Web widget

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about web page code widgets. For other uses of widget, see widget.

A web widget is a portable chunk of code that can be installed and executed within any separate HTML-based web page by an end user without requiring additional compilation. They are akin to plugins or extensions in desktop applications. Other terms used to describe a Web Widget include Gadget, Badge, Module, Capsule, Snippet, Mini and Flake. Web Widgets often but not always use Adobe Flash or JavaScript programming languages.

1 Widgets
2 Widget Destinations
3 Widget management systems
4 See Also
5 External links

[edit] Widgets

Undoubtedly, embeddable chunks of code have existed since the start of the World Wide Web. A product called Web Widgets has existed since 1995. Web developers have long sought and used third party code chunks in their pages. It could be said that the original web widgets were the advertising banners that grew up alongside the early web. Ad and affiliate networks have long used code widgets for distribution purposes.

A widget is anything that can be embedded within a page of HTML, i.e. a web page. A widget adds some content to that page that is not static. Generally widgets are third party originated, though they can be home made. Widgets are also known as modules, snippets, and plug-ins. Widgets can be written in html, but also in JavaScript, flash and other scripting languages that will be run when the page is called.

Widgets are commonplace and are used by bloggers, social network users, auction sites and owners of personal web sites. They exist on home page sites such as Netvibes, Pageflakes and yourminis. Widgets are used as a distribution method by ad networks such as Google’s AdSense, by media sites such as Flickr, by video sites such as YouTube and by hundreds of other organizations.

Applications can be integrated within a third party website by the placement of a small snippet of code. This is becoming a distribution or marketing channel for many companies. The code brings in ‘live’ content – advertisements, links, images – from a third party site without the web site owner having to update.

[edit] Widget Destinations

End users can utilize Web Widgets to enhance a number of web-based hosts, or drop targets. Categories of drop targets include social networks, blogs, wikis and personal homepages. Although end users primarily use Web Widgets to enhance their personal web experiences, or the web experiences of visitors to their personal sites, corporations can potentially use Web Widgets to improve their web sites using syndicated content and functionality from third party providers.

[edit] Widget management systems

Widget management systems offer a method of managing widgets that work on any web page, such as a blog or social networking home page. Examples of Widget management systems are Snipperoo and Widgetbox