Dojo has just accepted code from Spider Strategies into the toolkit that allows dragging and dropping hierarchical data in a tree format “between” places in the structure!

Like the folder tree we’re all familiar with, we get accustomed to dragging and dropping things from one place to another.  Many of these structures, like file folders, don’t care about the order of the contents. They can sort by things like size or name, but don’t store the order of data.

For more complex data structures, like those in CMS, the order of the data is an important part of the information. Thanks to the code we sent to Dojo, data in a tree can easily be moved from anywhere to anywhere. Previously, you could only drag and drop things into a location. Now it is possible to position things before or after other items, allowing users to intuitively manage their data.

We were recently chosen as one of the Spotlight companies using the Dojo toolkit.  We’ve used open source tools in our applications since the start of the company, but we’re particularly excited about technologies like Dojo because they make it a lot easier to write cutting edge web applications.  Considering the fact that companies like Apple, AOL, and IBM use Dojo, this is quite an honor!

I’ve just published a major update to the website. The look and feel are similar, but there’s a lot more content and I think things are laid out a little better now. I’d love to hear your suggestions!

We’ll publishing even more updates in the coming weeks, so keep your eye out for even more changes.

As Scott mentioned last month, Spider Strategies received an honorable mention for great places to work in Washingtonian magazine. The article is now up on Washingtonian’s website, and you can read about Spider Strategies here.

Washingtonian magazine’s annual “Great Places to Work” issue hit newsstands today, and we got an honorable mention. I haven’t seen the article yet, but as soon as I do I’ll post a copy here. For now, check out the press release for all the details.

Fresh on the heels of our CMS 1.4 product release announcement, we have just put up a new automated product tour showing off the application. Pay special attention to the reporting section – it’s all brand new.

Spider is proud to offer our new updated CMS 1.4 complete with a brand new user guide. We have compiled all of the necessary information along with many screen shots to simplify the learning process as well as provide a good reference for any questions you may have. You can always find the latest versions of our documentation here.

Found this wandering around the web and it is a very entertaining explanation of what Web 2.0 is all about. We are very quickly moving towards the future where the internet is more and more interactive. We are no longer just passive observers of the information, but are now active participants modifying, using, and accessing the data real time. Spider Strategies has been on the forefront of Web 2.0 technologies because we realized at the very beginning, that Web 2.0 was the future for both the internet and web applications.

Our customers don’t want to just look at their data, they want to use it. They want to be able to modify, manipulate, and manage their data. The process for doing so shouldn’t be an entirely new process to learn and manage. Working with the data should be as seamless as any other administrative task. That is what CMS is all about. Designed to work just like any other web page, it requires no special training, and users can quickly find, edit, and share data as quickly as doing a Google search.

Recently I learned that our development manager is having all of our developers read Repeat After Me: I Am Not In The Software Business. I hadn’t read that blog post so I went to it and read it.

Some days the sun shines even when it is raining. Reading that post made this such a day. When we started Spider Strategies, the four of us spent a long time writing our Mission and Vision. In particular, it was very important that we make ourselves different in one particular way:

In today’s world of corporate performance management software, we see the customer left out of this equation all too often. The common formula seems to be simply codifying industry theory and delivering that template via outdated technology.”

Over the past four years, we haven’t changed either our Mission or our Vision. Nor, over the past four years, have we made it a particular point to stress them with our employees. Yet, today, I find that our development manager is passing on the spirit of our Mission and Vision through things like Repeat After Me: I Am Not In The Software Business.

When we say that “Our key distinguisher is, and will always be, our customers.”, we are saying to our employees exactly what Christopher Hawkins says to the software developer community:

“You are not an artiste.
You are not even in the software business.
You are in the problem-solving business.
More to the point, you are in the business-problem-solving business.
The technology problems you solve should always be in the context of solving a business problem.
If the solution to a particular business problem offers less benefit than the effort required to solve it, you should be working to solve a different problem.”

It may be a cloudy, dreary April day in Minnesota today, but for me the sun is shining.

As a gadget lover, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is my annual awards event of choice. Others can have the Oscars, the Grammys, and all of the Pageants combined. For me, it’s all about what new gizmos are coming out that are going to make my life easier, happier, or more productive.

This year was no different. Although life always seems to prevent me from attending, I followed the highlights from the 2007 show in Las Vegas on both CNET and the CES website. As you can see from the list of 2007 Award Winners, these gadgets are all about making life more enjoyable and perhaps even a bit more productive. CES 2007 highlighted everything from a fully voice-activated control system for your car, in the Ford Sync (through a Partnership with Microsoft), to a PDA/Smartphone designed to play TV programs.

Really? TV on a cellphone? Well, this, coupled with Steve Jobs official introduction of the Apple iPhone at Macworld 2007, got me thinking about mobile productivity in the next 2-3 years. Looking back, the last 5 years have brought the onslaught of the Blackberry, Treo, and other PDA/Smartphone generation. These devices have allowed us to get away from our desks (although never away from work), by bringing our email, documents, presentations, and even the web right to our pockets. And now, it seems, TV, videos, music, and more.

So, as the technical world and the business world further collide, will more business be done via hand-held computers? Perhaps the V- Cast and iPhone don’t convince you. But, how about the new OQO Model 2? This is a palm-sized mobile device with the specs of a PC (1.5GHz CPU, 60GB HDD, and 1GB RAM, the model 02 computer supports Microsoft’s next generation operating system, Windows Vista).

Well, since we here at Spider like to be out ahead of the curve, this got us thinking: “How are we going to embrace this new Mobile Generation?” For starters, we modified this very blog page you are reading to make it accessible via mobile-internet. That’s right, your favorite blog is now available anywhere, anytime right from your mobile device.

But, that’s not all. It’s one thing to make your Blog available via mobile internet; In the next several months, Spider will be looking to integrate mobile accessibility into our products. Meaning you would be able to access our Corporate Management Suite via any web-accessible PDA/phone.

We’re just getting started on this, but we are extremely excited about the use of this technology and what it will mean for our customers. In the mean time, if you have any ideas or suggestions on mobile-web applications, we would love to hear them.