Desktop and web-based widgets Many on-line services provide widget codes to directly access their services from other web pages.
Developers around the world keep on churning out widgets for a variety of functions daily THIS EDITION of NetSpeak explores the world of desktop and web-based widgets. While engrossed in a computing job you may wish to have a few useful alerts automatically with the help of some background programs. Checking the e-mail box periodically, alerting weather status of a specified city, regular updates on one's stocks/funds could be some of the necessary alerts. The distinct feature of such a task lies in seamlessly communicating with an on-line service, collecting relevant information from it and displaying them on a proper window without disturbing the user's workflow. Besides such Net based tasks, we may often need to do several mundane tasks regularly (like unit conversion and simple arithmetic). Tiny programs meant for accomplishing the above said tasks are known as widgets. Software that lets you execute a widget is called a widget engine. The widget creator Yahoo Widget (http://widgets.yahoo.com/) is a well-known tool in this realm. This freely downloadable software enables you to run and develop widgets based on Javascript. The `Yahoo! Widget Engine,' carries with it a set of popular widgets. Developers around the world keep on churning out widgets for a variety of functions daily. And as a consequence, the ever-growing widget gallery ( http://www.widgetgallery.com/ ) is currently packed with tens of thousands of widgets. Widgets for varied tasks such as real-time display of stock quotes, currency conversion and dictionary assistance are available in this repository for free download. Kapsules (http://kwidgets. com/) is another free widget engine worth a test. This software allows you to compose widgets in eight scripting languages that include PHP, Perl and Python. Apart from widgets that work from desktops, web-based widgets are available. A small web application embedded into a web page is called a web-based widget. Like its desktop counterpart, a web-based widget too performs certain specified functions such as displaying weather conditions, news-feeds and the like. Many on-line services provide widget codes to directly access their services from other web pages (like the cartoon widget, hosted here: http://www.gapingvoid.com/widget/ ). Though widgets enhance a web page's dynamic and interactive potential, embedding too many applications on a web page can clutter it and probably discourage the user of your web site. Nonetheless, the web-based widget trend is gaining momentum and some innovative ones are available. The `Meebo Me' ( http://www.meebome.com/ ) widget, from the web based IM client service Meebo ( http://www.meebo.com/ ), is an excellent instance of such a product. Those of you who are not familiar with web based IM clients may note that such a service helps us conduct instant messenger (IM) conversations without having to install an IM client. In the past, NetSpeak featured the web based IM client Meebo, meant for accessing popular IM services such as Yahoo and MSN, directly from your browser. Kool IM (koolim.com/) is another similar service. From its interface, you can access several popular IM services that include AIM, MSN, Google Talk and so on. Let us get back to the discussion on 'Meebo Me' widget. Once installed on your web page, this widget automatically makes each of your site visitors a member of your Meebo buddy list. That is, the widget enables you to track/communicate with your visitors in real-time. To get the widget code and activate its service you need to have an account with Meebo. Now, whenever you are on-line and logged-in to your Meebo account, anyone visiting your blog/site can contact you directly through the 'Meebo Me' widget installed on your blog. As soon as a visitor lands up on your page, her identity will appear in your Meebo buddy list. Besides helping you track the visitors in real-time, this tool could come handy to accomplish many collaborative endeavours. For instance, a teacher can introduce this widget into her blog and use it to chat with her students. To get a feel of the product, check out the demo page created by this author here: http://links.m56kbps.com/. Reverse dictionary Several on-line dictionary services are available for finding out the meaning of a word or its synonyms (like Dictionary.com - http://dictionary.reference.com /, Onelook - http://www.onelook.com/ etc). However, at times we may need to find an appropriate word for a concept. That is, here we need to locate the word whose meaning is known. To deal with such instances, you may try out the OneLook's reverse dictionary service ( http://www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml ). In response to your description of a thought this service displays a set of words that may closely match the described concept. Instant domain search Domain search services help you find whether a domain name already exists. The `Real-time Domain Search' (http://instantdomainsearch.com/) is one such service. The ability to display the result as soon as you start typing is the notable advantage of this service. Though geographical sense is quite essential in this highly globalised world, many find it difficult to comprehend physical locations of various countries across the globe. If you are one of those geography challenged, try out the free geography software Seterra ( http://www.wartoft.nu/software/seterra/ ), developed to inform you on geographical locations of different countries, capitals and cities. Job board Those of you looking for hot IT jobs may find the new job board service `CrunchBoard' ( www.crunchboard.com /), built by the people behind the famous technology blog TechCrunch, really rewarding. J. MURALI http://www.thehindu.com/2006/08/14/stories/2006081401291600.htm Vikas Kapoor, MSN ID: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo ID: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype ID: dl_vikas Mobile: (+91) 9891098137. To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
