Vision

JSonSails is an application engine designed to make the creation and management of personalized web content easier.

Pesonalized modules & user data

An example of personalized web content is an online medical treatment plan, which guides patients through a tailored treatment experience. In this case content is determined by personal information about the patient. This information might be collected within the system, or loaded into the system from an external source. JSonSails greatly reduces the overhead associated collection and management of personal data, and it also makes it easier to integrate data into the content or display logic.

Another example is strategic content delivery, for example to satisfy the needs of a collaborative online task such as students reviewing one another’s homework assignments. In this case, the design strategy might simply be to ensure everyone who submits an assignment reviews an assignment which is not their own.

JSonSails removes the need for traditional server configuration and database management in creating data driven web applications. Thus we expect that for a wide range of web content and applications it will be easier to develop, deploy, and maintain in this environment. For example, we also envision the use of JSonSails for delivering general content similar to WordPress.

In-browser Development Environment (IDE)

JSonSails offers a minimalist but complete “in browser” development environment. The IDE doesn’t require any special configuration or setup, and is meant to eliminate the need for setting up personal development environments.

We take inspiration from other online web coding environments like JSFiddle, and integrate a code editor into the browser, however the IDE is designed to support both coding and non-coding tasks. For example, the IDE supports reviewing and editing code, as well as creating new resources and content by borrowing and combining existing resources. It also supports configuring, and releasing content.

In-browser Configuration Environment (ICE)

To support configuration of modules by non-technical developers we expose a configuration only interface (ICE) for modules. ICE hides many of the more technical IDE options, exposing only the UI needed for configuration and giving a high priority to the module configuration process.

Online marketplace

JSonSails integrates permission and payments so that when you build something, you can sell it! Conversely, when you use something from user data to configuring a module, perhaps you’ll buy it rather than build your own! Of course JSonSails supports free transactions, but we’ve integrated the the ability to charge others by credit card for use of a resource. We collected payments via credit card, and reconcile with the Payee each month by sending checks in the mail.