I’ve recently been having some interesting chats with Maxim Shklyar about his latest project XIML (ksimel). Melbourne-based Shklyar has come to Australia via Minsk (Belarus) and Israel and has built up a really good portfolio of work along the way.

XIML, however, takes things to a whole new level.

XIML is a technology for creating rich, interactive web/mobile sites and applications with seamless video and audio integration. 

XIML lets you create rich Flash-based content without the need for programming in, knowing, or even owning Flash. It is a simple XML-based markup language that aims to provide functionality previously available only with complex programmed applications. The bet bit, XIML is fast to learn and easy to use yet very powerful.

Since it was first presented in public at CeBIT Australia XIML has been busy racking up award nominations. Included in the list are:

• ZDNet Australia and CeBIT 2008 Emerging Innovation Award.
• CeBIT.AU Excellence in New Media Award 2008.
• CeBIT.AU Early Innovators Award 2008.

During our conversations, Shklyar talked me through why he developed XIML

The growing need for multimedia and interactive development has resulted in more complex and sophisticated requirements. However, existing technologies either do not support rich media or are complex and require a lot of knowledge to use. No solution today provides full control over interactive new media without programming. XIML addresses the need by creating a simple to use technology that provides seamless integration and full control over interactivity, video, audio, flash movie clips, and more.”

He also explained why XIML is better than existing technologies

There are very few technologies available today for client-side interface development.

• HTML was developed 20 years ago for text layout and it is very limited when it comes to interactive and rich media integration. XIMLis a modern language that was created purposefully for interactive and multimedia.
• Adobe Flash is powerful, however requires specialist knowledge and programming skills. XIML enables to achieve same results without the need in knowing or even owning Flash software.
• Adobe Flex uses markup language, but it also requires programming and is limited in the final look and feel. XIML is much easier to use markup language, doesn’t require programming and much more flexible in terms of achievable design.
• Slide (slide.com), Sprout (sproutbuilder.com), Wix (wix.com) and similar services are template-based widget builders and are very limited in the results that can be achieved. XIML doesn’t have limitations of a template-based system and allows implementing any complex design.

As I mentioned earlier, Shklyar has worked in web development for years with a nice portfolio of work. He even has nice sized proof of concepts for XIML including the Culture Victoria for Arts Victoria (Australia) website and touchscreens

Shklyar plans to use a “freemium” model, as well as custom site builds, to monetise the tech, but his primary goal at the moment is to get 1 Million implementations of XIML in the next 12 months. That’s a big number, but when you consider that millions of websites are created every month and that most of them could benefit from a simple to use, yet powerful interactive webdev tool, it just might be achievable.

Should be interesting to hear first feedback from web developers on how easy it is to use and also to see how he goes with achieving that goal.

Stay tuned for an update…