Different Widgets?
other than weather and meters
Sunday, February 4, 2007 by jolhof | Discussion: Widget talk
Hi all,
The idea of widgets, gadgets and objects are all very cool, but how many Weather, meter and clock gadgets do we need? There has got to be more to them than just that!
What all do we want? and can we make it happen?
How about a TV widget that has multiple channels to choose from, and has the choice to toggle between a small view and large. Or how about a multi newspaper widget that can show the major headlines from several newspapers in one screen, yet when selected can show the whole newspaper.(yes maybe like a rss feed reader, but souped up!)
What do we want? and lets see if we can push the boundries a little further!!!
(just a brain fart at 1:45 a.m. in the morning)
The idea of widgets, gadgets and objects are all very cool, but how many Weather, meter and clock gadgets do we need? There has got to be more to them than just that!
What all do we want? and can we make it happen?
How about a TV widget that has multiple channels to choose from, and has the choice to toggle between a small view and large. Or how about a multi newspaper widget that can show the major headlines from several newspapers in one screen, yet when selected can show the whole newspaper.(yes maybe like a rss feed reader, but souped up!)
What do we want? and lets see if we can push the boundries a little further!!!
(just a brain fart at 1:45 a.m. in the morning)
Fairyy~
Reply #2 Sunday, February 4, 2007 7:20 AM
Most don't realise how involved these things can be in DesktopX - it requires the ones with the script writing knowledge to even attempt these projects.
Reply #2 Sunday, February 4, 2007 7:20 AM
| It's good to want more. It's harder to do something about it. Take a look at what it takes, try your hand at what you descibe, report back. |
Most don't realise how involved these things can be in DesktopX - it requires the ones with the script writing knowledge to even attempt these projects.
Vad_M
Reply #3 Sunday, February 4, 2007 7:28 AM
Reply #3 Sunday, February 4, 2007 7:28 AM
I agree. The problem is that majority of people who make widgets here can do them only as a SKINS or REMAKES for old projects which was created 2-3 years ago. This is because they are not a programmers. However they want to realise their creative desires. And this is very good. 
But I see that a great creations containing new ideas and leading technical decisions sometimes disappears in ocean of other things. And this is not good by this reason!
So there is one way to correct this situation. Its need to create here two different galleries:
1. Objects/Widgets/Gadgets
2. Skins for Objects/Widgets/Gadgets (as for Winamp, Rainlendar etc...)
Just an idea...
But I see that a great creations containing new ideas and leading technical decisions sometimes disappears in ocean of other things. And this is not good by this reason!
So there is one way to correct this situation. Its need to create here two different galleries:
1. Objects/Widgets/Gadgets
2. Skins for Objects/Widgets/Gadgets (as for Winamp, Rainlendar etc...)
Just an idea...
Fairyy~
Reply #4 Sunday, February 4, 2007 4:33 PM
There is an object gallery , and the " gadgets' are mixed in with Widgets. They should be in a separate gallery just for the reason you stated. Maybe it would be even better if the clocks and weather widgets had there own sub-gallery seeing they are so many of them. But, I know they Object Dock gallery goes through the same thing with the misc dock icons too. I doubt they will change much - with Vista coming Im sure they need the gallery space for new items.
Reply #4 Sunday, February 4, 2007 4:33 PM
So there is one way to correct this situation. Its need to create here two different galleries: |
There is an object gallery , and the " gadgets' are mixed in with Widgets. They should be in a separate gallery just for the reason you stated. Maybe it would be even better if the clocks and weather widgets had there own sub-gallery seeing they are so many of them. But, I know they Object Dock gallery goes through the same thing with the misc dock icons too. I doubt they will change much - with Vista coming Im sure they need the gallery space for new items.
ZubaZ
Reply #5 Sunday, February 4, 2007 4:46 PM
Reply #5 Sunday, February 4, 2007 4:46 PM
Remember, you can use teh "breadcrumbs" along the top of the gallery to filter what you want (or don't want to see).
c242
Reply #7 Monday, February 5, 2007 8:24 AM
Reply #7 Monday, February 5, 2007 8:24 AM
Well, I started a small project to possibly reduce the need of the 1001st weather/meter/calendar widget a bit. It uses a minimum of 1 changable graphic (although You can change more if You want). WWW Link
Will be released as 'open source' when it reaches 1.0. Could be enhanced for other uses then.
Will be released as 'open source' when it reaches 1.0. Could be enhanced for other uses then.
RomanDA
Reply #9 Thursday, February 22, 2007 6:20 PM
Reply #9 Thursday, February 22, 2007 6:20 PM
I agree with the comment on so many of the same things here.
