Joe's Apt.

While at AT&T in 2003, I had the opportunity to help bring the Google Search Appliance to the corporate web. Talk about your breaths of fresh air. This was a marked and welcome contrast to all the former search engines I had helped deploy, care and feed. The GSA is the Honda and MacOS of enterprise search. It not only sells itself, it just works.

Through the years, Google has made numerous improvements, and they’ve never failed to impress. However, there’s one thing I always wished for but never quite got: full-tilt standards compliant, semantically-rich markup.

To be fair, I’m sure their wish list is a mile long! Besides, there’s no shortage of goodies to be found in all of their GSA offerings. It’s not like they’re sitting still, but this standards thing - well, that’s one itch I just had to scratch. Partly to see if I could do it, and partly because I believed it would be useful and worthwhile.

In June, fresh out of T, I appealed directly to the folks at Google Enterprise. Perhaps I could help make this particular wish come true? Pretty please?

Answer: Yes!

Now, I’m pleased to announce the first of two new add-ons for Google Enterprise customers: the Google Search Appliance Mobile Stylesheet. It consists of:

• An XHTML Mobile Profile (XHTML-MP) compliant and handheld-friendly user interface (XSLT).
• A handheld-friendly OneBox template (XML/XSLT).

The user interface preserves Google Search Appliance features relevant to enterprise search while also honoring many of the paradigms set forth by Google Mobile Search.

“But wait - there’s more!” You also get well-formed, valid, semantically sane markup in less than half the size of the default XSLT (of course - we’re talking mobile here!). The XSLTs have been road-tested on the inimitable Opera Mini browser and the resultant XHTML makes the W3C Validator plenty happy.

Of course, there’s always room for improvement. For instance, not all handheld browsers understand XHTML-MP (WAP 2.0) just yet. Many only work with WML (WAP 1.0), and we had to pick just one for starters - so we went with 2.0. I’m hopeful we can integrate some automagic detection of handheld devices in the future, perhaps using something like WURFL, and generate device-appropriate markup. We also can’t ensure validity of cached content/markup … yet. All in good time.

So - Google Enterprise customers, enjoy! I look forward to hearing feedback, ideas and suggestions. Please note that Google Enterprise is the official steward of this. It’s my open-source contribution to their code base. Still, I’m eager to hear what folks do with it, what snags they hit, and what they’d like to see in the future.

Last but not least, stupendously huge thanks to Jeff, Kevin, Kristin, Matt and everyone else at Google who helped shepherd this along. I had a blast working on it.

• Read the announcement by Google.
• Download the Google Search Appliance Mobile Stylesheet.
• Browse all Google Enterprise code contributions.

(Wait - what’s that? The second add-on? Oh! Yes, of course. That’s on deck and still under wraps. Stay tuned. Update: Read part two.)

Posted by Joe at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (1)

If you’re in the Somerset County, NJ area today through Saturday, I’ll be playing drums for the Trilogy Repertory Company production of Peter Pan. This isn’t the Disney-i-fied version either. This is the original Broadway production (only without Mary Martin/Cyril Ritchard; or Sandy Duncan … or Cathy Rigby). Also - yes, they’re flying Peter, Lisa and the Darling children in this version. :)

The first three shows were held last week and it’s going extremely well. Everyone is such a genuine pleasure to work with - very pro - and I think that excitement has translated well to the audience. We’re playing to an average of 800+ a night (it’s an outdoor amphitheatre), and just last night my son overheard several kids and parents raving about it at the local library. Arright!

If you can make it, bring a lawn chair and/or something to sit on, a picnic basket if desired … and - just in case you should need it - some form of bug repellant. (Better to be prepared.) Don’t forget to stop by the orchestra pit and say hello.

Peter Pan, presented by Trilogy Repertory Company, July 13-15, 20-22 @ 8pm, Pleasant Valley Park Amphitheatre, Basking Ridge, NJ. Information: +1 (908) 604-4800.

Posted by Joe at 9:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Why, just last week I finally got the greenlight to apply for an LLC, and did so! Only one small wrinkle now:

As of today, New Jersey is closed. [UPDATE: As of Saturday the 8th, it’s reopening. Yay!]

This chart (on a page humorously mistitled “Sports Graphic”) shows how many state employees are declared essential and how many aren’t. I don’t see any departments for business or taxation listed, but I presume those are under the commerce or treasury entries. The numbers are, of course, a bit anemic, given the circumstances.

Receiving a Business Certificate, for me at least, is a big prerequisite - a prelude to a host of new opportunities. Of course, if there’s no-one around to process, approve, print and mail all those rectangular pieces of paper …

Ahh well. I’ve got other fish to fry. There’s still plenty of other work to be done. (You too?)

Posted by Joe at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)