Widgets, Badges and Gadgets

Dion Hinchcliffe;

• The Web is Global SOA
• Users are taking charge of their web experience. Web sites increasingly providing portable content
• Atomization opf content – small pieces are easier to re-use
• DIY web
• The web as a “parts superstore”
• Jakobs Law of the Web User: Users spend most of their time on other peoples’ sites
• The most successful sites leverage this
• Create open platforms
  – APIs, widgets+badges, syndication
  – re-use APIS etc from other organisations. Don’t re-invent the wheel
• Widgets: Small applications or bits of functionality that can be embedded on the web; typically ajax or flash
• Badges: Displays of content pulled under the covers from other websites. Less interactive than widgets
• Gadgets: Widget models with specifications e.g. google, netvibes, MS
• Key features of widgets:
  – supreme ease of consumption and distribution: copy/paste; one-line JS includes; object/embed tags for flash
  – connect to their underlying sites to provide value + control
  – have a business model baked deeply into it
• Users
  – Consumers – moving content and functionality to where they need it
  – Developers and prosumers – easy to integrate with high-value functionality
  – Businesses – external sourcing of functionality and content
  – Web apps built “On the shoulders of giants”
• Examples
  – google gadgets
  – MS live
  – WidgetBox (re-useable widget directory)
  – Myspace Widgets
• Simple widgets get much wider use than complex ones
• OpenSocial: OS gagets will run on every OS-capable site, and get social data from that site
• Widget Stories:
  – YouTube video badge – uses the web as a content “billboard”; consistently drives user growth, video views, and traffic back to the site. Made it utterly simple to embed – show the code next to every video
  – Google Adwords Widget; probably the most successful widget in history; drives a huge amount of revenue for google. Good user incen tive, extreme ease of use, strong viral feedback loop.
• Blogs, wikis are end-user IDEs
• Recommendations:
  – small pieces, loosely joined
  – re-use if possible, but be aware that there are few SLAs
  – understand the implications for intellectual property
  – provide an absolute minimum of restrictive structure.

Chris May : 06 Nov 2007 19:05 |  Tags: Web20Expoberlin |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem