Monday, June 21, 2010

What's a Widget?

That's a great question! In the past (pre-WWW days), a widget was a general name for a small machine or gadget. But now, the term has taken on a whole new meaning with the development of Web 2.0. In our web world, a widget is an application (actually, the code that opens up an application) that allows users to interact with information, text, images, video, audio, ... you name it. It could be a calculator, a search engine, a game, a poll, a quiz, news headlines, stock quotes, ... again, you name it. They are almost always free - but it's always a good idea to identify the source of the widget and the author if they are identified - gotta give them some props, right?

Here is your task - scan through some of the widget links below, play around with some of the widgets, and add at least three to your blog - either as a posting or as an element to your page. One widget should be something that makes your blog more productive for the user, one should be something that you can use in your school work in the future, and one should be just plain fun/cool/whatever!



Feeling crazy creative? Have a cool idea, but no widget for it? How about trying to Create Your Own Widget?

No comments:

Post a Comment