We arent allowed to beat people with sticks anymore either which is why i encourage anyone who can to go for it

From what i am seeing though, a widget appears to be a control application... aka an application that gives the user some level of interactivity with something. Like a desktop thingy on macs... God only knows why people try interact with those things

All in all if you cant beat him with a stick i vote for Marks #4 - i wish you great success... im goin home now.

Ryan_steyn wrote:

Well thats not very useful... do we havte do all that searching now?! woman!

(1.) The fundamental data type of the Enhanced X-Windows Toolkit. (2.) An object providing a user-interface abstraction; for example, Scrollbar widget. It is the combination of an Enhanced X-Windows (or subwindow) and its associated semantics. Logically, it is a rectangle with associated input and output semantics, although some can be input-only or output-only. Each widget belongs to one widget class. A widget implements procedures through its widget class structure. ...

I think i was pretty close... ish

That is a good definition. It started with x-Windows (Linux). Im very sorry I have to be vague here but I hope you get the Idea behind widgets. The programmers back then managed to make enhancements to the X-windows toolkit tat provided windows like interfaces (scrollbars e.t.c)and called them xWindows. Windows threatened to sue so they changed the name to widgets.

How to make a widget-> The definitive guide:

Wat you need

2 Watchamaucluts
1 Thinga-magig
1 Gizmo
1.5 queer-ma-jiggers (spelling may be incorrect)

Directions:

Combine 2 Watchamacults together and mix until a smoth paste is formed. Carefully add 1 Gizmo and fold into squares.  Spinkle Tinga-magics freely onto the squares, and use the queer-ma-jigger to upload to your favorte website.

Viola - Easy as pie ;-)

Ryan_steyn wrote:

A widget is just a little web application, in a sense you could call pr checkers widgets, an online calender and smaller like a little date n time function that has text change to "we are open" to "we are closed" at the appropriate times.

Or at least that is my understanding of widgets (web gadgets?)... If i am however wrong, i also wanna know what the hell the little "apparently" blue buggers are

that's always been  my understanding - exactly as you say an app thats serves a specific function (useful or entertianing)  which you package to allow others to place on their sites

for example google's gadgets (ie: their name for widgets): http://desktop.google.com/plugins/

you can even create your own and submit it to google here: http://desktop.google.com/dev/index.html (i smell a Site-Reference Widget....ideas anyone )

Found this site kinda interesting as far as widgets go. http://www.widgetdeveloper.com/

you can even create your own and submit it to google here: http://desktop.google.com/dev/index.html (i smell a Site-Reference Widget....ideas anyone big_smile)

I dont think Google will accept a "why PR is stupid" widget

http://www.clearspring.com/

hummmmmm; got me thinking........

http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugins/WordPress_Widgets

Most of the questions coming to me about Widgets are because of the above software.

*In my Humble experience.

JPRuss wrote:

How to make a widget-> The definitive guide:

Wat you need

2 Watchamaucluts
1 Thinga-magig
1 Gizmo
1.5 queer-ma-jiggers (spelling may be incorrect)

Directions:

Combine 2 Watchamacults together and mix until a smoth paste is formed. Carefully add 1 Gizmo and fold into squares.  Spinkle Tinga-magics freely onto the squares, and use the queer-ma-jigger to upload to your favorte website.

Viola - Easy as pie ;-)

LOL!

I guess the simplest overall definition for a widget would be:
A generic term for any object real, theoretical or virtual.

MarkCCDC wrote:

Ok, I'll jump in too...

There are several options here...


4.) And last but not least, next time he says "widget", give him a widget (A swift horizontal karate chop to the throat, best delivered to the throat or trachea.)

better than the beating with a stick! lol!

