Talk:Yahoo! Widgets

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Yahoo! Widgets article.
Article policies

Contents

[edit] More information needed

I'm sorry, but as someone who does not know what Konfabulator is, I gotta say that this article told me nothing. This article should explain to me what it is (which means explain what a widget is and why I care). I don't mean to sound harsh, but it is written with jargon. 68.49.142.108 05:49, 25 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Related software

Kapsules shouldn't be listed here as the Kapsules entry makes a big deal about not being similar.

gDesklets and SuperKaramba were mentioned as Windows-only (*gasp*) programs, when in fact they don't natively run on the Microsoft Windows Platform. I made the appropriate changes, but I think that it should be changed further to perhaps include an entire "Alternatives" section.

Got your suggestion. I will add one now. A.K.R. 15:28, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
Edit: on second thoughts, looking at the format of the article now, I don't think it's as good. Let's focus on the features here, shall we? A.K.R. 15:33, 19 August 2005 (UTC)

please add info on Microsoft vista's upcoming Konfabulator rip-off --63.166.224.66 18:41, 15 November 2005 (UTC)

The "Where Is It?" search widget described in the article is no longer included with the Yahoo! Widget Engine; rather, a Yahoo-only search widget has taken its place. 64.80.171.250 16:27, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Screenshot

Could someone add a small thumb of a widget or of the Konfabulator icon? Thanks. --mathx314

I have made the 'Y!W on WinXP' screenshot the default to avoid confusion with Apple's Dashboard. ABoerma 20:34, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

But making the WinXP screenshot the default and burying the Mac OS X screenshot near the end of the article reinforces the misconception that Yahoo! Widget Engine is Windows-only. This is the Yahoo! Widget Engine page. That alone is enough to avoid confusion with Apple's Dashboard. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.135.5.82 (talk • contribs) 09:44, August 14, 2006

[edit] Dead links

A couple of the links in See also don't point to pages that are working like aDesklets and Amazing Brass don't point to pages that exist Tahnok 19:12, 8 January 2007 (UTC)tahnok

[edit] Capitalization of "Widget"

Uh... what's up with the whole capitalization thing? Freaky. - 71.213.105.224 23:59, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

  • Someone's sad idea of differentiation. In computing, widgets are everywhere, but the basic idea is a visual component in a GUI. You can see this with Qt (KDE) where all visual components are called widgets; I think even Microsoft calls visual components "widgets". Though it could be a Yahoo! idea to call them Widgets (capital W) which would make them even sadder. The actual name for this concept is Desktop Widgets 148.244.43.169 19:00, 15 August 2007 (UTC)
    • Arlo's capitalized "Widget" since the beginnings of the app. He invented the use of the term to refer to miniature applications which run on the desktop in 2003 – a term which others have shamelessly copied; so if you want to call that a "sad idea of differentiation," go right on ahead. Yonisyuumei 20:17, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
      • So Wikipedia ignores the rules of the English language whenever the creator of thing thing being discussed desires? 70.109.138.216 (talk) 15:16, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Features

First off, while this article does provide some information about Konfabulator/Yahoo! Widget Engine, there are some issues. First off, the default Widgets included with the engine are not features. Features are things like the engine's ability to use SQLite databases, the ability to use Canvas, and the new (as of 4.x) Dock. Those are features. If you are going to consider the default Widgets as features, then you must list every Widget in the gallery, as they are also features. That is sure to bring the Wikipedia "Clean-up" down on this article. I also noticed you mentioned the leaving of Perry Clark, but did not mention the fact that Arlo Rose is no longer a part of the team. Sections like the "Dashboard vs Konfabulator Debate", however, are well done. It does not make an opinion, and is not judgmental. It just presents the facts. Kudos. Another thing to note is that while most articles have a "Controversies" section, this article does not. We have at least two with the release of Vista. Vista Gadgets are not a "ripoff" or a clone of Konfabulator or any other widget engine. (and the reverse is true, as a really early Vista build included Gadgets, I believe before Konfabulator came out). So I suggest we move the "D vs K" debate into a "controversies" section. This will also allow any potential future controversies to be added without creating a new section. I will attempt a clean up of the features section (and nothing else, I promise). Feel free to fix any mistakes I may make, but I will be as factual as possible without getting so technical casual visitors will not have a clue. Please help me to make this article more worth while to visitors. - CSM 10:10, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

