Redefining the Widget
Last year at Widgets Live, the announcement of the SpringWidgets platform redefined what a widget could be. At the time of our launch there were three categories of widgets: desktop widgets, web widgets and a special subsection of web widgets that would work on social networking profiles.
We changed all that by inventing a widget platform that allowed for the first time, the ability to use a single, updatable and configurable widget file to reach all of these destinations. We took it further by incorporating in the ability to “pop” any SpringWidget you find on the web onto your desktop with just one click.
Since our release, there have been a few companies that have announced a similar product offering - YourMinis and Netvibes are examples we feel are well done.
I'm going to give you a little sneak peak behind the curtain where we are quietly working on redefining the widget once again, and perhaps in the process spur another round of inspiration.
For the most part, online widgets have been exactly what the limited definition has made them out to be …
Thanks Wikipedia
Reading this, I’m thinking about the widget landscape and in my head I’m starting to challenge the entire box that we have collectively put widgets into, trying to look past the simple definition and look at the transformative nature of what a portable chunk of code can do.
Is the widget just a visitor on the web page or can it be much more and control and interact with the web page it’s on? If widgets are like parasites, can a parasite define the host?
Can a widget be a portable “experience?”
Envision if you will a Widget that no longer sends the user off to another site to personalize itself. Imagine a widget that is not content to stay within the confines of it’s own little box, but rather can interact with the page it lives on. The “Transformative Widget” would take over the page it’s on; integrating it's content within that page and transforming it based on a click.
If the Widget is not just a chunk of code, but rather a portable experience, imagine the infinite ways we can expand the brand experience within the social network itself. Moving code and embedding Widgets can create a better way to immerse the user in an extreme brand experience. The widget then becomes an ad that is user embedded, user selected and more powerfully engaging and interactive than any traditional advertisement that is available - and just as performance oriented.
If a user allows the widget to brand the entire page, is that a "Widgetview", an "Ad Impression", or a "Pageview"?
So if SpringWidgets is ready to challenge the Widget Landscape it’s safe to say that the launch of THE FANTASTIC FOUR Widget is the next step in redefining the Widget. The transformative nature of TFF Widget is completely apparent once you start using it on your MySpace profile and the brand experience is more immersive than anything possible with a widget prior to the Fantastic Four widget launch.
This is only one of the many transformative widgets that we are engaged in and only represents a small amount of our R&D efforts. Over the weeks and months to come, we'll be rolling out some truly fantastic products that will not only transform the widget, but transform SpringWidgets as well.
We would love to have you on board as we make these transformations, so please feel free to download our API and put your own thoughts to work in redefining what a widget can be.
We changed all that by inventing a widget platform that allowed for the first time, the ability to use a single, updatable and configurable widget file to reach all of these destinations. We took it further by incorporating in the ability to “pop” any SpringWidget you find on the web onto your desktop with just one click.
Since our release, there have been a few companies that have announced a similar product offering - YourMinis and Netvibes are examples we feel are well done.
I'm going to give you a little sneak peak behind the curtain where we are quietly working on redefining the widget once again, and perhaps in the process spur another round of inspiration.
For the most part, online widgets have been exactly what the limited definition has made them out to be …
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.
Thanks Wikipedia
Reading this, I’m thinking about the widget landscape and in my head I’m starting to challenge the entire box that we have collectively put widgets into, trying to look past the simple definition and look at the transformative nature of what a portable chunk of code can do.
Is the widget just a visitor on the web page or can it be much more and control and interact with the web page it’s on? If widgets are like parasites, can a parasite define the host?
Can a widget be a portable “experience?”
Envision if you will a Widget that no longer sends the user off to another site to personalize itself. Imagine a widget that is not content to stay within the confines of it’s own little box, but rather can interact with the page it lives on. The “Transformative Widget” would take over the page it’s on; integrating it's content within that page and transforming it based on a click.
If the Widget is not just a chunk of code, but rather a portable experience, imagine the infinite ways we can expand the brand experience within the social network itself. Moving code and embedding Widgets can create a better way to immerse the user in an extreme brand experience. The widget then becomes an ad that is user embedded, user selected and more powerfully engaging and interactive than any traditional advertisement that is available - and just as performance oriented.
If a user allows the widget to brand the entire page, is that a "Widgetview", an "Ad Impression", or a "Pageview"?
So if SpringWidgets is ready to challenge the Widget Landscape it’s safe to say that the launch of THE FANTASTIC FOUR Widget is the next step in redefining the Widget. The transformative nature of TFF Widget is completely apparent once you start using it on your MySpace profile and the brand experience is more immersive than anything possible with a widget prior to the Fantastic Four widget launch.This is only one of the many transformative widgets that we are engaged in and only represents a small amount of our R&D efforts. Over the weeks and months to come, we'll be rolling out some truly fantastic products that will not only transform the widget, but transform SpringWidgets as well.
We would love to have you on board as we make these transformations, so please feel free to download our API and put your own thoughts to work in redefining what a widget can be.
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8 Comments:
sdfsdfsd
This looks great but I'm a bit unclear, are 3rd party developers like myself able to do stuff like that on MySpace using SpringWidgets API or will this functionality be restricted to 'official' widgets?
Pretty cool how you turned it around to make goowy and netvibes into "innovation-followers". They've been doing this and more for a looooong time.
But, they dont have easy MySpace access.
So, can I implement a *real* security layer to encrypt contents during transport, and prevent anyone that isn't authenticated by my backend from viewing the content?
What's in it for developers? Do we get a share of revenues?
First off, let me apologize for not responding to these comments sooner, I've been face down on a few new initiatives.
To Cibernautas: I say "sdfsdfsd" back to you ;-)
To Anonymous: The functionality shown in the Fantastic Four widget is restricted to use by customers of the MySpace Custom Communities area. If you are interested in working with MySpace to create a custom community, let me know and I'll forward your contact information along.
To Second Anonymous: I respect the guys at YourMinis and Netvibes a great deal and I'm not disparaging them at all. but...
SpringWidgets: http://tinyurl.com/y84vok
Your Minis Desktop widgets: http://tinyurl.com/yrfw7z
Netvibes:
http://tinyurl.com/35devm
And of course... You could point out that Macromedia beat us all to the table with Central, but that wasn't quite the same thing.
On security:
The security of content is limited to what can be accomplished within a Flash environment. We are always looking for ways to improve the security both for the user as well as the content publisher. If you send me your name, I can put you in contact with one of our developers to talk through ways to protect the integrity of your data and files.
To Third Anonymous: We currently have no restrictions on revenue generation in our widgets, so if you have a plan that will allow you to monetize your widgets, please feel free to do so.
Of course, as with any other widget platform, if your widget is in conflict with the TOS of a site that it is embedded on, it may be blocked from that site. But will still be available in our system for use on other sites.
Cheers,
-Don
I like SpringWidgets. People can post my SpringWidgets on their blogs if they want to know my new post. There are a lot of other widgets, but I only can put them on my destop, for example, yahoo's widget. Besides, SpringWidgets is more like a personal customization for blog user. This is a very specific service, and I appreciate it.
Sometimes, it's difficult to define the boundary of imitation and creation. If you do more delicate improvement or service in details, SpringWidgets will approach perfection day by day. I think that's a kind of "creation", to create the best widget for us.
It's more important for us that SpringWidgets is useful and amazing in service.
W93wWx Your blog is great. Articles is interesting!
jlj43g Thanks to author.
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