Computer users are always on the look-out for better applications that are not only fun and easy to use but actually work as well. One of the better computer applications to come along is the widget. Widgets are stand-alone applications that can be embedded on sites authored by a user such as a webpage or a blog. They are also being commonly used in social media site profiles.
Essentially chunks of code installed for the purpose of sharing content, widgets may or may not have implications on a site’s performance depending on the widget type. Users who opt for widgets typically desire an enhanced web experience both for themselves and their site visitors. Widget developers on the other hand, hope to offer a win-win situation where the cost of development gets paid as multiple users accomplish their own objectives through the help of the widgets.
Widgets work best for a site where it is considered relevant such as a Destination Locator Widget for a Travel Site. Many widget owners have found a way to explore the functionality of seemingly unrelated widgets for their personal use and surprisingly ended up with favorable results. The basic rule here is to find widgets that complement your site in the absence of obvious similarities of purpose.
For maximized use, site owners or bloggers should take into account SEO concerns. At this time and age where everything is put in place for a purpose, it wouldn’t hurt to harness the full potentials of a computer application. The widget developer generally has full control over the application although there are services available which allow customization to better fit the purpose of the user. The next time you see those visually-attractive widgets that appear to work perfectly on others, stop and consider what makes it work for them and develop your options for your own site.
If you want to know more about the WordPress widgets, get started with the WordPress. WordPress widgets are somewhat similar to the plugins. You can install, activate or deactivate the widgets from the plugins page. Widgets are the most common plugins added to the sidebar or bottom of a WordPress theme nowadays to add a specific block of text or a specific function.
For example advertising widgets allow a user to place a block or ads in the sidebar of the blog and one can make small profits whenever a user come to those widgets.
The most fascinating fact about the WordPress widget is that it does not require any technical knowledge. No programming is required and you can place a widget just by dragging it to the sidebar. You can also re-arrange the widgets according to their usability and make your website look exactly what you want it to be. Read the rest of this entry »
Any businesses which make use of online marketing strategies make every effort to perk up their conversion rate. There are many different ways to boost up the targeted traffic in a website and to convert the visitors into the potential clientele. Some web masters prefer getting good rankings on Google whereas some prefer getting high position in Alexa ranking system.
Alexa is not a new term for the webmasters : almost every webmaster is familiar with this term and its benefits. Alexa is a web information company maintaining the traffic rankings for the websites. Alexa is also one of the best resources to boost up the value of the ad spots and to verify the popularity of our website. Read the rest of this entry »
That is an example of how the horoscope widget would output your zodiac sign’s daily horoscope.
It’s written in the stars, as some people would say. As such, they’d like to know what their horoscopes are every single day! Oh boy, it’s not just enough to look at it from the newspaper. You just have to share it with everybody else who is reading your blog! It’s part of the fun and for some people, the paranoia that the stars are conspiring against you.
Patrick Chia has a plugin for those who would like such a thing on their blogs. This WordPress geek seems to have a lot of widgets on his projects page. Anyhow, the horoscope widget gets the daily horoscope from Evled.com’s horoscpe section.
Good things:
You could have a cute header text describing that section of your blog. You could have something like “Signs and wonders: A Gemini’s daily horoscope” or “Written in the stars for Aries” or even “Zodiac Crazy Scorpio.” Nice, right? It would be easy to fit in your blog’s overall look and feel.
You could easily just select your zodiac sign from the drop-down list when you customize it from the Presentation; Sidebar Arrangement; Widgets part of your blog. If you’re not certain what your zodiac sign is, there’s no need to worry. The dates are included in the list, just right beside the particular zodiac sign. Nifty huh?
The not so good things:
Wouldn’t it be better if there’s an image associated with the zodiac signs? In newspapers, it’s easy to find the zodiac signs because of the symbols included.
If you don’t like the source of the horoscopes, you can’t really change it unless you can tweak the widget itself so that you could have a different source.
Don’t you just love these widgets? Whether you’re a blogging newbie or a problogger, you sure could play around with them!
Do you have a blog about pets? Or maybe you have another kind of blog but you love pets. If this is the case, then you might want to take a look at a widget that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has created for pet health and safety. Aptly (if not creatively) named the Pet Health & Safety Widget, the tool provides information for both the blog or web site owner and the readers. The information comes from the Center for Veterinary Medicine, so you know it’s legit and reliable.
From what I see in the FDA web site, the widget is pretty enough. It is narrow – the width of a small side bar – and long, perhaps a little more than 2 inches long. The code is provided, but it doesn’t seem as if there is a user interface to tweak the parameters of the widget. You can try to change the values for height and width, though – I think that will work.
The widget is mainly color blue, with various shades thrown in. There are two tabs – TIPS and UPDATES. There is also a small image which takes up most of the space of the widget, and there is a title (presumably for the article) at the bottom of the image. You can scroll left or right for more tips. I tried it out and there are only two topics available – purchasing pet drugs online and how to report pet food complaints. As to the frequency of updating, I have no idea.
