Scrapplet takes portable site creation to a new level
RadWebTech, a company that specializes in Web technologies, announced Monday that it has opened its hallmark service, Scrapplet, to the public. Scrapplet was formally in private beta.
Friday, I had the opportunity to sit down with Scrapplet's founder and view a demo of the service. In essence, Scrapplet is a blank, browser-based canvas that allows you to drag-and-drop practically anything from any Website and place it on your Scrapplet page.
Want to grab your Twitter stream and put that on the same page as your Friendfeed? With Scrapplet, that's possible. In just a few simple maneuvers, Scrapplet allows you to highlight portions of a Web page or an entire site, drag it to the Scrapplet page, and modify the design of that page to make it fit. In fact, you can resize the site, change the site's colors, and remove borders. In essence, you can create an entire Web page out of existing sites for your own consumption.
Scrapplet, which originally started as a Facebook app, has quickly morphed into a full-fledged Web app that performs extremely well. RadWebTech's CEO, Steve Repetti, believes Scrapplet could be the tool that replaces Netvibes and simple Web design, and I tend to agree.
If you want to have news updates from the Associated Press, scores from ESPN, and images from Flickr on your Scrapplet page, it's as simple as highlighting portions of the page you want or the entire site and dragging them to Scrapplet. From there, they will be updated just as they are on the company's page.
More importantly, each page is portable and can be placed in individual social networking profiles, blogs, or anywhere else across the Web thank to full Javascript code, which is readily available in the app's menu.
Scrapplet canvases offer default objects to add and create news feeds, flash objects, mashups, animation, sliding panels, custom menus, special effects, and more. Each page also automatically generates search engine optimization functions, tracking, and privacy controls to keep unwanted visitors out.
Of course, not everything Scrapplet offers is perfect. I'm still not convinced other companies would be happy with users taking elements of their page and adding it to their Scrapplet page and aside from a fee of $2.95 per month for a non-ad membership and an undisclosed amount for professional members, I'm not sure how easily RadWebTech will be able to monetize the service.
Regardless, Scrapplet, one of the few truly unique services you'll come across, is available now to anyone willing to register. If nothing else, it's worth trying and playing around with.
RadWebTech offered CNET readers a Premium offer with registration. If you want to use it, type in "CNET" upon registration to get the freebie.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
