </div> <div id="en_feedlinks"> <a id="en_atomlink" href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/atom">Atom 1.0</a> <a id="en_rsslink" href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/rss">RSS 1.0</a> </div> </div> </div> <div id="en_sidebar"><div id="en_youraccountc"> <div id="en_youraccount"> <div id="en_ya_title">Your account</div> <div id="en_ya_body"> <div id="en_minilogin"> <form action="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/https://idealliance.expectnation.com/xtech2008/user/account/authenticate" method="post"><div style="margin:0;padding:0"><input name="_token" type="hidden" value="b08a9beff71bf476c38c254af8254fdc90603cfb"/></div> <div class="en_field"><label for="user_email">Email address</label><br/> <input id="user_email" name="user[email]" size="10" type="text"/></div> <div class="en_field"><label for="user_password">Password</label><br/> <input id="user_password" name="user[password]" size="10" type="password"/></div> <div id="en_minisubmit"><span id="en_mininewuser"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/https://idealliance.expectnation.com/xtech2008/user/account/signup">New user?</a></span><input name="commit" type="submit" value="Log in"/></div> <div class="en_field"><label for="openid_url">Log in with an OpenID</label> (<a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/installation/openid_help" target="_blank" title="Find out more about OpenID" onclick="window.open('/public/installation/openid_help','helpwin','width=500,height=300,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes'); return false;">?</a>)<br/> <input id="openid_url" name="openid_url" size="10" type="text" value=""/> </div> </form> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="rhsbox" id="signup"> <div class="box"> <div class="rhshead">XTech 2008 news</div> <p><b><a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/content/newsletter">Subscribe</a></b> to receive news about XTech</p> </div> </div> <div class="rhsbox" id="sponsors"> <div class="box"> <div class="rhshead"> Partners </div> <div class="sponsor"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://www.justsystems.com/"><img src="/web/20080516194212im_/http://2008.xtech.org/public/asset/asset/347" width="150" height="70" alt="JustSystems"/></a> </div> <div class="sponsor"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://www.bbc.co.uk/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212im_/http://assets.expectnation.com/15/event/3/bbc_logo.png" width="150" height="67" alt="BBC"/></a> </div> <hr class="sponsorsep"/> <div class="rhshead"> Organized by </div> <div class="sponsor"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://www.idealliance.org/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212im_/http://xtech06.usefulinc.com/images/idea.png" width="147" height="39" alt="IDEAlliance"/></a> </div> <div class="rhshead"> Co-hosted by </div> <div class="sponsor"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://www.w3.org/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212im_/http://2008.xtech.org/public/asset/asset/338" width="72" height="48" alt="World Wide Web Consortium"/></a>  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://www.deri.ie/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212im_/http://2008.xtech.org/public/asset/asset/339" width="51" height="48" alt="DERI"/></a> </div> <hr class="sponsorsep"/> <div class="rhshead"> Sponsors </div> <div class="sponsor"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://www.activestate.com/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212im_/http://2008.xtech.org/public/asset/asset/57" width="150" height="53" alt="ActiveState"/></a> </div> <div class="sponsor"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://www.joinmicrosofteurope.com/?c=xtech/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212im_/http://2008.xtech.org/public/asset/asset/348" width="150" height="96" alt="Microsoft Ireland"/></a> </div> <hr class="sponsorsep"/> <div class="rhshead"> Conference Chair </div> <div class="sponsor"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://times.usefulinc.com/">Edd Dumbill</a><br/> Useful Information Company </div> <div class="sponsor"> <a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/content/committee">Programme committee</a> </div> <hr class="sponsorsep"/> <div class="rhshead"> <a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/content/media-sponsors">Media Sponsors</a> </div> <div class="sponsor"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://www.oreilly.com/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212im_/http://2008.xtech.org/public/asset/asset/18" width="150" height="28" alt="O'Reilly Media, Inc."/></a> </div> <div class="sponsor"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://www.w3.org/Mobile/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212im_/http://2008.xtech.org/public/asset/asset/337" width="150" height="40" alt="W3C Mobile Web Initiative"/></a> </div> <div class="sponsor"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://xmlfr.org/"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212im_/http://xtech06.usefulinc.com/images/xmlfr_120x60.gif" width="120" height="60" alt="XMLfr"/></a> </div> </div>  </div>  <div id="en_powered_by"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://expectnation.com/" title="Event sofware by Expectnation"><img src="/web/20080516194212im_/http://2008.xtech.org/images/poweredby.png" width="150" height="39" alt="Event software by Expectnation"/></a> </div> </div> <div id="en_main"> <div class="vevent en_session"> <div class="en_session_psched" id="psched549"> <a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/schedule/add/549" class="en_psched_add" title="Add to your personal schedule"><img src="/web/20080516194212im_/http://2008.xtech.org/images/unpicked.gif" width="16" height="16" alt="Add to your personal schedule"/></a> </div> <h1 class="summary">Design Strategies for a Distributed Web</h1> <div id="schedule_detail"> <div class="en_session_speakers"> <a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/schedule/speaker/894">Gareth Rushgrove</a> (Gareth Rushgrove) </div> <div class="session_time"> <a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/schedule/full#s2008-05-09-09:45"> 9:45</a> <a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/schedule/grid?date=2008-05-09">Friday, 9 May 2008</a> </div> <div