In this post we would like to talk about widgets as the latest and one of the most popular phenomena in desktop and web application development. We are going to clear up what a widget is and what it is needed for.

From day to day, widgets become more and more widespread in the modern world of the Internet. First rich media and interactive entertainment widgets appeared yet in 2001. Now widgets are commonplace and are actively used on personal blogs, wikis, social network and auction sites, etc. One can meet them on web resources such as Facebook, iGoogle, LiveJournal, MySpace, Netvibes, WordPress, and many others.

What is a Widget?

First of all, let’s make clear what a widget is. A widget is a chunk of code that can be embedded in a web page or installed on a computer desktop. Widgets are usually understood to be interactive single-purpose applications for displaying and/or updating local data or data on the Web. They are packaged in a way to allow downloading and embedding into a web page or installation on a user’s machine. These interactive virtual tools are meant for providing services of single purpose such as photo viewing, displaying latest news, current weather, time, a calendar, a map program, a dictionary or a language translator, a calculator, desktop notes, among other things. Besides providing useful information, widgets represent some commercial interest as a powerful marketing channel, mainly due to their interactivity and viral distribution through social networks. Thus, widgets are often used as advertisements, links to websites, etc. Widgets are divided into three categories such as web, desktop, and mobile widgets. Let’s review all these categories separately.

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