Live Clipboard - Data-Rich Copy/Paste for the Web

Via this post on the Brains4All blog, there’s some information about a slick little Javascript-based tool created by Ray Ozzie tentatively named “Live Clipboard”, a data-rich copy/paste method for the web.

Ozzies’ idea is to have Copy And Paste JavaScript powered XML allowing users to copy and paste XML meta data from site to site from site to pc or vice versa. The idea is simple enough, use JavaScript to trigger events as XML data is read from or posted to the clipboard. Ozzie is calling it Live Clipboard to coincide with Microsoft Live efforts. I’d like to call it CAPJAPOX :).

The implementation is browser independent. Independent as in works on Firefox too. The prototype Ozzie demoed is released under a shared commons license. There is an actual working demo page and there are some videos on line. The videos deal with mock-ups, so I doubt if there is any working technology behind them. Still as an idea its concept is interesting. There is also Ozzies’ own lengthy blog entry about the concept, wiring the web.

You definitely do not want to miss messing with this demo - for anyone that’s ever been frustrated at the copy/paste limitations that browsers have (nothing more that just text really), this kind of thing just might be the answer. Simply load the page up, right-click on one of the orange “scissor boxes” with data in it, select “Copy”, move down to the bottom of that list, right-click on the empty block’s “scissor box” and choose “Paste”. And, if you want to see something very cool, and maybe a little scary, “Copy” one from a Firefox window, open IE, and “Paste” it into the block there.

For anyone that wants to get this kind of thing working over on there site, there’s a great technical introduction posted to step you through the process (including sample code and links to the libraries).