What a good widget looks like
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
For the uninitiated, a widget is a piece of a website that can be integrated into another website, blog, social network and often onto a computer desktops. Widgets are a great way to drive traffic to a site by providing continually updated links in a place where the user is more likely to see them. Like RSS, users can access content without actually having to navigate to a site to check for updates. Click here for a more detailed primer on the technology behind widgets.
There widgets for everything on the web, including news. Here are some of the best.
The Nightly News widget, adorned with a photo of news anchor Brian Williams and available through Yahoo! Widgets, pulls stories through the site's RSS feed.
CNN's podcast widget makes the audio shows available instantly and provides a link for downloading
Yourstreet's news widget is customizable: users can input their zip code and receive news from a variety of local sources.
The NewsScroller is the word in customized news widgets. Users can set the type of news they want, the colors that it appears in, expandable story items and more.
Delaware has a number of widgets available, but the standout is its video widget that makes the online news site's video content embeddable in any site or blog.
At last check, Hurricane Fay hadn't made its way to the Florida panhandle, but if it does, or if any storm system should hit the area, anyone with this widget will be the first to know.
The clear winner when it comes to widgets is National Geographic. The site offers 11 different widgets for everything from the Photo of the Day to a U2 widget.
Photo of the Day Widget
Daily News Widget
Place of the Week Widget
The cream of the crop is the Mysteries of the Ancient World Game widget which does what every good widget should do: it encourages interactivity by providing content (in this case a game) that the user would be interested in; it has a stellar and exemplary design that separates it from other online clutter; and it promotes brand identity.
You've seen some exemplary widgets, now check out this post to find out how a good widget gets made.
There widgets for everything on the web, including news. Here are some of the best.
NBC Nightly News
The Nightly News widget, adorned with a photo of news anchor Brian Williams and available through Yahoo! Widgets, pulls stories through the site's RSS feed.
CNN
CNN's podcast widget makes the audio shows available instantly and provides a link for downloading
Yourstreet
Yourstreet's news widget is customizable: users can input their zip code and receive news from a variety of local sources.
MSNBC
The NewsScroller is the word in customized news widgets. Users can set the type of news they want, the colors that it appears in, expandable story items and more.
delawareonline
Delaware has a number of widgets available, but the standout is its video widget that makes the online news site's video content embeddable in any site or blog.
WMBB
At last check, Hurricane Fay hadn't made its way to the Florida panhandle, but if it does, or if any storm system should hit the area, anyone with this widget will be the first to know.
The clear winner when it comes to widgets is National Geographic. The site offers 11 different widgets for everything from the Photo of the Day to a U2 widget.
Photo of the Day Widget
Daily News Widget
Place of the Week Widget
The cream of the crop is the Mysteries of the Ancient World Game widget which does what every good widget should do: it encourages interactivity by providing content (in this case a game) that the user would be interested in; it has a stellar and exemplary design that separates it from other online clutter; and it promotes brand identity.
You've seen some exemplary widgets, now check out this post to find out how a good widget gets made.
Labels: design, site management, widgets
2 Comments
Justin Thorp Says:
Great blog post man!
I work at the widget distribution network Clearspring Technologies. Some of the widgets you've identified were built on our platform. :-)
One of the biggest issues we've found with widgets is making it as easy as possible for users to move them wherever they want. If you want to put the widget somewhere, you shouldn't have to think about it.
If you ever want to talk widgets, I'd love to chat. Drop me an e-mail justin@clearspring.com
I work at the widget distribution network Clearspring Technologies. Some of the widgets you've identified were built on our platform. :-)
One of the biggest issues we've found with widgets is making it as easy as possible for users to move them wherever they want. If you want to put the widget somewhere, you shouldn't have to think about it.
If you ever want to talk widgets, I'd love to chat. Drop me an e-mail justin@clearspring.com
And thanks for the link to our blog. Always thrilled when people find value in the writing we put out there!
August 19, 2008 2:07 PM