StickiWidgets

It’s been a long while since we have played around with Widgetbox, but we recently ran into a site where Widgetbox was one of two whitelisted widget platforms so we re-visited their offerings.

The feature that was of interest to us was the hosted HTML and JavaScript widgets. We were trying to put an exiting widget on a page where the source site was not on the destination site’s whitelist. Rather than recreate the widget, for a variety of reasons, we just wanted to wrap the widget using Widgetbox (since Widgetbox was whitelisted).

From Widgetbox:

Type in HTML and JavaScript that Widgetbox will serve up. Take advantage of Widgetbox’s configuration system to let users configure the widget.

This was perfect for what we wanted to do. We grabbed the embed code of the intended widget and pasted into the Widgetbox creation tool. This is where the Widgetbox hosted solution shines a little and was a nice surprise. They have created a method for you to replace sections of the code and inject param values based on user input at time of widget configuration. What this means is that, not only did we get to wrap the widget for our own use, but it also enabled others to grab either a copy of our widget or input their own id and get their own user specific widget.

Since they are one of the big players in this space, they are likely to be whitelisted by most destination sites. The limiting factor here is that it is a JavaScript hosted solution so this will not work on some of the major social network sites. Of course, this also means that this could easily be abused.

Another thing that we noticed was that when you embed a widget, Widgetbox auto creates a widget panel. What this does is allow users to add new widgets to the destination site through the Widgetbox panel management system rather than embedding code again on the destination.

Overall, Widgetbox has a nice implementation that is easy to use. They are definitely one of the leaders in this space and we will need to check in on them more often.

Our good friends over at Clearspring are helping organize a WidgetDevCamp in Washington D.C. Unfortunately, our schedule does not allow us to participate. That shouldn’t stop anyone else though…

WidgetDevCamp is a DevCamp-style event in Washington DC for anyone interested in Widget and modular app development.

It will be a chance for discussion, learning and some collaborative widget hacking. Come and share information on the latest topics in widget development, and see what kinds of prototypes can be built with a group of smart folks together in one place for a day or two. Did you have fun at BarCamp DC? WidgetDevCamp should be fun too.

Designers, developers, product marketers — anyone interested in the potential of widgets and other distributed applications (including Facebook) — come on out!

The event is currently still in the planning stages, but it’s slated for a weekend in late October around the Metro D.C. area. For more information, check out the WidgetDevCamp Wiki.

Joost announces their API via their forum. The forum post provides the login info to access their API development site so you can play with the API.

“There have been a lot of changes and improvements to Joost recently. One that you might not have noticed is that with the newest release – Joost 0.12.0 – a new Widget API is available that makes it possible for third parties to create their own Joost widgets.”

Hi5 introduces their new widget gallery. Currently, the gallery only includes widgets from Slide and RockYou, but it looks like they are looking to expand the offerings. If you are a widget developer, they would like to hear from you via their contact form.

“We’re pleased to announce our new widget gallery. Widgets allow you to add all kinds of interesting content to your profile — slide-shows, games and more.”

Hi5 is also beta testing their API.

“Welcome to the API for Hi5.com We’ve got a full SOAP API, and even a few REST endpoints. Feel free to check it out!”

Widget Summit 2007 Announced

“Widget Summit is a two-day conference on widgets and content syndication. Web pages have gotten smaller, dynamic, and distributed as components within the desktop, personalized homepage, social network, blog sidebars, mobile phones, and even dedicated hardware. Today’s publishers need to reach their audience wherever and whenever they may choose to interact with content. Widgets lead the way towards a distributed web loosely joined.”

[all of the above via Snipperoo Blog]