Programmers who might not make the cut for Yahoo's official SearchMonkey gallery now have a new experimental option for propagating their ideas for augmenting Yahoo search results.
"Starting today, even if an app doesn't meet all of the gallery guidelines, it will still be quickly approved as an experimental app provided the basic functionality operates as designed and we don't initially see any other major issues with it," said Nick Cox of the Yahoo search team on the Yahoo Search blog on Friday.
SearchMonkey embeds selected search results into more elaborate packaging. For example, a restaurant appearing in the search results can change from a name with a website link into that plus an address, phone number, map and customer reviews. Programmers create SearchMonkey applications that present
With the experimental option, Yahoo expects the early-adopter crowd will help programmers refine their SearchMonkey applications faster. "We think the early feedback these users can provide will be extremely helpful for developers," Cox said. "This also gives users who opt in an even wider variety of apps from which to choose."
SearchMonkey apps are enabled by default from Zagat, CitySearch, Yelp, LinkedIn and Yahoo Local.SearchMonkey, part of Yahoo Open Strategy, is one element of Yahoo's attempt to make its site more useful and more used. Also in search, Yahoo offers Boss (Build Your Own Search Service) that lets others repackage, reorder and remix Yahoo search results — with revenue-sharing or Yahoo-supplied advertising if the service gets popular.
