Featured Blog Posts (37)

A new iteration of the Ning Apps documentation has been uploaded, with the following items:

• Sandboxes must now be created by contacting the Ning Help Center.
• Removed ning.main view, UserPrefs and EnumValues sections.
• Added a section explaining that Network Creators and Admins can display or hide all profile views to members.

To download a PDF of the newest version of the Ning Apps documentation,… Continue

(Note: This is a re-post of Nick's post on the Ning Blog. Please direct any particular feedback there so we can manage responses more efficiently. Thanks!)



We are excited to announce that Ning Apps will debut in early September!



When you create a Ning Network around a specific interest or passion, you need a diverse feature set that allows you to be creative and… Continue

Having a Ning App write to the activity stream (using opensocial.requestCreateActivity) is the most effective way to drive visibility and traffic to your application directly from the main page of a social network.



We can see opensocial.requestCreateActivity in action by using the OpenSocial Dev App tool; you can install the OpenSocial Dev App tool on a Ning Apps sandbox by going to http://NETWORKNAME.ning.com/opensocial/ningapps/addByUrl to add an XML file manually (replacing… Continue

Hi everyone,

After a private beta period and some extensive performance and feature analysis, we're currently planning to make Ning Apps available to all social networks on Ning in mid-August. We appreciate your patience and flexibility as we finalize the last of our product testing and development, and will follow-up as the date gets closer with more specific information.

Thanks,
- Ernie

A new iteration of the Ning Apps documentation has been uploaded, with the following items:

• Added section "What Ning Apps Can and Can Not Do"
• Further clarified the section "UserPrefs and EnumValues" -- UserPrefs are unavailable in the Profile or Canvas View.
• All Ning Apps titles should have a maximum length of 24 characters.
• Fixed a broken PNG file related to the subnavigation.
• Added…

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A new iteration of the Ning Apps documentation has been uploaded, with the following items:

• Added section "Getting Ning Container-Specific information with ning.core.AppStatus"
• Changed XML sample for section "Navigating Between Views and Passing Parameter Information"
• Added content for the section "UserPrefs and EnumValues"
• author_email in the ModulePrefs header is now accessible to Network Creators in the Ning Apps Directory; the "What you MUST…

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Hi everyone!



As you may have heard, beta testing for Ning Apps are currently underway for a select group of social networks.



Ning Apps is similar to Profile Apps in that they both use OpenSocial APIs to get data about members of a social network, but Ning Apps contain additional views to show functionality at the main page of a social network, along with additional canvas and profile page views. As Ning is unique to… Continue

I've been working with the OpenSocial community since the first Campfire One when OpenSocial was announced. Over the past year I've learned that the members of the community are our greatest resource - both for moving the OpenSocial spec forward and for helping each other build successful OpenSocial apps.



Today we announced an all new… Continue

Social platforms, like Ning, facilitate new game mechanics as well as providing new opportunities to engage users and increase game distribution. It's certainly no replacement for compelling game play (that is, you still need a good game) but exploiting the capabilities of the social web can help get your game the traction it needs. Incorporating this technology can be time consuming (though it doesn't have to be) but the benefits far outweigh the… Continue

To add an Application, click on the "Add Applications" link that appears in the left column of your profile page, beneath your photo:







This will take you to the Application Directory, where you can browse all Applications or view them by category. When you find an Application that you'd like to add, click on the "Add to My Page" button and then confirm by clicking "Add Application". The Application will now appear on your profile!…



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Hi everyone!



Here are two more two additional tools that OpenSocial developers may find useful:



1. As previously mentioned on the OpenSocial API Blog, there is now a wiki for all things OpenSocial. The wiki contains tutorials, API references and information about other social network containers. While still in its… Continue

Today, I'm happy to announce the OpenSocial Dev App: a tool that lets you prototype and debug JavaScript code against a live container environment. Its aim is to ease the learning curve of those unfamiliar with the OpenSocial JavaScript APIs, as well as give experienced developers a quick way to test new containers and API methods without the hurdle of writing full XML specs, uploading files to a server, or… Continue

Hi everyone!



So, the good news is that there have been a lot of applications to review for the Ning Application Directory. More Applications mean more variety, and that's a good thing.



But the bad news is this: because a lot of OpenSocial Application developers haven't taken the time to look at the Best Practices page on the Ning OpenSocial Documentation, we've had to reject a lot of the applications right off the bat, or at least it's been a lengthy… Continue

Hi everyone!



As part of the 10/17 platform release, we are upgrading all social networks to a new configuration that uses PHP 5.2.6, an upgrade from PHP 5.2.3. This will occur at a gradual basis, with groups of networks upgraded at once. As this is a minor release it's very unlikely that it will impact any of the software that you've… Continue

Something look different? Yeah, we think so too. Hopefully, in a good way :)



As you've figured out by now, we just launched a redesigned Ning Developer Network to emphasize the amazing stuff you can do on Ning with OpenSocial 0.7 APIs.



From our new Ning Developer Network, you also now have the opportunity to submit your OpenSocial applications to the Ning Application Directory, where your applications will be showcased to millions of members across the over 500,000 social… Continue

Received an early Christmas gift - a big Amazon gift certificate. Here's what I chose.

• Design Patterns. This must be the third time I've purchased this book. My first copy was lost; my second, left at my previous employer. When I first encountered this book in 1997, it was a revelation - these beautiful structures and patterns, crisply named and catalogued - Observer, Memento, Adapter, Visitor, Façade… Brilliant…

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Joshua Bloch: How To Design A Good API & Why It Matters (video, 1 hour). Brian's also got a good list of API links that I'll be reading through next.



Douglas Crockford: Advanced Javascript (three videos totalling 1 hour). On prototypal inheritance.…



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