I spotted the blog post I've been dreading for the past couple of weeks: New browser-based aggregator turns on. Why have I been dreading such a product launch? Because I've been working on something similar, and I was hoping I'd be the first at doing something... for once.

What I've been working on is also a browser-based feed aggregator, where the client is 100% DHTML and communicates with the server using a REST-like API (invoked through XMLHttpRequest). I'm not sure if FeedTagger is going in that direction, but IMHO, that API the client uses to communicate with the server is far more significant than the client or the server alone (or even together).

The API I'm designing, if adopted widely (a big if, I know), could do for feed aggregation what IMAP did for email. Such an API will make the whole web-based vs desktop feed aggregator decision unnecessary, as much as the desktop email vs webmail choice is moot when using something like IMAP (or even MS Exchange) to sync your mailbox; you can use any client (or server) you want, without (or with little) loss of (meta)data.

Anyway, I wasn't going to talk about all this until I had a fully functional prototype and the API was fully documented, but hey, the cat got out of the bag prematurly. In fact, if it weren't for scav, you'll probably be looking at a functional demo by now (with full source!). Alas, you'll have to wait a few more days.