Taking a gander at the Wibiya toolbar
By Ben Henshall
31 January 2011
We recently came across the popular Wibiya 'webshare' bar recently on the WDM website: http://www.wdm.org.uk/ and thought a quick water-cooler review was in order.
There are a few such webshare bars out there and Webiya seems to be particularly popular one - no doubt helped by the fact that there's both a Drupal and WordPress plugin for it: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wibiya/
It's fairly discrete, offers an easy solution in adding several must-have social media options to your website and even the design/ layout of the vanilla version is acceptable. It also comes packed with effectiveness and metric features which gives invaluable insight into your Wibiya's user behaviour.
So far so good :-)
There are a couple of downsides to it though, for example it doesn't work at all with JS switched off and it doesn't load on the iPhone. Even if that's intended, it means that whatever services you choose (inc Search), they won't be available to iPhone users (which, for our clients, commonly represents anything from 5-15% of all visits).
Less of a grumble is that it's unclear how good the search facility is (over one which would be integrated as part of the CMS publishing solution) as it's using Google (delays, dependent upon Google fully spidering your site etc). You'd be well advised to make sure it's up to the job before committing.
There is also a feeling that whilst there's an obvious and growing trend toward integrated/ semi-integrated services in sites there are potential limits. Personally as a web user the general preference is to opt-in rather than be forced to opt-out. Also Wibiya isn't completely tailored to the site experience, instead it's being presented more as an extension (at least style wise) of the browser GUI. The Wibiya widget reminded some in Tincan of the clunky Yahoo/ Google desktop bars that came pre-installed with IE/ Windows. An example of a better solution designed to enhance a site (including social integration links) would be the footer on C4: http://www.channel4.com/news/
Finally, the pinch of salt is that Wibiya isn't free. So it depends on how many of its services a you'd want from Wibiya versus what can be offered in other existing ways where you might have more control (placement, styling and functional control).
In all, be informed - understand who your audiences are and decide whether Wibiya (or another similar sharebar) offers enough and in the right way for them. Choose it for good reasons and not just the attention grabbing features it offers.
A few reads about it and alternatives:
http://www.bloggermint.com/2010/05/apture-says-bye-bye-to-wibiya/
http://www.bloggermint.com/2010/03/meebo-vs-wibiya-vs-add-this-footer-toolbars/
Taking a gander at the Wibiya toolbar
We recently came across the popular Wibiya 'webshare' bar recently on the WDM website: http://www.wdm.org.uk/ and thought a quick water-cooler review was in order.
There are a few such webshare bars out there and Webiya seems to be particularly popular one - no doubt helped by the fact that there's both a Drupal and WordPress plugin for it: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wibiya/
It's fairly discrete, offers an easy solution in adding several must-have social media options to your website and even the design/ layout of the vanilla version is acceptable. It also comes packed with effectiveness and metric features which gives invaluable insight into your Wibiya's user behaviour.
So far so good :-)
There are a couple of downsides to it though, for example it doesn't work at all with JS switched off and it doesn't load on the iPhone. Even if that's intended, it means that whatever services you choose (inc Search), they won't be available to iPhone users (which, for our clients, commonly represents anything from 5-15% of all visits).
Less of a grumble is that it's unclear how good the search facility is (over one which would be integrated as part of the CMS publishing solution) as it's using Google (delays, dependent upon Google fully spidering your site etc). You'd be well advised to make sure it's up to the job before committing.
There is also a feeling that whilst there's an obvious and growing trend toward integrated/ semi-integrated services in sites there are potential limits. Personally as a web user the general preference is to opt-in rather than be forced to opt-out. Also Wibiya isn't completely tailored to the site experience, instead it's being presented more as an extension (at least style wise) of the browser GUI. The Wibiya widget reminded some in Tincan of the clunky Yahoo/ Google desktop bars that came pre-installed with IE/ Windows. An example of a better solution designed to enhance a site (including social integration links) would be the footer on C4: http://www.channel4.com/news/
Finally, the pinch of salt is that Wibiya isn't free. So it depends on how many of its services a you'd want from Wibiya versus what can be offered in other existing ways where you might have more control (placement, styling and functional control).
In all, be informed - understand who your audiences are and decide whether Wibiya (or another similar sharebar) offers enough and in the right way for them. Choose it for good reasons and not just the attention grabbing features it offers.
A few reads about it and alternatives:
http://www.bloggermint.com/2010/05/apture-says-bye-bye-to-wibiya/
http://www.bloggermint.com/2010/03/meebo-vs-wibiya-vs-add-this-footer-toolbars/
