middlespot

middlespot and mashtabs

We've been working hard these last couple of months to really enhance the features behind middlespot.com. Because most of you reading this blog will be first time users of middlespot, we thought it would be good to give a quick background of why we are building this unique visual interface.

Our efforts with middlespot have always been about creating a better way to discover, interpret, and manage digital content, in all its formats.

At the heart of middlespot.com is our unique user interface. This interface has many similar characteristics to mapping software, letting you magnify, pan, and annotate your content in a two dimensional interface. Think of middlespot as an enormous, blank two dimensional work surface that you can populate with webpages, videos, music, documents, files, widgets, embeddable code, and pretty much any digital content. Best of all, you can place each piece of content wherever you like, letting you create clusters and stacks of content based on how you think they are related and relevant to one another. And don't forget, you can always do a quick search using the search bar at the top of the interface to find new content for your mashtab.

The middlespot work surface has no defined edge, so you can continue to populate it in any direction as far as your content takes you. Each collection you create is a called a mashtab (although you can rename it anything you like). You can create as many as you like. Each mashtab is like a destination, a collection of what you consider relevant information around whatever task or topic is important to you.

Being able to share your collection is something we think is very important. You can set various levels of collaboration with others, and you can share your mashtab via email, twitter, embedding, and short URL. We've started to see lots of great uses for mashtabs, from people creating start pages for their daily browsing, to launch pages for their Kids made of website the parent's have approved, to highly topical collections of webpages, widgets, and documents around hobbies and projects. We hope you try and create your own mashtab and share your results with us. As well, feedback is extremely valuable to us in helping define the future features that will make middlespot.com that much better for you.

Introducing mashtabs on middlespot.com.

a mashtab lets you collect relevant websites, links, images, videos, files, and embeddable code in one central spot.  Using middlespot's unique visual interface, you can then zoom in and out of any item you have collected in the same way you interact with online maps.  Since your mashtab is stored in the cloud, you can access it from anywhere, or even embed it in your webpage or blog. Want to collaborate with others? simply email or twitter your unique mashtab URL to anyone and allow others to add, comment, and rearrange your comment with straight forward collaboration tools.  

check out this mashtab about space lego to get a sense of what you can collect, organize and share, directly in middlespot.com or on your own webpage.

http://midd.me/KQOc