Widget bliss
- 25th August 2005 | permanent link
- comments (3)
Konfabulator. What is it? Whatever you want it to be. Sounds confusing? Let's see if we can shed some light on the subject:
Konfabulator is a JavaScript runtime engine for Windows and Mac OS X that lets you run little files called Widgets that can do pretty much whatever you want them to. Widgets can be alarm clocks, calculators, can tell you your WiFi signal strength, will fetch the latest stock quotes for your preferred symbols, and even give your current local weather.
That's more like it. But first things first. Lets define what a widget actually is. A widget is a standardized on-screen representation of a control that may be manipulated by the user. So stuff like scrollbars, radiobuttons and such are actually - widgets. So what's the big deal then?
Well I would've easily overlooked this, had it not been for this post by Jason Kottke. He writes:
So this is my best guess as to how an "operating system" based on the Web (which I will refer to as "WebOS") will work. There are three main parts to the system:
The Web browser (along with other browser-ish applications like Konfabulator) becomes the primary application interface through which the user views content, performs services, and manages data on their local machine and on the Web, often without even knowing the difference. Something like Firefox, Safari, or IE...ideally browser agnostic.
Web applications of the sort we're all familiar with: Gmail, Flickr, and Bloglines, as well as other applications that are making the Web an ever richer environment for getting stuff done. (And ideally all Ajaxed up to provide an experience closer to that of traditional desktop apps.)
A local Web server to handle the data delivery and content display from the local machine to the browser. This local server will likely be highly optimized for its task, but would be capable of running locally installed Web applications (e.g. a local copy of Gmail and all its associated data).
This threw my little gray cells into a tail spin and all they could come up with is: We got to get in on this!. And so I did. I installed the latest version of Konfabulator and just gazed at what can be accomplished with such ease. I tried out a lot of widgets you can find in the Widget gallery, and some of them can be very handy. You can place them on your desktop or just let them float around. It's up to you. This is what my desktop look like now. I don't think these gadgets will be going anywhere anytime soon :)
And developing these sweet looking widgets seems to be easier than you might think. Konfabulator uses a combination of JavaScript and XML that makes the whole thing even more attractive, well at least to me that is :)
Make a mental note: Try it out and see where this can take you. I know I will.
Anyhoo, this thing is great. I've been using it since the first version for windows came out. And I have similar Widgets as you. I have the TO-DO Widget and the weather widget. Then one of the many Calendar widgets, and finally an iPod Shuffle look-a-like remote for iTunes. I used to have the Digital Clock widget but it didn't work very well.
This is my desktop from a few months ago -> http://blog.rebootcomic.com/img/upload/ScreenShot019.jpg
Hope you make your own usefull widget soon... you seem to be the programmer type :P
Also, if you do make one, please make it Mac-able too (I'm switching as soon as my iMac arrives ;))
Em wich widget do you use for the Quick Launch bar you have at the bottom? Well if I do get around to making some widgets I'll post them here. I don't have any ideas what to make, but I'll find something :)
Oh, and yeah! Marvin rox! :))