Widgets 101

Widgets are big news. They're quite literally popping up everywhere and are even now being mentioned by people in the offline world, so they must have made it through to the masses (although apparently knowledge of what Skype is hasn't judging from a conversation I had yesterday!)

So, I thought it would be a good opportunity to write a list and brief explanation of the different Widget platforms out there. I doubt I'll cover all of them, but i'll cover the ones that I personally know of and use or have used.

For me, widgets break down into several different categories which are:

• Application widgets
• Operating System widgets
• Web Desktop widgets
• Embedded widgets
• Mobile widgets

All of these do a very similar if not identical job to their various relatives, but the way they're distributed and in some ways engaged with can be different.

But what is a widget?
Before I go and start explaining the sub types, perhaps I should explain what a widget actually is? Basicaly a widget is a small piece of software that you either download to your machine or add to your web page in order to fulfil a single very specific task. Don't think of these widgets as software like MS Office or Adobe Photoshop because they're generally much more simplistic than those monsters. Instead, think of them as small tools like a Flickr picture viewer, a BBC news reader or a radio station player. The idea is that they are small, often visually appealing, single purpose tools designed to do one thing and one thing only. Normally written using a combination of standard web langauges like HTML, JavaScript and CSS, widgets often come with a visual look and feel, including the GUI, that works on web principles also, and generally at the moment in a web2.0 style with fades and muted colours. This means that they are very easy to use with zero learning curve. The portable nature of widgets, and they're very small file size, also means they can be distributed with great ease. As widgets generally don't require adminstrator access to install (certainly in the case of app or OS widgets) they're pretty much accessible by anyone who has the desire to use them. Examples of widgets could be:

• an ebay search tool
• a flickr photo viewer
• a BBC RSS news reader
• a calculator
• a world clock

Application Widgets
App widgets were the first ones that I came across, and I could be wrong, but I think they were the first ones to exist full stop. The best known example of App widgets is called Konfabulator, and this is a widget "engine" for both mac and PC that you download, install and then run like you would any other application. You get a pre-defined set of widgets as standard and can download more from the gallery. This in turn enables the use of widgets on an operating system that would not normally have them. This was, I should add, pre MacOSX Tiger, which now has widgets built in, and as such was revolutionary when it was released. Konfabulator comes with a default set of widgets, as do most other variants, and can be added to from a vast library of 1st and 3rd party widgets.

Konfabulator was eventually purchased by Yahoo! and is now called the Yahoo! Widget Engine (Y!WE), with the company now supplying a default set of widgets which utilise predomiantly Yahoo! based web services out of the box. An update version of the engine, called Yahoo! Widgets 4, is due for release in the near future.

I personally don't see much of a future of Konfabulator/Y!WE now that Apple Mac OS X has Dhasboard built in, and WIndows VIsta has finally been released offering it's own built in tools. This is a shame, as this really was a revolutionary product. I could be wrong, but it seems a tall order for me when the two main OS's come with their own stuff included. No doubt they're existing fan base, particularly on the PC, is loyal to the cause, but it must only be a matter of time.

Google called their widgets Gadgets, and also have their own Widget engine, which comes as part of the Google Desktop, which is primarily an desktop search tool (and a VERY good one at that!). Widgets are not turned on by default and you have to hunt around to turn them on. Google widgets have a distinct look and feel (or certainly the default ones do) and IMHO aren't quite as attractive as some of the others. I actually haven't used Google Widgets that much so can't comment on them a great deal. Google widgets interestingly work on both your Google Desktop app and the Google personal desktop web implementation, available at google.com/ig. As with nearly all of these, there is a Gadget download area on the site.

Operating System Widgets
OS widgets are undoubtedly a progression on from App widgets and, in-particular, Konfabulator. When Apple released Dashboard a few years ago, there were a lot of comments on how strikingly similar in look and feel it was to the (now) Yahoo! engine. I think this is by the by and, in many ways, it's simply the nature of the beast for them to all look similar - they are all, after all, doing the same job to a degree and all word processors look the same.

On Apple Mac OS X Tiger and above, widgets are implemented through the Dashboard system, which is turned on by default for all users. Users can download and install widgets from the Apple web site, and there are many of them available, provided by both Apple and 3rd parties. Installing them is, as with most of these systems, simply the case of dropping them into a folder. Widgets are not visible all the time (unless you hack them into dev mode) and are invoked by pressing the F12 key, turning the screen dark and bringing in the widgets over the top of all other applications. As such, on a Mac, widgets are more of a "use it when you need it" implementation and they tend to lend themselves more to tools like a calculator, currency convertor and so forth, rather than toys or picture viewers. These are available, this is just my own opinion.

