Google Gadgets and B4L - 2 comments

Google Gadgets are "simple HTML and JavaScript applications that can be embedded in webpages and other apps".

You can already add them to iGoogle, the "enhanced" Google homepage; all Blogger users will shortly be able to incorporate them into their pages (in fact, they can now if they log in using Blogger In Draft mode - I've seen it work); and they can, in due course, be used in OpenSocial sites such as Engage.com, Friendster, hi5, Hyves, imeem, LinkedIn, MySpace, Ning, Oracle, orkut, Plaxo, Salesforce.com, Six Apart, Tianji, Viadeo, and XING.

That being the case, I've created four open source widgets that use "live" B4L content. Here's what they look like in my iGoogle (full-size):



I can move them around, add or remove them, and (in due course) I'll be able to say: "show me the last ten posts, not the last three, and hide B4L's own awful blogging!"

So if you use iGoogle or equivalent, and want to have a look for real, here are the URLs for the current set of gadgets. Add any one(s) you like:

• http://b4l-gadgets.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/B4LBlogPostsGadget.xml
• http://b4l-gadgets.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/recentPostsGadget.xml
• http://b4l-gadgets.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/recommendationsGadget.xml
• http://b4l-gadgets.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/searchRecentPostsGadget.xml

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Here's their permanent home: http://code.google.com/p/b4l-gadgets/

Anyone so minded can connect to the Subversion repository here and download the four, for free (under the Apache License 2.0) and play around with them to their heart's content.

They certainly aren't "production quality", and I might well decide to change them extensively, but I intend them to live and thrive, and to be joined by new gadgets very soon.

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The first part of the plan is to allow the wider B4L network to use these components on their own sites. These gadgets use live data, so they're a hell of a lot smarter and more interesting than your plain old banners and tickers.

Another part of my plan is to turn the B4L site itself into a kind of repository for these widgets, so you can easily customise it for your own needs if you find yourself there.

A third part of the plan is to produce new gadgets on behalf of other Labour bloggers. Think to yourself: (a) where you saw the information you wanted, (b) where you'd like to see it appear, and (c) how you'd like it presented.

All ideas, suggestions, and offers of permanent work welcome!