Web Editing and Content Management

I have been working in the web industry for the last 10 years and ran into the same problems, over and over with poorly served solutions. So last year, when the opportunity arose, I decided to try and harness one of the major issue in web development, the holly grail of the web designer and developer: the ultimate WYSIWYG editor.

The Web started static, with editing tools like FrontPage or Dreamweaver to help a minority of HTML savvy people to build their personal homepage. With the introduction of high-level server scripting languages (PHP/ASP/Coldfusion), Websites were built with a "back-office", often custom-made, to enable content administration by the end-users. Today, open source Content Management Systems like Joomla give some more freedom, at low cost, to edit and custom build a website with minimal skills. But these tools still require a training course for the average user and can be tricky. They do not offer an instant result: you still have to go through the back-office and fill in forms that do not match the final layout.

Whatever the tool, it still look like this when you come to edit web pages:
- Update/Add content from the back-office
- Check the output on the website
- Go back to the back-office to fix the glitches
- Repeat from step one until you get the wanted result

If you want to add an image, you have to go through a extra software to resize/crop and re-sample before to upload. In many cases you end-up with a poorly resized/compressed image that does not fit your layout.

How come that you can easily edit and style a text document with your word processor but you can't do the same with your website?

We now have enough maturity with technologies like Ajax, powerful CPUs to run heavy Javascript and big broadband connections to do such a thing. The Web standards have become a priority in web development and we all use stable and mature web browsers. We just lack the right piece of software ... I am trying to build it: it is called PageLayer.

PageLayer provides all the basic styling feature you need on a web page. You can move things around to re-organize your content. It includes an image editor with the features you need for you website and keep an original version of your pictures for you to be able to change your mind and crop/resize again without quality loss. All of this happens in your browser, directly on your website, using your layout.

Check-out the PageLayer demo to understand how easy web editing can be. Just imagine how fast you can update a website with such a tool.

Sadcamp

It's been a busy week for me. Very tense too, waiting for the Seedcamp judges answer. Sadly I did not make it to the short list.

I expected failure for a few reasons:
- the lack of a team: I am currently working alone.
- a business plan that does not match the 2.0 social trend?
- revenues expectations a little low, maybe, for venture capitalists
- strong competitors (Google?)
- a too old founder: I am over 30 now :(

Finally, my project is still in the very (too) early stage and will involve a lot of development to get ready for a public use. I have a good prototype running but it is not yet a complete software.

The only regret I have so far, is that Seedcamp did not provide any feedback on the unsuccessful applications. I realize they are very busy, but the idea has been discussed on their forum and I am sure they could answer that need quite easily. We'll see.

So it is time for me to go the next step on my own and try to spread the word about my work. For those who are interested into web development and Javascript, have a look at www.pagelayer.com. I would be more than happy to get some feedback about PageLayer: I am seeking some cheering up to keep working.

Stay tuned, I'll keep posting about PageLayer and the way it evolves.

P2P Financial Loan in France

www.friendsclear.com has applied to Seedcamp. Another promising French start-up is taking the challenge to just become big. It's not that I am being patriotic, but I am so glad to see French people getting over the usual and traditional fear of success - or failure. France (and Europe to be fair and less patriotic) has a lot of very talented people with the will to succeed. It is now notorious that we just lack some momentum, daring investors and the right place to mix them all up together in order to achieve success. London, with Seedcamp, could be that place.

The Friendsclear chaps have had some fears about the "huge" contribution (10% stake for EUR50K) announced by Seedcamp, but they went over it, with reason I am sure, as it is an extraordinary chance to meet the right people, at the right time and get all the benefits from it.

In my opinion, it is just a shame that all of this happens 3 years after the first signs of the expending web 2.0 bubble in the US. Once again we are late. But wait, the bubble hasn't burst yet and something is coming along. Small companies are applying, working tremendously to polish their prototypes, building up networks and blogs just to let the world know they exist and that the future of the web has to go with them. This is just great!

I just cross all the fingers I have got for them as I believe they have all they need to succeed.

Go France!

The guys at Upshot are making a lot of noise about their application to Seedcamp. I am glad to see some frenchies fighting their way up to the start-ups nirvana.

The Upshot website does not tell much about the product but that's what start-ups are all about, right? Anyway, their idea looks good and as they say: "Upshot in London, it's cool"

I am expecting some more participants to have their say too, but the Seedcamp community appears to be very quiet so far. (Is this because of confidentiality?)

Well, I am a little bit jealous and would like to have such buzz about my application too: I am actually a frenchy in a sort of an outpost position, already on the right side of the English Channel.

For that, I would need to give away a link to some sort of demo, but wait, I am just keeping the logs clean to spy on the Seedcamp guys and check when they give my baby a little run ;)

Applied

Here we go. I applied to Seedcamp and I am now fingers crossed waiting for an answer.

The rules were strict but they said "it's OK to break the rules", so I did. If ever I get selected, I will probably end up being the older guy around, and certainly the only one alone. Lacking what is expected to be a "solid core team" is my biggest disadvantage and what makes me a "not so good match" for what Seedcamp is looking for.

Anyway, I believe in my product, I am proud of my prototype and all the people who have seen it so far have been really enthusiastic (well, mainly ... some were jealous though).

If it does not work out, I will keep trying, my way.