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A Sneak Peek into SmoothFunction

You may have been hearing something about SmoothFunction, a not-yet-launched EE add-on website. They’re tagline is: “EE addons for cool people” and they’ve put up a splash page with a prompt to sign up to be notified when they launch. But what is this site? Who’s behind it and when will it launch? I asked the two guys behind the site to send me some background.

SmoothFunction is the collaboration of Tom Jaeger and Jack McDade — we have several modules in development, the flagship of which is “Boomerang” — fully integrated email marketing with templates, WYSIWYG support, reports, bounce detection, click and open rates, test sends, etc. It may not be quite as robust as CampaignMonitor, but you buy it once and you’re DONE.

If you don’t need a full-fledged email marketing module, they also plan to offer a “lite” version of the module:

We’re also releasing a “lite” version of the module without the tracking, reports and advanced features, but including templates, test sends and WYSIWYG support. We’re calling that “Frisbee” and will be released before Boomerang.

Other add-ons they have planned is an Ad Manager that will do all of basic tracking and an add-on that will offer “more robust Google Maps/Geocoding integration.”

I asked them when they plan to launch and the response was that it will be soon. If you’re looking to keep up with what SmoothFunction has planned, be sure to stop by their site and sign up to be notified. As they launch add-ons, I’ll try to review and cover them here on EE Insider.

Posted on Jan 23, 2009 by Ryan Irelan

Filed Under: EE Add-ons

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Am very much looking forward to seeing how Boomerang being released!
Posted by Euan on 2009-04-09 01:09:51 @zac and @sean: I'm sort of amazed people still aren't clear about an all-purpose EE add-on repository - but maybe it's my fault. So I thought I'd clear things up about devot:ee and add-ons. I just posted at the EE forums about this. That should help settle things. Sorry if I wasn't clear about it before!
Posted by Ryan on 2009-02-28 10:19:35 It's back together now!
Posted by Simon Cox on 2009-01-27 06:05:48 @Simon Cox Yeah i saw that this morning Simon, my bad! I threw some meta data in and copied that open tag on accident. Rest assured, the final site with be thoroughly tested :) Thanks for taking the effort!
Posted by Jack McDade on 2009-01-26 06:41:55 I just had a look and there is an unclosed Javascript tag in the head that is preventing the home page from loading correctly - blank screen of doom. I still managed to sign up though after downloading the source and stripping the offending tag out and running the page locally. I hope its a bit easier to use when live!
Posted by Simon Cox on 2009-01-26 04:07:31 @Ryan Irelan and @Sean: Ryan is correct, we'll be launching with some add-ons and will be doing a developer's blog with some of our insights, tips, etc... we hope it will be useful to all!
Posted by Jack McDade on 2009-01-23 18:08:39 Sean, I think they're initially doing just an add-on site, but with some other stuff.
Posted by Ryan Irelan on 2009-01-23 17:02:20 Will this be an add-on site for just their add-ons or will it try to be some sort of centralized list like I asked about in [url=http://expressionengine.com/forums/viewthread/103323/]this forum thread[/url]? frisbee and boomarang definitely sound very cool - Hope I'm cool enough to use it.
Posted by Sean on 2009-01-23 11:45:13 @Jonathan Matlock -- I hope so too. If you aren't cool enough, then nobody is. ;)
Posted by Jack McDade on 2009-01-23 08:52:08 @Zac Gordon: The repository is a great idea. It's something we would love to put together, but I don't want to step on the toes of others who may be working on the same thing, i.e. http://devot-ee.com/ looks like they're planning on doing the same thing. The important part is obviously that it benefits the ExpressionEngine community, so if we can help fill a void, we'd love to do it. We're planning on doing more than just releasing addons. More info on that soon!
Posted by Jack McDade on 2009-01-23 08:49:52 Can't wait. Hope I'm cool enough to use the add-ons. Looking forward to Boomerang and the Ad Manager.
Posted by Jonathan Matlock on 2009-01-23 08:40:44 The other thing that I am hoping for is a solid repository for EE plugins, add-ons, extensions, etc. Or am I the only one who feels like the storage and categorizing of these things could be a bit better architectured and maintained? Not to complain, though, at least there are so many good ones out there. Do you know if SmoothFunction will be providing this service or is it more for their own add-ons and projects? Thanks for the sneak preview :)
Posted by Zac Gordon on 2009-01-23 08:22:09 Yep can't wait to see what they come up with too. All sounds very interesting. The sign-up form was my idea though ;-) Perhaps I should get some kind of copyright rights on that? :-) Best wishes, Mark
Posted by Mark Bowen on 2009-01-23 08:03:15 Really excited to see what you guys come up with!
Posted by Philip Zaengle on 2009-01-23 06:52:17