OK.
Now I don't feel so stupid,  still feel stupid but not a whole lot stupid.  Came here today to see if any body could help me with this widget thingamajig.  Downloaded one yesterday after I read what it was for and thought I understood what to do, but it tells you to put the widget thingamajig on the whatchamacallit and then proceed to the  doohicky.
NOw where was I, oh yeah I was lost yesterday, will be lost tomorrow, but I"m meeting a lot of interesting people and seeing a lot of strange things.  Have fun with your new widget folks, my vocabulary just got depleted.

widgets are gadgets you can easily add to your
1) browser , through toolbars                           http://decipherlife.forumtoolbar.com
2) you blog                                                            http://www.widgetgallery.com
3) your website or any personal page             http://www.labpixies.com


these gadgets are application specific and are available for various needs and tastes. widgets are cool tools that provide you solution to a specific need of yours for example:

1) An IP address widget lets you see your IP address whenever u wish to see it. It can be installed at your toolbar   and it it is very useful for people who are using proxies or need to change their IP addresses for adsense purposes.
  link-->  http://www.labpixies.com/gadget_page.ph … &ctid=

2) A flickr widget lets you see the daily Flickr collection of awesome images in a convenient slide show gadget
  link--->  http://www.labpixies.com/gadget_page.ph … &ctid=

3) You can have games installed on your toolbar. Or download a toolbar that has games links embeded
  link---> http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Dashboard- … s-Widgets/    (for mac users)
link---> http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/games/                              (apple downloads)
  link---> http://www.yourminis.com/minis/yourmini … mini:games       (windows)

4) POP3 access provided free of charge on three major E-mail providers viz;
                             Yahoo
                             Gmail
                             Hotmail
link--->   http://decipherlife.forumtoolbar.com/

5) There's a cool feature for website and blogs, a widget popularly called moodget. It is a cool tool that displays your mood to your friends. when embedded on a personal blog or a page it shows your visitors, the mood you have set for yourself. cool for you and your frnz
link---->  http://www.labpixies.com/moodget/
link---->  http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail. … 087ee9c47d

5) Features, Weather , Games, Videos, Wallpapers and much much more..
  this toolbar is worth mentioning . it provides the email notifier with POP3 access. plus it is easily configurable with the widgets, most widget sites have a  'conduit' button that automatically    installs the widget to your toolbar. Has radio for your browser too. see it and u'll get it.
link--->  http://decipherlife.forumtoolbar.com

Yahoo widgets vs Google gadgets

Functionality. Both Widgets and Gadgets offer a strong suite of free third-party applications that offer anything from productivity tools to time-wasting oddities. Widgets, having been in the market longer, has an advantage in terms of the number of applets one can download and install. However, Google Gadgets’ parent application, Google Desktop Search extends the functionality well over the perceived productivity increases that Widgets! can give, because users can search for information within their local computers, and across other computers they own. Yahoo! Widget Engine only serves as that–a Widget engine.

So it’s a tie in this area.

Ease of use. Both require the base applications to be installed before applets can be installed and run. However, with Widgets, the .widget files become executable applications in themselves, while with Google, you have to go through an installation process each time you download a new Gadget. You can store Yahoo! Widgets anywhere and activate that widget just be executing the file–sort of like the elegance of the Mac OS X’s application structure (all files under one folder, and an app can run from anywhere its folder structures are stored) versus Windows’ clunky install-files-in-various places methodology. Yahoo! gets the point on this one.

Interface. Google goes for the simple-but-usable approach. But Konfabulator pulled off all stops to make it the interface as elegant (and as OS X-like?) as possible. You can run Widgets and have the applets float just about anywhere you like, whether on top of other windows, underneath, as regular Windows, or hidden until called for.

Widgets’ heads-up-display (HUD, formerly known as Konsposé, actually a play on Mac’s “Exposé” functionality) shows you all your running and background Widgets at a press of a button. Gadgets can only be docked on the Google Desktop Sidebar, and you’d have to select them one by one to display.

Yahoo! gets the point on this one, too

http://www.decipheringlife.com/toolbar/ … olbar.html

see the links at left side... that is all you need to now about widgets and gadgets... It is collected and presented nicely. Understandable... at last.

For over a century Economists often use the term widget to refer to an abstract unit of production.  Factories produce widgets using capital and labor. Nowadays the term widget is no longer unique to economics and is often associated with a web gadget or small web application.