April 22, 2009

Axiom part of Google Analytics API launch

Axiom Software submitted an example of the new Google Analytics API back in February. We had been looking to add some way to add this kind of information in for some time. When you submit your information for a beta launch, you never know if you will be chosen or overlooked. Axiom was part of another beta launch last year when NPR launched their API and we released SearchableRadio.com.

For this example we pulled in Google Analytics data directly into the CMS so content managers can see URL metrics as they are manipulating content.  Page views and conversions, shown as count and percentage, give content managers the ability to view fundamental analytics without leaving the system. The data shown within the CMS is configurable on a content-type basis (Pages may show page views, while Landing Pages show conversions).

We also included an icon which links into the Google Analytics interface directly to the page for more complete analytical information.

We were happy to be chosen!
 

March 14, 2009

URL Rewrites, made easy

Stephan Spencer wrote a blog series regardingURL Rewrites and Redirects. He explains the gory details of Apache’s mod_rewrite module, discusses rules and regular expressions. He constructs and deconstructs, writes and rewrites and talks about directives and domains. It’s all very good, it’s also unnecessary.

Do you know anything about Apache? Do you know what the htaccess file is or how to program anything. You may think this leaves you at a disadvantage. You know your website, you know what URLs may need to be rewritten but need to rely on an IT department to make the changes (drawn out and costly) or you can follow through and learn the guts of Apache modrewrite…or you can use a tool that helps you make the changes, no programming required, on any website. No tool like that you say, there is one. MeetSEOversite.

SEOversite is Web-based software that allows you to rewrite URLs or proxy content through a series of very easy-to-use wizard interfaces. Find the URL among your content shown in the interface, choose what type of rewrite, temporary or permanent, then choose the new URL you want to point to. That’s it. The rewrite rules are written and passed to Apache to be served for each request. It is that easy. No scripts to write and nothing to execute.

Come see us atSXSW, booth 410 and we’ll be glad to show you how easy it is. We’ll also show you this isn’t the only thing SEOversite can do. Do you have software that alerts you when your content is missing page titles, meta-keywords and meta-descriptions? Wouldn’t it be great to manage SEO elements from one place, no matter where the content stored or served from? Yep, SEOversite does that too.

February 6, 2009

SEO: improve your basics

What I’ve learned about SEO combined with looking at many sites brings me to one conclusion; if people complete basic optimization they’d be way ahead of the curve and in a better place to actually start tweaking their website SEO.

By basics I’m talking about friendly URLs, having all of your meta content in place, ensuring you have sitemap.xml and robots.txt files and knowing how many backlinks you have pointed to your site. Being armed with this basic information is going to improve the footing of a well architected website.

Friendly URLs are helpful to not only the search engines but also the humans who interact with you site. Changing URLs from a series of numbers, question marks and strange characters to actual words that make sense with dashes in between (www.mysite.com/retail-products) will increase the likelihood of having more of your site crawled. Some content managed sites have these types of URLs by default. Look for aCMSthat uses friendly URLs oruse toolsthat allow you to re-write the URLs, making them friendly. Making sure you having unique title tags and meta content will also improve these chances.

Make sure you sitemap.xml file is in place and up-to-date. This is important for showing the crawlers the way, as well as setting the frequency of when they should come back. The robots.txt file needs to be in place for those pages you don’t want indexed, but make sure it’s correct and not blocking the entire site from being crawled.

Backlinks are necessary since you site is judged or graded within search engines by how many links you have pointing to it. Knowing just how many you have and how many you gain or lose over time is a great start. But, there is really only one way to legally increase the amount of backlinks, you need to have content interesting enough that others want to link to it. Start with good and interesting content. Make a site with information people want to know about and feel that need to want to share it with others.

Start with getting your basics in place. Find out what your missing pieces are andfind a toolthat lets you make the updates. Make sure your content is interesting, look at it through the eyes of others. Having these basics in place will greatly improve your chances of you site being seen not only by search engines, but eventually your clients, customers or those whom you are targeting.

February 4, 2009

Axiom Software showing at SXSW 2009

Axiom Software Inc. is once again exhibiting atSouth by Southwest, March 14-17, 2009. SXSW is an exciting and cutting edge conference filled with all types of industry people from web developers and SEO professionals to gamers and bloggers. It’s a fun place turn learn from each other and one of the best networking shows each year.

Axiom will be talking to people about our open sourceAxiom Stackweb framework. Now open sourced, Axiom Stack is a popular Java-based stack which usesserver-side Javascriptfor all of its application code. We will also be talking aboutAxiom CMS, which is built on the Axiom Stack technology. Recently re-licensed under GPL, Axiom CMS features a search-based interface and many of the features you come to expect on larger content management systems. Come by and let us show you the Axiom CMS and how you can use it to improve your production.

Axiom Software will also be launching our newest product,SEOversite. SEOversite gives anyone the ability to optimize their website, including URL and meta content management, without programming or IT experience. Our dashboard shows you alerts to issues you didn’t know you had. Find and fix them with SEOversite.

Act on your SEO reports and analytics research without having to go through an IT provider or consultant. SEOversite is unique because it sits outside your system and works with your current content management, e-commerce and analytics systems.

Come see us at SXSW. We can’t wait to show you what we’ve been doing.

November 10, 2008

New Axiom Stack site launched!

