Google's OpenSocial API has been available for several months, but the company hasn't provided much of a sandbox in which developers can test the social software.

That changed Aug. 21 when Google launched Partuza (Spanish slang for "party"), a sample social networking site where programmers can write and test their OpenSocial widgets on their own computers. Here is the live Partuza site.

Partuza is written in PHP and is available under the Apache open-source license. This allows developers to see how they can use PHP Shindig to add OpenSocial support to their sites and even take the code and use it directly in their social network.

Started by Google Nov. 1 2007, OpenSocial is an effort to make the Web more social by allowing programmers to use open-source APIs to write applications that will run on any social network, including MySpace, Hi5 and Friendster.

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