"It's the Cliff Notes version of a content management system. It's aimed at people who don't need the full features that a much larger publisher might need," said Michael Krieg, vice president of sales, marketing and customer service at the San Francisco-based company.

The plug-in lets users of the Web Crossing system encapsulate bits of text and manage them usefully and expediently on their respective Web sites, Krieg said. Users have to be running the Web Crossing application to use the plug-in.

The plug-in tool lets users create "blobs" containing both images and text; once created, users can place them on a page by choosing the blob from a pop-up menu.

"This is a new feature of our Web Crossing system. The roots of Web Crossing are in collaboration, and more and more of our users have asked for something that approaches a content management system," Krieg said. "Content Blob is something more than a static Web page, and something less than a full content management system."

The main difference between the Web Crossing plug-in and Web Crossing's collaboration system, Krieg said, is that it does not have a concept of controls and staging and approvals that bigger publishers might need.

"It is elegant, flexible, plus allows me to make a content change in one place and have it appear on hundreds [even thousands] of Web pages at once," said Sylvia Marino, an online community consultant and beta tester of the plug-in. "The inheritance settings are great and match the hierarchy structure that Web Crossing provides."

The company said Web Crossing software serves over 15 million pages per day at thousands of sites, including well-known, high-traffic sites as The NY Times, Apple Computer Inc., Adobe Systems Inc. and SeniorNet.

The plug-in is available at www.webcrossing.com/blobs.

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