We've been working hard on the newAxiom Stack website(well ok, Nick has been working the hardest) and boy are we excited about it.

We changed the look, made it a bit more functional that design oriented. We added search and now the fullAxiom Stack documentationis searchable and downloadable! Woo hoo.

We've added acommunity sectionwith all the areas where you can find Axiom Stack including this blog,twitter, google groups forannouncementsandforumsand ourIssue Tracking site.

The most important area we've added issupport. Now you can sign up and get support for your Axiom Stack build. We have email and phone support available depending on the plan you take. This will make it much easier for you to get you questions answered by us and keep moving along with your project.

Ourdocumentationis constantly being updated. We added in more tutorials and how to's. We've opened aPartner's area(ask us how to become one) and we introduce you to theAxiom Team.

Go and take a look. Let us know what you're working on, get involved in the community and ask us how you can get support.

Give Axiom Stack a try, you won't be disappointed.

October 9, 2008

Axiom Software and Joyent - The Stack Is-a-Rollin'.

We like choices. We assume you do too. In helping you see the advantages of the Axiom Stack, we've teamed up withJoyentto give you the tools to power your applications with our framework and their state-of-the-art servers.

Having used the services at Joyent, we can say that we were both pleased and impressed. Their Accelerators are simple to setup, easy to use and cost effective. This means you can now go to Joyent, andin a few steps, have a server configured and ready to go with Axiom Stack.

We are pleased to be teaming up with Joyent.Kent Langley wrote about Axiom Stack deployment on Joyent Acceleratorson the Joyent Blog.

"I think of Axiom Stack as a Javascript Platform as a Service (PaaS) on top of Joyent’s Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). As such, I think it could be of interest to a number of people."

Joyent's Accelerator gives you the ease and flexibility of cloud computing. Dynamically expand your instance in minutes. The power and scalability of the Joyent Accelerator combined with the ease of the Axiom Stack make a lineup that can help build and host dynamic applications better and faster.

Go toJoyentand check it out today.

September 11, 2008

Documentin' Ain't Easy

Creating a documentation system for Axiom Stack has been a unique challenge and I wanted to elaborate a bit on what we've come up with to do the job. 

Most widely used languages have good code-level documentation tools already: RDoc for Ruby, Javadoc for Java, etc.  You comment your code according to the coventions of the tool and the tool in turn takes them and spits out some nicely formatted, human-readable documentation. 

Our challenge: not everything in the Axiom Javascript environment is implemented in Javascript!  Axiom Stack itself is written in Java, while applications are written in Javascript.  The JS API available to your application code comes from two sources:

- Pure Java objects, wrapped up and exposed to the scripting layer via Rhino.  This is stuff like theAxiomObjectprototype and theappobject.

- Modules and libraries written in Javascript.  We include a number of utility libraries (like theftplibrary) and enhancements to existing JS prototypes like Array and String in this fashion.

So, we couldn't simply run the language-appropriate tool over all our code and be done with it.  Here's how we did it:

First, we created a class that used Sun'sDoclet APIto run over all our Java classes.  Any classes marked as exposed to the scripting layer are transformed into stub Javascript. This code doesn't do anything, but serves as an empty frame forjsdocto parse, and is thrown away after the build has completed. Quick example:

/** 
 * Grates cheese of your choice.
 * @jsconstructor
 */
public class CheeseGrater(){
 	/**
	 * @param {String} cheeseType Type of cheese.
	 */
   	public CheeseGrater(String cheeseType){
		    // ...
	}

	/**
	 * Grate up some cheese!
	 */
	public GratedCheese grate(){
		// ...
  	}			
}

Becomes:

/**
  * Grates cheese of your choice
  * @param {String} cheeseType Type of cheese.
  * @constructor
  */
function CheeseGrater(/**String*/ cheeseType){}

/**
  * Grate up some cheese!
  * @returns {GratedCheese}
  */	  
CheeseGrater.prototype.grate = function(){}

Then, we run jsdoc over both the Java-generated stub code and the real Javascript in our libraries and presto! Usable documentation.

September 4, 2008

Consider It Open

TheAxiom Stacksource code has been opened. It was a fairly large undertaking to get the source out to all of you in a way that made sense and made it easy. Also, we didn't want to release the source withoutdocumentation.

So, we cobbled together a documentation tool based onJSDoc. This grabs methods within the Javascript context including the Java specific methods. This is extremely handy as we no longer have to use two tools for documentation. This means that you'll get more and better documentation as the projects progress.

Also, we had to get some licensing in place. This is important because we want you to be able to view and modify the source. Ultimately we'd like to include what you're working on in our codebase too. More heads are better than one.

In the same spirit that we provided the source to you, we'd like you to do for others. This is the reason we put the stack under theAGPL license. If you'd prefer to not reveal yoursecret sauce, we understand. Feel free tocontact usto discuss other arrangements.

One other thing we did was to create aforum systemon top of the stack. We like the phrase "eat your own dogfood". We're in the process of revamping parts of it as I type this, but it is available for use right now. Feel free to take it for a test drive, we're watching them so you can ask all the questions you'd like...unless you're a bot...then stay out.

Overall, this was a big deal for us. We wanted to give back to the community that gave and continues to give to us. Thanks, enjoy, and let us know what you think. We'd love to hear from you.