Getting Traction

Mastery of such syntax is, admittedly, a power-user's game. Novices (and rusty experts) require WYSIWYG support, which Traction's Web interface delivers for search but not for content authoring. A companion Windows tool, the Traction Instant Publisher, embeds the Microsoft DHTML edit control that it uses to offer basic WYSIWYG editing of new entries it posts to the server by way of a remote API. It's an HTML editor that supports simple styles and hyperlinking (but not tables), has access to the same labels available in the Web interface, and can search the server as well as post to it.

But the Instant Publisher can't retrieve, edit, or reclassify items that have been posted, and it doesn't simplify use of Traction's link or search syntax. A friendlier interface for novices, who will otherwise struggle to master the deep and powerful Traction engine, should be a top priority in future versions.

The Instant Publisher is, nevertheless, very effective in its primary mission, which is to push raw material onto the server. Running from the Windows tray, it senses the URL in your browser, the e-mail message selected in Outlook, or the document open in Word, and allows you to post any of these with one click. It also includes a handy screen-capture tool.

E-mail is another vital source of raw material. We set up a POP account and told Traction to poll it and move messages into our private project, labeling them as news items. Conversely, we told Traction to send e-mail digests summarizing project activity to team members. This two-way e-mail flow is crucial for adoption in companies that rely heavily on e-mail and on the RIM BlackBerry in particular.

There's much more to Traction than we can say here. The company has deep roots in hypertext, and its engine weaves a dense fabric. Every action is recorded and cross-referenced. Every document's inbound and outbound links can be displayed. Items can be collected and reclassified in batches. The interface is highly skinnable in ways that affect not just appearance, but the level of exposed detail. There's no lock-in to the Traction repository; all data can be easily exported as XML. To create an ad-hoc RSS (Rich Site Summary) feed, you add &skin=rss10 to any view-generating URL; to retrieve search results as XML, you add &theme=xml to any search URL.

Traction can be regarded as an ultrasophisticated PIM (personal information manager). That's just the quality you need in a KM product to get people to actually use it.