DeskPRO

Now that 3.1 beta is out in the open, our work on the infamous instant chat plugin has started once again. We thought we’d venture out of the norm a bit. We’re being all web-2.0 about it (sorry, but you just know I had to use the term sometime).

The tech side of things is being created as a client-side app using Adobe AIR. This basically allows us to create a desktop application using the stuff we know best (HTML and Javascript). AIR has some added benefits over a normal browser. We can write preference files, use local SQLite databases, work with the clipboard… All sorts of neat things. And the added benefit of only having to debug under a single environment will save me from banging my head against the IE icon.

Since the user-side of things is much simpler, it will work in any modern browser without the need to download additional software. Everything is AJAX-driven, no olden-days of continuous refreshes. Our prototype looks very similar to a normal chat window you might find in AIM or MSN, minus nudges, video emotions and other annoying “features”.

By using generic web technologies like HTML and Javascript (perhaps Flash in the future) with the power of AJAX to get and send data, you don’t need to have any special server software like chat daemons; and your techs and users don’t need to load up special chat Java applets or anything like that. Everything can just work.

I’m not going to say what features we are actually planning since they will undoubtedly change. But the spec we have now is pretty cool. When we get further along I’ll try and post more about it.

– Christopher Nadeau