Post 3: Next-Gen Web Publisher?

Anyone heard of SynthaSite? Apparently a small, South African start-up, they recently put out a press release for their AJAX-based Web Publishing Platform, signaling their emergence from stealth mode and the release of what their calling the Tech Review (alpha) version.

They're pimping themselves as the next generation of web publishing, touting such capabilities as collaborative site building (shared page editing, sharing templates and components with the community), service marketplace (copywriting, components and templates development), site analytics and monitoring, publishing, deployment and hosting. With a heavy focus on Widgets and Mashups, a key component of their strategy is a SynthaSite "superstore," which will be stocked with widgets, premade templates, and other site items for free or for purchase. According to one review, the beginnings of the "superstore" idea are visible in the tech demo, which allows you to add widgets from Flickr and YouTube via drag and drop. They hope to eventually allow developers and designers to sell custom widgets and templates directly inside the application. From the SynthaSite CEO: "The idea is that a sophisticated developer can write stylesheets and demarcate areas for drag and drop functionality - and then modify as he so pleases. The API will allow developers to construct their own widgets and mashups for use in the demarcated area."

From the reviews I read of the alpha, the response is very positive about the potential, with plenty of praise already for its efficiency and user-friendliness.

For more info on what's coming, they've detailed a product roadmap on their website (hyperlink above).