Welcome to the Widgets Resource Center. Widgets, also referred to as gadgets by companies including Microsoft and Google, are mini-applications designed to run either as standalone applications on your desktop using a widget engine, or as add-on features incorporated into web pages. Widgets can perform numerous tasks, such as displaying real-time weather conditions, aggregating RSS feeds directly onto your personal Internet start page, finding movie and more. Over the last few years, widgets have experienced hypergrowth because they can be used to personalize your Internet experience. Start your search here for widget resources, including tutorials, articles, syndication and monetization information, downloads, widget directories, widget platforms and more. In the Widgets Resource Center you’ll find links to:

• The article, “The Year of the Widget?” by Brian Braiker of Newsweek Magazine.
• The article, “The Widgetization of the Web,” by Heather Havenstein of Computerworld.com.
• The video interview, “What’s a Widget?” with Hooman Radfar, the founder of widget development and syndication service Clearspring.com.
• The blog entry, “What is a Widget?” from the Snipperoo widget blog.
• Cool web and desktop widgets including the Wikipedia Search Google Gadget, the Mini Amazon Web Gadget, the Yahoo! Weather Widget, the OnTour Concert Listings Yahoo! Widget, the Google Map web gadget, the MadLibs Apple Dashboard Widget, the Facebook Watch Apple Dashboard Widget, the Movie Ticket Finder Sidebar Gadget, the Concise System Info Display Google Gadget, the Generic Countdown Timer Yahoo! Widget, the Unit Converter web gadget and the Babefish Translator web gadget.
• Widget directories including Microsoft’s Windows Live Gallery, MuseStorm Widget Central, Yahoo! Widget Gallery and others.
• The Gadget Development Overview from the Microsoft Developer Network.
• The tutorial, “Creating a Gadget,” from Google Desktop tutorials.
• The Microsoft Gadget Builder Depot, with resources for Windows Live and Vista Sidebar gadget development.
• Widget creation tools including Dashcode for Mac OS X and Google Gadget Designer.
• Widget syndication services including Widgetbox, Clearspring Technologies, MuseStorm Widget Engine and Snipperoo.
• The article, “New Media: Marketers Wend Widgets into Interactive Tactics,” by Brian Morrissey of BrandWeek.com, that discusses widgets as an advertising model.
• The Windows Live Gadget Guide and the Yahoo! Widget Creation Tutorial that help you develop your own gadgets.
• The Widgipedia.com widget FAQ.
• The book, Dashboard Widgets for Mac OS X Tiger (Visual Quickstart Guide) by Dori Smith.
• The widget blog of Niall Kennedy, the CEO of Hat Trick Media, a web technology startup that focuses on the development of personal search, feed syndication and widgets.
  
  
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