I post something new, or different, and then in 1 day its on page 6 because someone posted 10 version of the exact same weather widget, or the 2000 calendar of the month.
The Biggest problem with all of this is lack of knowledge, yes you can take a simple weather widget and "SKIN" it 100000 times, but does that make it worth doing? Why not learn a LITTLE scripting (and i mean about 20-30 lines) that could allow you to have 1 weather widget with 2-3 or 20 skins or formats in it.
Look at the code i used in this widget: KEWL KLOCK
The code it VERY simple and can be made to work on just about anything.
MY Goal with DX is to make things no one else has come up with yet, and I think Im headed in the right direction with these.
So far in the past few months I have posted:
Holiday Countdown
And
Site Checker
The Holiday Countdown was an absolute KILLER script wise, there are over 150 hours of REAL time in it. And that is why its a GADGET not a WIDGET, I have to protect that work, so that there arn't 50 of them on the site in a week. And yes I am selling it, but that is to try and offset some of the time i have INVESTED in this. And i will NEVER break even, it would take over 600 sales to = what i have in it, in time. Let alone bandwidth etc.
The Site Checker was something that was made in about 2-3 hours (initially) and then spent about 8 more "making it cleaner" so that it could do more then just ping a site.
So this is why I'm trying to start a better and more robust Tutorial list. Im starting out VERY slow so that anyone who wants to can begin to make even the simplest widgets, its going to take a LOT of time to get these done, the first 3 took move over 8 hrs to put together.
Here is the link to the post of the DX Tutorials -
DX STEP-BY-STEP
Lets all learn how to make DX widgets that are not the norm.
I post something new, or different, and then in 1 day its on page 6 because someone posted 10 version of the exact same weather widget, or the 2000 calendar of the month.
The Biggest problem with all of this is lack of knowledge, yes you can take a simple weather widget and "SKIN" it 100000 times, but does that make it worth doing? Why not learn a LITTLE scripting (and i mean about 20-30 lines) that could allow you to have 1 weather widget with 2-3 or 20 skins or formats in it.
Look at the code i used in this widget: KEWL KLOCK
The code it VERY simple and can be made to work on just about anything.
MY Goal with DX is to make things no one else has come up with yet, and I think Im headed in the right direction with these.
So far in the past few months I have posted:
Holiday Countdown
And
Site Checker
The Holiday Countdown was an absolute KILLER script wise, there are over 150 hours of REAL time in it. And that is why its a GADGET not a WIDGET, I have to protect that work, so that there arn't 50 of them on the site in a week. And yes I am selling it, but that is to try and offset some of the time i have INVESTED in this. And i will NEVER break even, it would take over 600 sales to = what i have in it, in time. Let alone bandwidth etc.
The Site Checker was something that was made in about 2-3 hours (initially) and then spent about 8 more "making it cleaner" so that it could do more then just ping a site.
So this is why I'm trying to start a better and more robust Tutorial list. Im starting out VERY slow so that anyone who wants to can begin to make even the simplest widgets, its going to take a LOT of time to get these done, the first 3 took move over 8 hrs to put together.
Here is the link to the post of the DX Tutorials -
DX STEP-BY-STEP
Lets all learn how to make DX widgets that are not the norm.
SirSmiley
Reply #10 Thursday, February 22, 2007 11:14 PM
Yeah...sure what've you been smokin'. j/k
You have my thanks for the tutorials and I must say that you're a better man than I.
Still shaking my head as to how some others think.
Reply #10 Thursday, February 22, 2007 11:14 PM
150 hours of REAL time in it.
Yeah...sure what've you been smokin'. j/k
You have my thanks for the tutorials and I must say that you're a better man than I.
Still shaking my head as to how some others think.
ZubaZ
Reply #11 Thursday, February 22, 2007 11:20 PM
David thinks he's a better man than EVERYONE. Please don't feed the beast.
{For the record, DX is an awesome framework for both scripting and graphics. I am awed by what the artist/developers on this site do with it. Thank you all.}
Reply #11 Thursday, February 22, 2007 11:20 PM
. . .I must say that you're a better man than I
David thinks he's a better man than EVERYONE. Please don't feed the beast.
{For the record, DX is an awesome framework for both scripting and graphics. I am awed by what the artist/developers on this site do with it. Thank you all.}
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Reply #1 Sunday, February 4, 2007 4:45 AM
Take a look at what it takes, try your hand at what you descibe, report back.
DX Docs
If you need help, there are usually folks here in the forums or in IRC that can help.