A widget is a dynamic application or user interface that is placed on a website. WidgetBox is a website that helps the user create and develop a variety of widgets. The site provides easy access to a large gallery of already created widgets as well as a way to create your own widgets using your own content.
I didn’t know anything about widgets or WidgetBox in particular when I started researching them, but after a simple tour around widgetbox.com, I created an account and started playing. There is a gallery where you can browse already created widgets and with a few clicks of the mouse, you have the code for that particular widget to copy it to your website. The site makes it even easier to post widgets to many common sites, such as blogs, by providing a helper buttons where all you do is click on the type of site you want to put the widget on, and it walks you through the process and automatically adds it. I used this installation tool to add both the already created Quote of the Day widget on this blog, and the poll widget I created. WidgetBox has recently added a mobile feature, so you can create widgets that are accessible to a mobile device such as the iPhone.
Other than making the creation and installation of widgets easy, the best thing about WidgetBox is that is gives you a single site where you can monitor all the widgets you have created and update material in one central location. You log into the site, and you can change the content of one widget and update that widget in every website it is installed in. There are also tracking options, so you can keep track of who is viewing and/or using your widgets. All of this can be done in one central location.
Widgets are all about customizing the content of a web page in a way that makes it useful for the people using the site and libraries can plug into this in a variety of ways. Widgets can be created that allow library users to browse the library’s catalogue and search through Google or other databases. Other widgets can help users organize and keep track of information found in their research. Also, widgets can make access to Google Docs, wikis and other collaboration tools easier and simpler for library users. WidgetBox again steps in and provides a site where the library can easily, and cheaply, create customized widgets to maximize their website. And then, it provides a central location for librarians to keep the information in those widgets up-to-date and accurate.
