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What the @!#%*$ is a widget??

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 12:53 pm
by Luke
I've been reading the word widget on just about every developer website (especially "web 2.0" articles) out there. I remember the term "widget" from economy class as a generic term for any product. I read the wikipedia entry on what a widget is... but its explanation wasn't very good. What exactly is a widget?

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 12:56 pm
by RobertGonzalez
From what I have gathered it is used as a term to describe a little tidbit that does something. Similar to an applet, but less functional, sort of like a plug-in, but not with as much to it. I could be totally off on this though.

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 1:08 pm
by Christopher
Well ... start with the original definition which is an unspecific knob, switch, etc. (usually used by technical types) or an unspecificed product of some sort(ususally used by business school types to talk hypothetically about a company's output). If you take that sense of an unspecific control and move it to computing you get things like sliders and buttons that are generic code that (with associated data) can be used for whatever -- a volume control, on/off switch, etc. Usually there are several types packaged together and using common data configuration and interfaces to form a toolkit.

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 1:10 pm
by RobertGonzalez
I like arborint's explanation a lot better than mine. Use his.

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 2:19 pm
by patrikG
A summary: something that does something which it kind of says it does. ;)

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 2:27 pm
by Maugrim_The_Reaper
Examples might help...

Here's one. Since I just wrote a tutorial on something similar. Say you have an online collection of Notes (reminders, tasks, whatever). A *Widget* could be created which grabs these from the online database/webservice (REST/RPC), adds a little XHTML+CSS (or just XSLT) and displays them on your personal website, or even your desktop in a little box.

That's a small widget. It's small, independent of the host environment (mostly), easy to install assuming a Widget manager exists. One place to use this could be a Serendipity Plugin (Widget), or a Wordpress plugin, or some funky Firefox extension. Dozen ways of using it.

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 2:45 pm
by MrPotatoes
but widgets aren't like controls in .NET. controls are components. they should just call it a component. makes more sense

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 2:46 pm
by sweatje

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 2:57 pm
by Luke
I wrote:I read the wikipedia entry on what a widget is... but its explanation wasn't very good. What exactly is a widget?

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 3:29 pm
by Christopher
MrPotatoes wrote:but widgets aren't like controls in .NET. controls are components. they should just call it a component. makes more sense
I am not an expert on .NET, but I believe that the controls in .NET are components such as DataGrids and Editors -- those would be built using WIdgets, but may not be considered Widgets themselves because the provide more functionality that would normally be considered for a Widget (e.g. a DataGrid would use scrollbar and button Widgets)

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 4:50 pm
by MrPotatoes
arborint wrote:
MrPotatoes wrote:but widgets aren't like controls in .NET. controls are components. they should just call it a component. makes more sense
I am not an expert on .NET, but I believe that the controls in .NET are components such as DataGrids and Editors -- those would be built using WIdgets, but may not be considered Widgets themselves because the provide more functionality that would normally be considered for a Widget (e.g. a DataGrid would use scrollbar and button Widgets)
yep. i was just ranting about thier dumb naming scheme. component is more like it

ANYWAYS.... back on topic ...

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:07 pm
by jayshields
Well, I always thought a widget was one of those little apps that mac users have on their desktops.

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:50 pm
by wei

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:31 pm
by AKA Panama Jack
Here are what Widgets can look like. Opera already supports them and W3C standards seems to be adopting the Opera Widget format. :D

http://widgets.opera.com/

Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:32 pm
by Christopher
jayshields wrote:Well, I always thought a widget was one of those little apps that mac users have on their desktops.
I think those are Applets ...