World of Widgets: Google
Widgets (aka gadgets, modules) are mini web apps that you can plug in to a
webpage or site such as MySpace, or a personalized start page like Netvibes or live.com.
Widgets are becoming more and more important on the Web, so I thought I'd spend a few
posts looking more closely at them.
Let's start with Google widgets, which they used to call modules but are now calling gadgets (curiously, a case where Google has copied Microsoft). Google offers two types of gadgets:
1) Desktop plug-ins - for the Google Desktop. Much like Yahoo's Konfabulator widget platform and Apple Dashboard.
2) Personalized Homepage gadgets. Google has gradually increased the number of widgets in their directory, but there are third party sites that offer a great selection too - e.g. here and here.
Google gadgets can also run in Google Pages, their webpage-editing tool.
To develop gadgets for the Google platform, use the Google Gadgets API - which Google claims is "so easy to use that you can develop your first gadget in 5 minutes". They also say it's easy to turn existing web content into a gadget.
The main difference between Google's and Microsoft's gadgets is that Google takes a web-centric approach, whereas Microsoft gadgets will utilize both desktop and web. I'll look more closely at Microsoft's gadgets in my next widgets post.
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In developing gadgets for Cooqy, our eBay search engine, we were able to have a Google gadget ready in about 5 minutes, but the Microsoft Live.com version took 5 hours! Oh, and the Microsoft version of our gadget doesn't work on Firefox! All we needed to do was wrap a Flash control...goes to show how convoluted Microsoft can make what should be a trivial task, and how they go out of their way to break functionality on competitors like Firefox.
Richard, this is an awesome post. Your voice cuts through the clutter of terminology to present a clear touchstone for defining widgets, or gadgets :)
Thanks Ariel :-)
Robert, I've heard the same thing from another developer - that MS gadgets are a lot harder to code for.
Inspired by your article, I checked out some of the google and live.com widgets again today. I looked over them when they first came out a few months back out of curiousity and I'm sad to see that not much has changed.
Is it just me, or is anyone else not impressed by the quality of widgets available? I think some of them are interesting...I've never seen such a variety of clocks, sudoku games, jokes of the day and news feeds. These are all very useful apps but I get a strong feeling of "Where's the beef?". Show me a widget that _does_ something. Something I want to have on my home page or desktop. Something that adds value or gives me solid data. The problem I see with many of these widgets is that they aren't very interactive. I saw a few "To Do List" widgets, and that could be marginally useful. But a healthy percentage of the other ones could be replaced by a simple RSS feed.
Before I'm impressed by widgets, I'd have to see something that was more useful and differentiated from syndicated data. "Widgets" should not be a replacement for RSS.
I rambled on about widgets for many pages on my often ignored blog: http://www.browserlessweb.com/?p=5
I hear ya Joel. I too am waiting for some much more *useful* widgets to be made available. Netvibes and Pageflakes are doing some good things there, with partnerships etc.
Nice article btw Joel.
FYI that Windows Live Gadgets now work in Spaces as well.
http://spacesplatform.spaces.live.com/
We're working pretty hard to have a consistent Live.com, Spaces, Windows Vista development story for mini applications. And of course, reducing the barrier to adoption by making it easier.
FYI Google Gadgets also work on Desktop, i.e. Desktop users can have Desktop SDK gadgets as well as the ones from personalized homepage.
hope this helps,
adam
Adam Sah, Architect, Google Gadgets
Am I mistaken, is there no widget for the google homepage that displays pop email? I know netvibes has it (but I prefer the google homepage.) I could forward my pop to my gmail, then I would like a gmail widget that would only display certain tagged gmails. I might even be willing to pay for it. Is any developing widgets for a fee?
About six months ago I asked my developer to build a widget with a heap of functionality to assist small businesses. It incorporated all government services to businesses including a metasearch, queries of a government database and quick access to a range of productiviy tools. When demonstrated to Yahoo!, they were very impressed.
Unfortunately Yahoo would not agree to modify the installation package and so I decided not to go ahead with launching and distributing this tool. I thought the installation of useless rubbish (ie werewolf monitor etc) and modifications to user's browsers would be detrimental to a succesful launch to 'non-techo' users.
We'll have to wait for MS Gadgets to show our really meaty widget as the pre-installed sidebar will be simpler for the average user to add our device to their desktop.
Seeking beta testers or any feedback for new gadgets. Any interest here?