Give it a try, grab the code from the FDA web site.
As far as placing the usual ad codes such as the ones you get from Google or Amazon, no longer will you have to tinker around with the themes, the sidebar.php in particular, to properly install the codes and get the great layouts in your blog.
Before widgets came, identifying the best place to put your code was always a problem. Also, making sure that the default layout will not be altered was a cause for alarm as normally, improper coding may wreck the entire theme that you have chosen for your site.
Ideally, it does seem easy. You don’t have to be that advanced in placing widgets. All you have to do is do to the design menu of WordPress and choose widgets and you can see the various options on the left side to which you can add according to your desire.
The text widget there is where you can add codes. Just add it and then edit and place the codes there without putting anything on the title bar. You may want to use the center option in case alignment issues may suffice.
With these widgets, you no longer have to edit your theme. Just bring up the widgets menu and get the text button widget and you can instantly place (or remove) your widget containing the affiliate codes without worrying of affecting your entire WordPress Blog theme.
I am not the type to check the time every 15 minutes, but I do hate it when people never keep track of time. I am sure you know a lot of these people. They would tell you they’ll meet you at a certain hour and come an hour late. Or they would say that they would be home at a certain time, and arrive much much later. The usual excuse is “Oh, sorry I forgot the time!”
If you have the tendency to be like this, even at work, then here are widgets that will make keeping track of the time a much more fun experience. Clock Widgets is a web site that specializes in – you got it – clocks of all sorts and sizes. The widgets are specially designed to keep the user entertained while at the same time, keeping functionality a top priority. These widgets can be embedded in your blog or any other web site for that matter.
They have a variety of designs, many of them “cute.” One of my favorites is the Donut & Candy clock widget – no need to explain what it looks like. You can take a look for yourself here. Another nice looking “time piece” is the Blue Diamond, which is very simple yet will match a site with a blue theme. The former widget is analog while the latter is digital. One wish I have with regard to the site is the number of widgets that they offer – maybe they can come up with more clocks in the future!
Hurtonly.com has reportedly offered two widgets that people can place on other social networking sites such as MySpace or standard website pages. Especially if you are a member of Hurtonly.com, you can be able to download the said widget and place it on your site.
When you install this widget, it provides you with a feed-type of a production as whenever new posts on articles or updates are done, you can immediately see them through the widget installed in your site. In fact, you can go as far as seeing various images uploaded on the site itself, offering you a variety of ways to access the site without having to be at the actual site.
On a business aspect, you can see that such a widget allows more traffic to Hurtonly.com. Add to this, they have also added a Kinetic Energy Calculator widget which helps people in how much kinetic energy they are using through archery and firearm equipment.
HuntOnly.com’s developers have also setup a Kinetic Energy Calculator for your use. Everyone is curious how much kinetic energy your archery or firearm equipment is producing, but the calculations are a little complex at best. No more, HuntOnly.com now has an easy way to get this information. You plug in the weight of your arrow or bullet, and speed in FPS and with one click you have your kinetic energy.
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Have you ever found yourself in the middle of trying to figure out what to place on your site? For sure, you will be worried about codes and how it can impact your overall site script. But thanks to widget technology, there is a site that allows you to find your fancy, finding a widget that suits your site with no technical expertise needed.
It is apparent that most people today have found it entirely difficult to find suitable scripts and presentation as far as their site is concerned. As far as elements are concerned, proper positioning and blending of the ideal widget may be a problem. But if you want the fast way towards achieving it, a short visit to Youcalc can surely address your needs and keep your site up without any technical expertise. The only hard part is looking for that widget that you are really looking for.
And now for some shortcomings. While that is the easy part, widget seekers would do best not to expect too much. Considering you did not really invest much effort in developing ideal widgets, you have to make do with the design that they had done. Now that would really be a killer. You just drag and drop them but as far as perfect blending into the site is concerned, expect some issue to come along the way.
“youcalc is a widget gallery, a widget creation tool, and a community of widget users and widget developers. For widget users, youcalc is like most other widget galleries – find a widget that interests you and post it to your blog, your website, you iGoogle, your facebook, etc. It’s a zero-tech, few clicks operation – and it’s entirely free.”
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Talk about technology, one has to wonder if using widgets would indeed be impressive and appealing towards the eyes of people who browse the web today. Widgets have become the new boom and resort for people who look for new ways to improve the current technology of site presentation and scripting and surely, web administrators would immediately study this development and apply them towards their websites at the earliest possible time.
Websites can be appealing and attractive at anytime through a person’s imagination. Technology can help but if a person would put his mind to it, he can resort to other details to be able to do so. Advanced scripting and programming can be an asset, but not really required. Widgets are on the line of advanced methods but while they are impressive fruits of technology, failure to place and use them in the manner that they should be may end up ruining the whole website presentation.
Technorati Tags: widgets, website programming, scripting