Philip Zaengle — 06:52 on 01.23.2009

Really excited to see what you guys come up with!

Mark Bowen — 08:03 on 01.23.2009

Yep can’t wait to see what they come up with too. All sounds very interesting.

The sign-up form was my idea though Perhaps I should get some kind of copyright rights on that?

Best wishes,

Mark

Zac Gordon — 08:22 on 01.23.2009

The other thing that I am hoping for is a solid repository for EE plugins, add-ons, extensions, etc.

Or am I the only one who feels like the storage and categorizing of these things could be a bit better architectured and maintained?

Not to complain, though, at least there are so many good ones out there.

Do you know if SmoothFunction will be providing this service or is it more for their own add-ons and projects?

Thanks for the sneak preview

Jonathan Matlock — 08:40 on 01.23.2009

Can’t wait. Hope I’m cool enough to use the add-ons. Looking forward to Boomerang and the Ad Manager.

Jack McDade — 08:49 on 01.23.2009

@Zac Gordon: The repository is a great idea. It’s something we would love to put together, but I don’t want to step on the toes of others who may be working on the same thing, i.e. http://devot-ee.com/ looks like they’re planning on doing the same thing. The important part is obviously that it benefits the ExpressionEngine community, so if we can help fill a void, we’d love to do it.

We’re planning on doing more than just releasing addons. More info on that soon!

Jack McDade — 08:52 on 01.23.2009

@Jonathan Matlock—I hope so too. If you aren’t cool enough, then nobody is.

Sean — 11:45 on 01.23.2009

Will this be an add-on site for just their add-ons or will it try to be some sort of centralized list like I asked about in this forum thread?

frisbee and boomarang definitely sound very cool - Hope I’m cool enough to use it.

Ryan Irelan — 17:02 on 01.23.2009

Sean, I think they’re initially doing just an add-on site, but with some other stuff.

Jack McDade — 18:08 on 01.23.2009

@Ryan Irelan and @Sean: Ryan is correct, we’ll be launching with some add-ons and will be doing a developer’s blog with some of our insights, tips, etc… we hope it will be useful to all!

Simon Cox — 04:07 on 01.26.2009

I just had a look and there is an unclosed Javascript tag in the head that is preventing the home page from loading correctly - blank screen of doom. I still managed to sign up though after downloading the source and stripping the offending tag out and running the page locally. I hope its a bit easier to use when live!

Jack McDade — 06:41 on 01.26.2009

@Simon Cox Yeah i saw that this morning Simon, my bad! I threw some meta data in and copied that open tag on accident. Rest assured, the final site with be thoroughly tested Thanks for taking the effort!

Simon Cox — 06:05 on 01.27.2009

It’s back together now!

Ryan — 10:19 on 02.28.2009

@zac and @sean: I’m sort of amazed people still aren’t clear about an all-purpose EE add-on repository - but maybe it’s my fault.

So I thought I’d clear things up about devot:ee and add-ons. I just posted at the EE forums about this. That should help settle things.

Sorry if I wasn’t clear about it before!

Euan — 01:09 on 04.09.2009

Am very much looking forward to seeing how Boomerang being released!

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