I recently interviewed one of the Software Engineers at NewsGator, Mark Lubischer, who was instrumental in developing the new version of Editor's Desk (2.1), which we recently launched.  This will give you an inside scoop into its creation.

Josh: What was the overriding priority in redesigning v 2.1?
Mark: There were a number of goals that we were after.  One of them was to make Editor’s Desk a lot more visually appealing. Another goal was to improve the usability by changing around some workflows to decrease the number of clicks required to build a widget.  Finally, we wanted to speed things up and reduce the clutter of the Manage and other pages; some of our clients have literally created thousands of widgets and rendering times for the Manage page would have increased to unacceptable levels.

Josh: What was/were some of the biggest technical hurdle(s) the team had to overcome?
Mark: Probably the biggest hurdle that we had to overcome was backward compatibility.  With the major changes to the widget builder, we had to ensure that all the previously built widgets would be compatible with the new workflows and the new code that we wrote.  Additionally, we spent a lot of time working to make sure that no functionality was lost and that users accustomed to the previous version would be able to jump right in and use it without having to relearn the system.

Josh: I’ve been told that v 2.1 is 30% faster than the previous version – how did you make this possible?
Mark: To make the new version faster, we took a look at what things were taking too long to load/render and determined why it was happening.  To get past some of these issues, we changed around when display items were rendered into the browser’s DOM and went to a lazy load approach instead of the previous optimistic rendering.  Additionally, we did a lot of work to decrease the size and number of files being served to the browser.  We shifted a lot of our layouts into templates that could be requested on demand when the user needed to access a certain feature of Editor’s Desk.  This way they wouldn’t be downloading things that they didn’t need and would only have to load it if they were going to use it.

Josh: What’s your favorite feature, either from a development standpoint, or end user standpoint of the new editor’s desk?
Mark: A number of favorite things come to mind right away…

• Resizable text areas in the Edit HTML mode
• Horizontal vs. Vertical Edit HTML layouts
• Increased performance
• The improved customize options (some really cool new stuff is on the way!)
• Ease of extensibility (we made it a lot easier for us to build onto in the future)
• Overall better look and feel

We've added a new feature to Editor's Desk 2.1 which we think those of you creating more than one widget, or modifying an existing one, will find very useful.  We're calling it Clone.  The clone tool allows you to make an exact copy of a widget in your account.  This tool is useful if you want to create other widgets that have the same look and feel as your current widget but have different content; it is also useful when you want to create a copy of a widget to test any potential changes you want to make to a widget without impacting your live widget.

How do you access Clone? From the Tools and Live Preview page in Editor's Desk, click on the Clone icon under the tools menu.  A pop-up box will n otify you that the widget has been cloned; click "OK."  Note that a cloned widget will have the same name as the original widget, with a version number after it -- (i.e. V2, V3, etc.).

I'm very excited to let you know that the much anticipated, brand spankin' new version of Editor's Desk -- which we're calling version 2.1 -- just went live! 

To put this in perspective, the previous version of Editor's Desk launched about a year ago, and during that time we have solicited and listened to copious client and customer feedback in order to make this new version as powerful, streamlined, easy-to-use and intuitive as possible.  Our software engineers have been hard at work since March developing the new version of Editor's Desk that you see today.

Creating NewsGator-powered widgets to enhance brand recognition and content engagement, drive site traffic and improve monetization of your site has never been easer!  Let's take a look at some of the cool new features in Editor's Desk 2.1.

• A new user interface: Dramatically redesigned and easier to use.
• 30% faster: get more done in less time.
• New, great-looking templates to choose from: the new templates are much better looking, and they do a better job resizing around your content.  We've also integrated an ad payload -- so you can now monetize your widgets on your own or use ours!
• New smart search functionality: A once hidden feature is now seeing the light. You can now set up a persistent search around keywords, and constrain the universe from which to search. This will allow you to guarantee search results from known content providers.
• Feed monitoring: Instantly know if any of the feeds that provide content to your widget are not operating correctly; fix any feeds that are "stuck" with a handy refresh button
• Duplicate ("clone") button: create similar widgets quickly and easily.
• Easier to use and more streamlined: We've changed the widget creation process so it's easier to get started. Just pick the template best suited to present your content and go!

If you already have a NewsGator Widgets account, you don't have to sign-up again; all of your existing login credentials will still work here.  If, on the other hand, you haven't yet used Editor's Desk, follow the simple signup information and you'll be making widgets in minutes!  Enjoy.

And, if you'd like to see the full press release, you can view it here.

I'm happy to let you know that the newest version of Editor's Desk will be released next week!  I've written before about some of the exciting new features -- including, but not limited to:

• a 30% faster site
• a search widget tool
• a duplicate ("clone") widget tool
• automated feed monitoring

Our developers here are scurrying to make a few last minute changes before we go live next week.   Until then, for information on how to take the beta version for a spin before it officially launches next week, go here.

About a week ago I told you that we are in the final stages of polishing up the next version of Editor's Desk, which will launch later this month.  I also mentioned some of the truly awesome new features, including: a search widget tool; a duplicate (clone) widget tool; an advanced feed monitoring tool and more.   

I'm happy to say that you can now take the next version of Editor's Desk (beta) for a test drive as we're opening it up for anyone to try out before we officially launch. 

If you already have an account with the current version of Editor's Desk, all you need to do is go here and log in using your existing credentials: Username, Password & OrgCode.  If you don't currently have an account with Editor's desk you will need to signup to create one here and once you've created an account log into the beta Editor's Desk here.

We're excited about the numerous changes we've made to enhance existing features, add new features, and enhance usability, and hope you'll find the changes worth the wait.  Feel free to leave comments on the experience below; and if you run into any bugs (since we're still making some tweaks before release) please send an e-mail to plsupport@newsgator.com.   

If you use NewsGator widgets on your site, but aren't taking advantage of our detailed analytics, then you're definitely missing out.  We've just created a new, in depth, guide to navigating your widget analytics.  Check it out here.