And the widgets start rolling in...

By chaals. Saturday, 5. August 2006, 12:55:12

Well, it has taken some people a while to get into widgets. After all, just knowing that writing

<widget>
  <widgetname>My hello world widget</widgetname>
  <width>100</width>
  <height>100</height>
</widget>

and

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Hi</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1 style="background:#dff">Hi!</h1>
  </body>
</html>

is easy. Put them in the same directory as config.xml and index.html, open the config.xml in Opera 9.01 (or 9 if you haven't upgraded yet), and you have made a widget.

Put them in a zip file together, register at http://widgets.opera.com and upload your widget, remember to tick the checkbox that includes it in the Widget World Cup, and you're a published widget developer. Come by our stand to tell us your username and widget name by 1800 today and you are in the running for the assembly prizes. Win and you get first pick between the

Nintendo DS Lite with Opera on it
Nokia N90 phone with Opera on it
Nokia N770 tablet. Oh, yes, with Opera on it

But the hard part seems to be thinking of a widget that is a bit more interesting than that, to win one of those prizes. Maybe people are thinking they need to re-write the office suite. But there aren't that many people at Assembly - don't be frightened to write something small, simple and useful or entertaining.

The good news is that it isn't hard. Whether (like me) you are terrified of javascript, and just want to write something simple in SVG or HTML, or you expect a DOM API to your breakfast and write scripts to wash your dishes, you just put together something that would work on a web page.

The fastest developers I saw sat down at one of the computers on the stand for half an hour and got their entries completed. Although once your widget is registered, you can update it with your improved version until midnight tonight...

So keep them coming folks.

CameraphonesAssembled in Helsinki