Again, I stress that default Widgets are not features. Please do not act like they are. Plugins can be considered features, but Widgets are not plugins, they are independent programs that do not rely on each other to work. I sincerely hope that the default Widgets are moved to their own category, rather than under features. Please listen, this isn't just crock, I'm a real Konfabulator Widget developer. - CSM 6:34 PM, EST December 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.189.77.96 (talk) 00:35, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fair Use Image Gallery

I've changed the images to have a more appropriate license. Since they're screenshots of a BSD-licensed app, they should now be okay. Please discuss future removals on the talk page before making them. Yonisyuumei 20:10, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

How do you figure they are BSD licensed? I've skimmed though the copyright policy, the terms of use and such on the Yahoo widget site and I can find no mention of the BSD license anywhere... --Sherool (talk) 09:52, 14 October 2007 (UTC)
Below is a quote from the EULA. Yonisyuumei 00:54, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
c.  YOU MAY redistribute and use all openly accessible programming code contained within the Widgets (specifically excluding any images, sounds and their respective programming code) with or without modification, pursuant to the BSD copyright license , which is set forth as follows: 
 Copyright (c) 2006 Yahoo! Inc.  All rights reserved.  Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
 (i)    redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions, and the following disclaimer.
 (ii)   redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
 (iii)  neither the name of Yahoo! nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from the Widgets without specific prior written permission of Yahoo!.
 DISCLAIMER TO BE INCLUDED: THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

d.  Except as otherwise explicitly stated in Section 1(c) above with respect to Widgets, YOU MAY NOT: 
 (i)    decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, modify, rent, lease, loan, distribute, or create derivative works (as defined by the U.S. Copyright Act) or improvements (as defined by U.S. patent law) from the Software or any portion thereof. 
 (ii)   incorporate the Software into any computer chip or the firmware of any computing device. 
 (iii)  Use the Software in any unlawful manner, for any unlawful purpose, or in any manner inconsistent with the Terms of Service located at http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/  (the "TOS") or this License Agreement.
 (iv)   Use the Software to operate nuclear facilities, life support, or other mission critical application where human life or property may be at stake. You understand that the Software is not designed for such purposes and that its failure in such cases could lead to death, personal injury, or severe property or environmental damage for which Yahoo! is not responsible. 
 (v)    use or export the Software in violation of applicable U.S. laws or regulations.      
 (vi)   sell, lease, loan, distribute, transfer, or sublicense the Software or access thereto or derive income from the use or provision of the Software, whether for direct commercial or monetary gain or otherwise, without Yahoo!'s prior, express, written permission.
Well ok, it's based on the BSD. However the main concern remains, Section d of the Yahoo license clearly introduce additional restrictions to the creation of derivative works and the commercial use of material under that license. They may have borrowed a lot of text from the BSD license text, but the modifications they have done means it's very much a non-free license and saying these are BSD licensed is misleading, you might call it a BSD style license, but they are still considered non-free by Wikipedia standards and those screenshots need to comply with Wikipedia:Non-free content, meaning the gallery needs to go. --Sherool (talk) 07:10, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
See my talk page for a reply to this concern. Let's keep all this in one place. Yonisyuumei 19:47, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 4.5

This article needs to be updated to mention the new features (Flash, HTML, better security) added on version 4.5. I may do these changes myself if nobody else "offers".

The version number was updated on the infobox already. 201.212.44.26 21:00, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Liquid layout issues

There appear to be issues with the current liquid layout of example Widget icons. Here on FF3 these images are overlaying the screenshot text in the features section. I imagine due to absolute/relative positioning issues. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.25.109.197 (talk) 16:47, 4 December 2007 (UTC)