The term “widget” has been floating around a lot lately as new web technologies continue to develop. In simple terms, a widget is a small application that can be added to virtually any web page. Widgets usually take the form of advertisements, polls, games, or images. The search boxes you often find embedded in a site are also a type of widget. Live news feeds, stock quotes, and other updates are also widgets drawing information from an outside source.
When broken down, a widget is essentially just a segment of computer coding. They usually rely on such programming techniques as DHTML, JavaScript, CSS, or Flash.
One of the major booms in web widget uses has been on social networking sites. There, users integrate widgets into their personal web pages to create a more unique experience. Widgets are also popular on blogs and other customizable web arenas. Many such sites offer users easy ways to add widgets without ever having to see a single line of code. These so-called “widget management systems” make using these web tools even easier. Sometimes, these interfaces use the term “gadget” instead of widget, but the concept is precisely the same.
Some of the newest widgets don’t even need a web browser in order to run. Instead, they are designed to operate right on your desktop. These are excellent when it comes to user customization and often rely on personal user data. Window’s Vista is pre-programmed to come with several widgets including a very customizable sidebar. Yahoo! also offers a number of desktop widgets. In fact, its directory currently holds more than 4,000 options. Mac also provides several unique widgets for users of its operating system.
There are also widgets available for mobile devices like cell phones and smart phones. Some of these widgets run on special widget engines, but others function in much the same way as a regular web widget. These have proven very popular and useful as they allow people the get news, check finances, play games, and read e-mails while on the go.
The concept of a widget stems from the idea of “code reuse.” In other words, widgets work by having a piece of code run on any website. To build a widget, you can write code from scratch using a number of programming language. However, those who are not programmers can also use widget building programs such as those offered by Facebook and Microsoft.
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