Widget this!

What is a widget?

A desktop widget is a wonderful little creation that sits snugly on a user’s desktop, freeing up space and displaying customised information. It barely uses up any hard disk space and drains hardly any RAM. With these widgets, PC users can have the ability to view information on demand, whether it’s the latest news, weather reports, updates on their favourite sports team, blog entries and more. Everything from the data presented and the presentation of the widget itself can be fully customised.

Widgets have become an intrinsic part of PC life, as user-friendliness becomes increasingly important and programmers and software developers hone in on the Web 2.0 experience. There are many websites in which widgets can be downloaded for free, and there are also many tips on how to design your own. All you need is a smattering of HTML skills and the time and effort required to write 50 or so lines of code.

Some of the first widgets were seen on the dashboard of Apple Macs. MacBook owners will be all too familiar with widgets like Stickies – which allows users to make Post-It Note-style reminders on their desktops. Also available are items like the Calculator, Calendar and Weather Update, although more popular are the widgets giving your direct access to YouTube, Google or Apple Movie Trailers. Nowadays, Windows Vista and Windows Live also incorporates these in the form of Microsoft Gadgets.

Widgets come as a bundle of files – this bundle ends in the extension .wdgt, and is managed as a single file by the PC’s OS. The main file is the aforementioned HTML file, which defines the look of the user interface. A PNG image file provides the default background image that is displayed by Dashboard while it loads the Widget.

According to Apple, the PNG format is used as it has excellent support for alpha channel transparency. The other two files needed are an icon image, also in PNG format, to represent the Widget and load it, and a property list file called Info.plist. This contains the widget’s identifier, name, version information, size and all the other information needed for use.

Where to get them

One of the first stops in finding a widget should be Yahoo! Widgets (http://widgets.yahoo.com). You can browse through thousands of widgets by user ratings, see how many times they have been downloaded, or search by category – including utilities, games, webcams, plugins, radio, clocks, communication, shopping and much more. When starting with Yahoo! Widgets, the first widget downloaded will appear in the Widget Dock – which is an easy and quick way of launching and browsing through one’s widget library.

It also allowis users to have an unlimited number of widgets at their disposal. To add more widgets, all you need to do is right-click on the dock and select ‘Get More Widgets’.

Internet browsers have also turned widget-friendly in recent years, with Opera’s web browser widgets being a primary example. In that browser, there is a specific tab for users to download, manage and organise their widgets. Check out http://widgets.opera.com for more information. Mozilla’s improved Adds-ons section in Firefox 3.0 is also a great show of the popularity and usefulness of these bits of HTML coding.

Making your own widget

With HTML code, if you know how to write content for the web, you can write a Widget and it’s generally recommended you create content that complies with the XHTML 1.0 to adhere to web standards. Creating a new Widget needn’t be overly difficult – all you need to do is follow these basic steps:

• Create a directory for your widget.

• Define the widget’s Info.plist file, setting the necessary parameters.

• Create the HTML file using a text or HTML editor.

• Open the file in your web browser so that you can view the widget.

• Reload the widget in your browser to see updates and changes you have made to the widget.

However, this process can be made simpler if you copy a similar widget’s HTML and use it as a starting point, borrowing the necessary coding so that you don’t even need to type out the majority of it. Because widgets are open-source files, they can be shared at will and distributed freely at all times. Simply download the widget that you think is similar to what you want to design, and open the widget bundle in your browser.

This will list all the files in that .wdgt bundle. To get the HTML coding, open the HTML file and copy and paste the code into your editor. To do this in Firefox 3.0, click on View Source under the View tab, and copy and paste from there. From here, just tinker with the appearance code and the parameters of the widget to suit your needs. Using templates

Of course, there are even easier ways to create your own widgets much more quickly. Many sites offer a free online

‘Create A Widget’ process. While they only give you limited templates for design and usability, they are the easiest way to get started.

If you’re using Opera, check out.

http://widgets/opera.com/widgetize/start for more information. Otherwise there are many others sites that create widgets based on URLs you’ve inputted or RSS feeds:

http://widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/widget-maker – This can be used to make widgets for Yahoo! Widgets. It is comprised of a form-filling interface that helps you create XML scripts for your widget. However, you still need to know a little bit of coding in order to get this done and create the functions yourself, to ensure the widget is fully operational. http://grazr.com/config.html – This is perhaps the simplest of widget creators, with all the options displayed on one screen. It sources RSS, RDF or Atom format feeds from a URL of your choice and gives you theme, colour and publishing options in real-time – with the widget previewed on the right side of the menu bar.

http://www.widgetbox.com/create/create _widget.jsp – This takes users through a step-by-step process, allowing you to take flash content, a web page, Google Gadgets or more into a widget – while giving you a comprehensive range of appearance choices to make. Novice users can whizz through the process without worrying about details, while more experienced users can takes their time to look over advanced settings. This service is available after registration.

http://www.wyaworks.com – you can even download a widget to help you create more widgets. Check out WyaWidget, available after a free registration from WyaWorks’ website. Don’t be fooled by the size of the file; this is a powerful tool that can help you create CRM or database systems right on your desktop for easy access. Fun with widgets

ShootIt:A pointless but fun widget that lets you shoot holes in your PC at the click of a button. A great time-filler in sporadic moments of boredom.

Bouncy ball:This makes a bouncy ball appear on the screen, which can be thrown around with the mouse. You can even customise the ball type, its size and colour, its rotation speed and much more for added fun.

Multicam:This lets you display four or nine webcams from locations around the world. You can choose from a list of cities to display and enlarge each webcam for a closer look.

Puzzle:Drop any picture on your computer into this widget and it scrambles the photo into a jigsaw puzzle with anywhere between eight and 120 pieces. You can rotate, resize and reposition your photo before creating the puzzle and even open a finished preview picture to help you along the way. Calvin and Hobbes Fetcher:Doing what it says on the tin, this grabs a comic strip from the popular Calvin And Hobbes comic every single day.

8-Ball:Based on the famous Tyco Toy that answers every question you throw at it, all you need to do is ask the yes/no question, double-click on the widget, and it will guess the answer.

Say It!:Compatible with Windows XP, 2000 and Mac OSX, all you do is type in anything you want in the text box and click on ‘Say it!’ to hear you computer’s voice say what you typed. Pointless, but fun.

Chuck Norris Facts Generator:This displays one random Chuck Norris Fact, out of a large list of hilarities. There are classics such as: “Chuck Norris has two speeds: Walk and Kill” or “Outer Space exists as it is afraid to be on the same planet as Chuck Norris.” Genius.

NB:All of the above are available from Yahoo! Widgets.