Keep the stuff that you love right at your fingertips

The term ‘widget’ has traditionally been used to describe some kind of contraption or piece of technology that improves the overall functionality of a particular product. Mac OSX and Microsoft Vista users will be all too aware of how software widgets can bring more power to your desktop, as they now come as standard on these operating systems. For the benefit of the uninitiated, a widget is basically a small application that provides you with easy access to a particular function. These applications are docked on a ‘dashboard’, and you can add as many widgets as you like, giving you instant access to anything from a simple clock to a weather forecasting tool.

Yahoo! was one of the early pioneers of widgets, and this application is likely to intrigue anyone who hasn’t come across the technology before. The package sits on your desktop and allows you to download and install widgets from the Yahoo! site. There’s a healthy range of widgets available here (almost 4,000), each of which are installed automatically as soon as they’re downloaded. Although this helps to keep things simple, it’s frustrating that you cannot change the destination folderwhich folder the widgets are stored in here.

While it all runs from the same package, each widget is actually its own application. In previous releases of the Widget Engine, this had a tendency to tie up your system resources when using multiple widgets. However, tThis issue has been better addressed in this version, and it seems much less memory-intensive than before. Having said this, it’s not a good idea to keep more than about 10 running at once, as you do start to notice it then.

In terms of the widgets themselves, it would obviously be impractical (and quite frankly, boring) for us to review all 4,000 here, but needless to say there are some very useful ones, along with some downright pointless ones. For instance, we can’t really see the benefit of having a dancing skeleton on your desktop , yet there are tools for checking stock quotes, accessing iTunes, organizing your Flickr images, checking your WiFi signal and getting the latest travel news, all directly from your desktop. Graphically, the widgets are very impressive and each of them floats over the screen without the constraints of traditional window borders, ensuring they don’t intrude on your other activities.

We like the fact that you don’t need to register a Yahoo! account in order to use widgets but Yahoo! still doesn’t allow Desktop Widgets to be included on My Yahoo! pages, overlooking something both Microsoft and Google already allow. Although the program doesn’t really add anything you won’t find in Mac’s Dashboard, it’s perfect for Mac users looking for a bit of diversity.

Yes! We’ve added HTML support to Konfabulator! It is provided by an embedded version of WebKit, the open-source engine that is also the basis of Apple’s Safari browser.HTML objects behave like other Konfabulator objects. The content of an HTML object can be manipulated at will, and standard Konfabulator effects, such as rotation or transparency, can be applied. It is also possible to invoke Konfabulator functionality via JavaScript from within an HTML object. This allows a developer to create the entire Widget UI using HTML and Ajax.For security reasons, only local HTML (HTML that is included in the Widget bundle) can access Konfabulator functionality. Remote HTML (HTML fetched from the Internet) is strictly sandboxed.As if HTML weren’t enough, we’ve also added Flash support to Konfabulator. The new Flash object allows developers to load Flash content into their Widgets. The Flash object exposes all methods that are normally available to Flash developers (Play, Stop, Back, Forward, Rewind, etc.). As with HTML objects, Flash objects can be combined with other Konfabulator objects, rotated, etc. As with ‘fetched’ HTML, the bridge between Flash and Konfabulator is strictly unidirectional – it is not possible to call Konfabulator APIs from within Flash.If you really want to geek out, then you’ll be pleased to know that Konfabulator version 4.5 implements a W3C-compliant Document Object Model (DOM). The elements within the DOM are bridged to their JavaScript capabilities. Want to have some real fun? Walk your Widget’s DOM tree using Konfabulator 4.5.An enhanced security block in version 4.5 allows developers to specify Widget operations, such as file system access or Internet access, in fine-grained detail. This information is displayed to the end-user in a redesigned security dialog when the Widget runs for the first time. If the Widget tries to perform a potentially malicious operation that was not declared in the security block, Konfabulator stops the widget from running. If the security block is not present, the user is notified that full rights are being granted to the Widget — this allows legacy Widgets, which were created without a security block, to run.

Changes

• Yes! We’ve added HTML support to Konfabulator! It is provided by an embedded version of WebKit, the open-source engine that is also the basis of Apple’s Safari browser.HTML objects behave like other Konfabulator objects. The content of an HTML object can be manipulated at will, and standard Konfabulator effects, such as rotation or transparency, can be applied. It is also possible to invoke Konfabulator functionality via JavaScript from within an HTML object. This allows a developer to create the entire Widget UI using HTML and Ajax.For security reasons, only local HTML (HTML that is included in the Widget bundle) can access Konfabulator functionality. Remote HTML (HTML fetched from the Internet) is strictly sandboxed.As if HTML weren’t enough, we’ve also added Flash support to Konfabulator. The new Flash object allows developers to load Flash content into their Widgets. The Flash object exposes all methods that are normally available to Flash developers (Play, Stop, Back, Forward, Rewind, etc.). As with HTML objects, Flash objects can be combined with other Konfabulator objects, rotated, etc. As with ‘fetched’ HTML, the bridge between Flash and Konfabulator is strictly unidirectional – it is not possible to call Konfabulator APIs from within Flash.If you really want to geek out, then you’ll be pleased to know that Konfabulator version 4.5 implements a W3C-compliant Document Object Model (DOM). The elements within the DOM are bridged to their JavaScript capabilities. Want to have some real fun? Walk your Widget’s DOM tree using Konfabulator 4.5.An enhanced security block in version 4.5 allows developers to specify Widget operations, such as file system access or Internet access, in fine-grained detail. This information is displayed to the end-user in a redesigned security dialog when the Widget runs for the first time. If the Widget tries to perform a potentially malicious operation that was not declared in the security block, Konfabulator stops the widget from running. If the security block is not present, the user is notified that full rights are being granted to the Widget — this allows legacy Widgets, which were created without a security block, to run.

Yahoo! Widgets (formerly known as Konfabulator) is a JavaScript runtime engine for Windows and Mac OS X that lets you run little files called Widgets that can do pretty much whatever you want them to. Widgets can be alarm clocks, calculators, can tell you your WiFi signal strength, will fetch the latest stock quotes for your preferred symbols, and even give your current local weather.

What sets Yahoo! Widgets apart from other scripting applications is that it takes full advantage of today’s advanced graphics. This allows Widgets to blend fluidly into your desktop without the constraints of traditional window borders. Toss in some sliding and fading, and these little guys are right at home in Windows XP and Mac OS X.

The format for these Widgets is completely open and easy to learn so creating your own Widgets is an extremely easy task. For the “skinning” crowd, Yahoo! Widget Engine is a dream come true. You can easily change the look, feel, layout, even functionality of a Widget so that it matches your lifestyle, your desktop, or the pants or skirt you have on that day.