This Story Posted:
March 23rd

 
 

[1:56 PM]
Mac Webmasters Get A Powerful New Tool
PagePlanet Software has announced an update to Modular Gateway Interface (MGI), a WebStar plugin that lets Mac webmasters add in forms, counters, banner ads, and database services through the implementation of simple HTML tags. While the product has a version number of 1.1, this is actually the first public commercial release of MGI. According to Steve Crisp of PagePlanet, the 1.0 version has been in development at PagePlanet for 2 years. According to PagePlanet:

Modular Gateway Interface (MGI) is a revolutionary method of interfacing back-end server functions with your web site that requires no more knowledge than what is needed to combine graphic and text elements to create static web pages. HTML-style tags, written in plain English and each containing a host of intuitive options, integrate directly into the HTML of your web site using a plain-text editor and nothing more. No need for pre-processors. No need to learn yet another arcane syntax. No need to hire and maintain a programming department in order to get a full-featured, database-driven shopping basket on-line in no time at all.

What are the benefits of using MGI?
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  • MGI installs seamlessly into StarNine's WebStar(TM), the leading web server for the Macintosh, and acts in concert with WebStar to make your web sites and intranets actually work for you. As fully compiled code, MGI is as fast as lightning; no more watching scripted solutions turn your server into a snail. As a plug-in to WebStar, MGI eliminates latency as two, three, or more programs communicate with each other via Apple Events; the architecture is self-contained via the WebStar plug-in API. And most important, MGI is unbelievably adaptable to your specific business needs.
  • MGI is built on a dual plug-in basis. MGI server is a plug-in to WebStar, but MGI server also has its own plug-in architecture. Individual tags, of both high-level and low-level functions, plug into MGI server itself. This modular approach gives PagePlanet Software, Inc. several distinct advantages over competing products.
  • Low-Level tags can be combined to create high-level functions, i.e., combine mgiMath, mgiIf, mgiGet, and several other low-level tags and you can create your own shopping basket system. But...
  • Given the nature of the tag plug-in structure, PagePlanet Software, Inc. can pre-combine those tags into a ready-made shopping basket system without you having to do all the work. Come up with a novel way of combining individual tags and we can consolidate them into one simple tag interface.
  • New tags for new functions can be written at any time and installed into the existing MGI superstructure without fear of conflict with other functions. Simply devise a need for mgiIReallyWantToDoThis and it can be written.
  • Development time is cut dramatically for new functions since an entire new class of tags or combination of tags can be written without ever touching the underlying server code. A new feature that used to take many months (or longer, if at all) to incorporate into a commercial product can now be produced in hours or days and released on your schedule, not that of the software development firm.
  • Bug fixes are a breeze. Since each tag is independent of every other tag, any pesky bug that may turn up (and they always do no matter how much development is put into a software product) can be fixed quickly because all we have to do is make the modification to the individual tag -- not the entire software product.
  • Further, MGI tags can be made even more powerful over time without you needing to change one line of code in your existing web site. By carefully considering the optional tag parameters and setting each one to default to a null value, MGI can add additional optional parameters to any tag at any time. That allows you to install the updated tag directly over the old tag and all your functions still work as intended, but now you can extend the tag functions even more.

MGI is priced at US$395.

The Mac Observer Spin: Webmasters everywhere are often faced with the issue of how to implement some features into their sites. Large firms tend to have their own programming staff while smaller firms often get what they can from the myriad of sources on the Internet. This situation has been improved greatly during the last 18 months, especially in the Linux world, but many Mac webmasters have not had access to these same solutions.

We have not tested MGI, but if the product lives up to its promise then Mac webmasters have a very powerful tool indeed. We invite Observers to give us feedback on this product as they use it.

PagePlanet Software