class="en_session_roominfo"> <span class="en_session_topics"> <a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/schedule/topic/Data+and+databases">Data and databases</a>, <a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/schedule/topic/Open+data">Open data</a>, <a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/schedule/topic/Programming">Programming</a> </span> <span class="en_session_room location">Goldsmiths 1</span> <span class="uf_timing"> <abbr class="dtstart dtstamp" title="20080509T0945"></abbr> <abbr class="dtend" title="20080509T1030"></abbr> </span> <div class="en_session_chair">Chair: Jeni Tennison (The Stationery Office)</div> </div> <div class="en_session_description description"> <h2>From language frameworks to APIs</h2> <p>Everyone is making use of mature and stable web application or javascript frameworks these days. That means we’ve stopped reinventing things such as routing and object relational mapping, but we’re all still building very similar components again and again. Frameworks might allow us to solve lots of fine grained problems but APIs could let us solve common course grained problems quicker.</p> <h2>Building blocks for your applications</h2> <p>Their are already a few examples in the wild of APIs designed to be used as part of your application development process. Amazon has been leading the way in providing remote services such as S3, <span class="caps">EC2</span> and SimpleDB. Their are also options when it comes to hosting these services yourself, the mint analytics software and the CouchDb database service are both good examples.</p> <h2>Quality engineering for free</h2> <p>The real value of outsourcing a discreet portion of your application to a third party <span class="caps">API</span> lies in quality. You could always use local storage and your programming language of choice to deal with a large volume of file read and write operations. But do you really think you’ll beat Amazon for reliability, scalability and speed?</p> <h2>Functionality vs Data</h2> <p>It’s not just high quality functionality that we could leverage from other providers. We’re all fed up with entering and re-entering our personal data into each new service. With advancements like OAuth and Microformats and lots of focus on data portability at the moment we might just be able to share data too.</p> <h2>Change the client as well as the server</h2> <p>Sometimes it’s not enough to just change the server. The rise of specialised browsers such as Joost and Songbird allows for functionality that would be impossible otherwise. Site specific browser, along with advancements such as local storage, may prove</p> <h2>Problems</h2> <p>It’s not all in place just yet. The reliability of your application is likely to be important, and making use of a distributed set of APIs could leave you in the unenviable position of being less stable than your least stable partner. The issue of lock-in could also raise it’s head, without a vibrant ecosystem of different providers that is.</p> <h2>The Future</h2> <p>The use of third party commercial APIs has the potential to change the development landscape – bringing high quality middleware to the web. It could be the original <em>web services</em> dream realised. But without critical mass and an active market it could also be a new achilles heel for successful startups.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="vcard en_schedule_session_speaker"> <div class="en_user_photo"> <img src="/web/20080516194212im_/http://2008.xtech.org/public/asset/asset/345" width="75" height="100" alt="Photo of Gareth Rushgrove"/> </div> <h2 class="fn">Gareth Rushgrove</h2> <div id="en_schedule_speaker"> <h4 class="org">Gareth Rushgrove</h4> <div class="en_speaker_bio note"> <p>Gareth Rushgrove is a freelance web design and development consultant based in Newcastle upon Tyne, specialising in agile practices and user centred design.</p> <p>In the past Gareth worked on everything from successful marketing campaigns to enterprise content management and financial service applications. These days he’s more likely to be found persuading clients of the benefits of APIs, microformats and embracing the web as a platform.</p> <p>Gareth has written articles on topics from mobile web design to facebook and website performance to javascript for the likes of <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://thinkvitamin.com/">Vitamin</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://digital-web.com/">Digital Web</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://dev.opera.com/">Opera</a>. He also featured in the 2007 edition of <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://24ways.org/">24ways</a>, the annual web design advent calendar.</p> <p>When not working with clients, Gareth can be found blogging over on <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://morethanseven.net/">morethanseven.net</a> or organising events for the local web community with <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://refreshnewcastle.org/">Refresh Newcastle</a>. He’s currently busy trying to organise a local BarCamp and helping out on the board of the upcoming <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://thinkingdigital.co.uk/">Thinking Digital</a> conference.</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516194212/http://morethanseven.net/" class="url">Web site</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div id="en_grid_dates"> <h3>Schedule views</h3> <ul> <li><a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/schedule/grid?date=2008-05-06">Tue 06 May</a></li><li><a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/schedule/grid?date=2008-05-07">Wed 07 May</a></li><li><a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/schedule/grid?date=2008-05-08">Thu 08 May</a></li><li><a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/schedule/grid?date=2008-05-09">Fri 09 May</a></li><li><a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/schedule/full" id="en_in_full_link">Full listing</a></li><li><a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/schedule/personal" id="en_in_personal_link">Personal schedule</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="en_footerwrap"> <div id="en_footer">Copyright © 2001-2008 IDEAlliance Inc. All rights reserved. <a href="/web/20080516194212/http://2008.xtech.org/public/content/credits">Web site credits</a>.</div> </div> </div> </div> </body> </html>