Google does a great job of opening up its applications to developers, yet it’s not exactly a point-and-click affair to get them to work. Until now.
Google’s code, specifically Google Maps, Checkout and Search, are getting a
developer assist by way of WebAssist’s Dreamweaver Tools for Google, a free add-on for Adobe Dreamweaver users.
With the Google Maps integrations, users can add maps to their pages, as well as mark them with multiple data points and customize messages in the location balloon indicators.
Google Checkout, which debuted earlier this year, is another complex technology
that WebAssist is aiming to make easier to implement.
Since Google’s Checkout code is encrypted by default, it’s a task that is not something that is easily done directly in code, Eric Ott, president of WebAssist told
internetnews.com. The WebAssist module provides a visual tool to add and manipulate the Google Checkout
functionality to a site.
Dreamweaver Tools for Google includes Google Search integration, so users can visually set up their search results pages.
Users may also customize the search query parameters to
restrict to certain domains and also to enable or disable Google’s Safe
Search, which excludes objectionable Web pages with explicit content.
Adobe acquired the Dreamweaver suite as part of its acquisition of Macromedia in 2005.
“The thing about Google code is that, while it’s pretty cool, it is still
really geeky to implement,” Ott said.
“That’s where Dreamweaver and WebAssist come in and
we try to reduce the complexity to make it a no-code visual approach to
actually start to leverage Google’s cool services.”
Ott explained that his company took on the cost of developing the add-ons to
Dreamweaver directly without funding from Adobe or Google.
“There are 250,000 customers that have
downloaded our other software. There are 4 million active Dreamweaver users
so we’re still just on the tip of the iceberg.
Ott noted that both the Adobe and Google development teams were interested
in WebAssist’s development and support the effort, though not financially.
“There is a commitment on all sides — the Google, Adobe and WebAssist sides —
to continue to add more to this package.”