Widgets (or as they call them, like Google, Gadgets) were introduced to the Windows world with the launch of Vista earlier this year (you can't have missed the WOW!) although, as mentioned with Y!WE, they were available before for XP if you knew where to look. By default, widgets are turned off in Vista and are, when eventually turned on, implemented from first run in a sidebar area of the screen, imaginatively called Windows Side Bar. Widgets can be dragged off the side bar and placed on the desktop itself, but this isn't the default setting. Unlike Mac, Vista widgets are always on display and, for me at least, this means that more ambient widgets like a picture viewer or auction tracker are more useful. Widgets are downloaded for VIsta from the MS LIve Gallery web site where there is a small but growing gallery of them, certainly not as large as the OS X one though.

Web "Desktop" Widgets
This name is a little clumsy but I can't think of a different one, so it'll do. Web widgets are those which are implemented onto a customsable web page, which you would generally set as your home page in browser of choice. All of the major search engines have their own implementation of these, and there is one notable start up player who has built up a massive following. All of these implementations employ AJAX to provide the high levels of interaction and flexibility expected from widgets in a rigid browser based environment.

Google, Yahoo! and MS Live web based widgets
All of these monsters have their own widget enabled customisable start pages, and they're available free of charge if you have an account with them. All of them feature widgets that are interchangeable with their OS or App version of the engine, MSN via Live! for Vista, Google and Yahoo! for Desktop and Y!WE accordingly. Generally however, web based widget engines lead with a series of information driven widgets, predominantly RSS feeds and email readers. They all employ a grid based page layout where you can drag and drop widgets into the space and order you find most appealing and useful. There are rumours that for MS Live!/VIsta you can drag-and-drop widgets off the web page and onto the desktop, although I have seen no evidence or got this to work personally (although it's a really nice idea).

Netvibes
Netvibes is a French company who were one of the first to develop a customisable widget based web desktop, and I was introduced to them via Vincent, who I think has some strange sense of French loyalty with them. Offering a default page which is amazingly busy, almost in an attempt to prove to new visitors just how many widgets you can have open with them at once, the site looks and feels very similar to the offerings from the search giants. This is probably because of two things. (1) They all do the same job so why reinvent the wheel in terms of GUI and, (2), NetVibes was the first to do this. NetVibes made a big announcment recently at the FOWA conference that they were moving into the development tools field, and recently released the NetVibes Universal Widget API, a set of tools to help widget developers create a build-once, deploy everywhere widget. The system claims to cover off not only NetVibes itself, but also Dashboard, VIsta and others. As widgets are all pretty much built using HTML and JavaScript, this is a great idea, but I don't know why someone didn't think of it before.

For me, web based widgets simply do not work. My main reason for using them would be as an information aggregation, and i have Sage/Firefox as my RSS reader to do this for me. In terms of widgets for weather, ebay and so forth, I use Dashboard, so again, I have no need to a web based version. I am sure one of the benefits of them is that you can use the same layout on any computer, but this isn't something that's important for me.

Embedded Widgets
Embedded widgets, known as many other things such as buttons, are small pieces of code, generally Flash based, that a user can embed into a pre-existing web page, such as a blog or myspace. They aren't as flexible as something like the web based services, where positions can be moved and so forth, becuase they are limited to the abilities of the surrounding web site and not driven in a specifically widget-ready ajax site.

Popular examples of these widgets are MyBlogLog (a blog visitor tracking site), MeeboMe (a fantastic IM client and aggregator), Skype Buttons (a small, graphical display of your current Skype status and a direct link to contact you) and, of course, YouTube videos.

All of the above are examples of widgetised tools that a user can stick on their own site as they see fit. By turning something that was previously a OS level application (such as a video player) into a simple, single purpose flash based item, the audience and potential use for something grows nearly exponentially.

I have a particular fondness for embedded widgets myself, but Jonathan always tells me off for putting too many of them on the Adventures blog! :D

I personally think that from a digital marketing point of view embedded widgets are a great untapped (currently) place for us to discover and use and it's something I am actively looking to get going asap.

Mobile Widgets
The only mobile widgets I am currently aware of are Widsets which is a Java application you download and install on your phone, and then effectively becomes a widget desktop. All the usual widget suspects are here, RSS readers, weather reports, a clock, games and so forth - so it's nothing radical in terms of content.

What is good about widsets though is that, for me, it's the perfect realisation of the widget ideal in a space that dictates a dedicated approach and a concise delivery of information.

In a close relationship with Nokia, Widsets is available for all phones with Java enabled, although there are some quirks in the interface (or at least there is on the blackberry 7103v) - but once you overcome these and work out it's little ways it is really a good execution.

As recent studies have stated that nearly 70% of mobile users shun advertising on their phones, the mobile widget space could be a way for us to get in front of mobile users by giving them a branded service they find real value in.

Howard
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