Widget (computing)

From Free net encyclopedia

A widget (or control) is a graphical interface component that a computer user interacts with, such as a window or a text box. Widgets are sometimes qualified as virtual to distinguish them from their physical counterparts, e.g. virtual buttons that can be clicked with a mouse cursor, vs. physical buttons that can be pressed with a finger. Widgets are often packaged together in widget toolkits. Programmers use widgets to build graphical user interfaces (GUIs).

One commonly referred to type of widgets are the Dashboard widgets of Apple Macintosh computer users. Widgets, in this case, are downloadable interactive virtual tools that provide services such as showing the user the latest news, the current weather, a dictionary, a map program, sticky notes, or even a language translator, among other things.

Some say that the word "widget" is derived from the combination of "window" and "gadget". This is unlikely. The earliest known occurrence of the word "widget" is in Beggar on Horseback (1924), a comedy play written by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. The hero of this play is a struggling composer who must choose between creating music that stimulates his soul (but earns no money) or earning a living by accepting a soul-deadening job in a factory that makes "widgets". The text of the play intentionally refrains from revealing what "widgets" are; clearly, they represent any purely mercantile commodity that has no artistic or spiritual value.

In Britain, the word "widget" has an additional meaning, not encountered in the United States. A widget, in this sense, is a small device attached to beer cans during their manufacture (only for certain brands of beer) which enables the beer to maintain its cold temperature and its "head" for a prolonged period without refrigeration.

1 Various widgets
2 Desktop widgets
- 2.1 Graphical component in computing
3 See also
4 References

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Various widgets

Buttons
- Button
- Check box
Selection
- Radio button
- Combo box
- Icon
- Toolbar
- Menu
- Recursive
  - Tree view
  - Grid view
- Continuous
  - Scrollbar
  - Progress bar
Text
- In
  - Text box (edit field)
- Out
  - Tooltip
  - Status bar
Window

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Desktop widgets

Image:DesktopX Objects.jpg

Image:Wikiwidget.png

Alternatively, a widget is a small specialised desktop application that provides easy access to frequently used functions or provides some visual information. Early examples of widgets were desk accessories on Mac OS. Typical widgets include News aggregators, clocks, calculators, calendars, desktop notes and weather forecasts.

Originally, desk accessories were developed to provide a small degree of multitasking, but when real multitasking OSes became available, these were replaced by normal applications. However, the widget model is attractive because of ease of development. Most widgets can be created with a few images and from less than ten to several hundred lines of XML/JavaScript/VBScript, depending on their complexity.

On Windows, support for widgets is mainly provided by Yahoo! Widgets (formerly Konfabulator), Samurize, DesktopX, Kapsules, AveDesk, and similar widget engines. Native support for widgets is included in Mac OS X v10.4 (via Dashboard). ts]].

Microsoft Windows Vista will provide Widget by Windows Sidebar. Desktop Gadgets of its widgets run on the desktop as well as on the Sidebar.

In February 2006 Opera Software announced support for widgets in Opera 9 Technical Preview 2. In Linux, the software SuperKaramba allows you to place widgets on your desktop.

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Graphical component in computing

In computing, widgets are components of graphical user interfaces (GUI) that the user interacts with, and also small helper-type applications. See widget (computing) and widget toolkit.

Apple Computer's Mac OS X v10.4 (Tiger) operating system includes Dashboard, a transparent layer that displays mini applications, or "widgets".
Yahoo! Widget Engine (formerly called Konfabulator) is a cross-platform application that allows users to run and build mini-applications, or "Widgets".
Microsoft Windows Sidebar is widget engine for its Desktop Gadgets. Windows Vista includes Windows Sidebar. Microsoft has stated that Windows Sidebar will be available for Windows XP as well.
wxWidgets (formerly known as wxWindows) is an open-source, cross-platform widget toolkit.
The Gimp Toolkit, [[GTK+]], is an open-source, cross-platform widget toolkit, popular in X window system desktop environments.
FLTK is an open-source, cross-platform widget toolkit designed for speed and small size.
Kapsules, a free project for Microsoft Windows that first aimed to replicate the above Mac OS X v10.4 functionality, and is now compatible with many scripting languages.