To give readers another way to remain on top of all the news , review , and characteristic available at Macworld.com , Macworldhas released a Widget that delivers the tardy headline directly to the Dashboard of Mac OS X 10.4 users . The Macworld Widget , developed forMacworldby John Casasanta , Phillip Ryu , and other designers atWidgetMachinegives substance abuser a simple interface to get just the content you want rescue .
By clicking on the Widget ’s information link , users can prefer among 10 separate RSS feed usable from Macworld.com . The first pick , “ Most Recent Stories , ” provides a list of the most recent item posted at Macworld.com , include news , reviews , web log entry , and other clause .
The other alternative allow user to desegregate and match the content any way they want to receive it . For lesson , just clicking on the Reviews RSS Feed provides only product critique ; clicking on the News feed adds news articles to the mixture , and so on .
Download the Macworld Widget by clickinghere .
progress the Widget
Ryu and Casasanta began the operation of building the Macworld Widget the same means they start with other WidgetMachine projects : lay out the mind and the design for the proposed Widget .
“ Once I have a basic idea of what I ’m belong to do , I start with the hypertext mark-up language to get thing up and run visually early , ” said Casasanta , a Mac developer since 1990 . “ One of the dainty thing about Widgets is the other payoff — you’re able to get something nice looking too soon on . ”
How important is figure to Casasanta ? “ Very , ” he said . “ As it should be for all thing Mac . ” While having an innovative Widget is important , Ryu and Casasanta also believe that intent appeals to users so WidgetMachine presently has seven artists that bring to Widget design .
“ I think there definitely has to be a balance [ between intent and functionality ] , ” said Casasanta , who ’s developing thingmabob as a break from his own business atInventive , Godhead of theiClipmultiple clipboard and scrapbooking programme . “ It varies from project to image , but it ’s necessary to always be recall about design throughout the development procedure . ”
In fact , when putting together the squad for WidgetMachine , the first masses Ryu contacted were clothes designer . Some of those designers were involve withMacThemes.net , one of Ryu ’s previous ventures , so they were aware with the premium Mac users place on attend - and - finger .
“ invention is a huge , immense part of the Widget and I feel that to deliver the goods acquire widgets , we ’d need the very best design talent we could get , ” Ryu enounce . “ The intention is what ’s going to tempt users to download our Widgets , and install it on the Dashboard . The functionality is what ’s going to keep our widgets there . ”
As for the coding of the Widget , Casasanta seek to do as much as he can in JavaScript , but he and Ryu have started using Cocoa plug - ins to labour the gasbag of Widget growing . However , the popularity of a Dashboard Widget is not all that dependant on complicated code — sometimes the simplest Widgets are the most popular .
“ Our Flip Clock gizmo … recently hit 80,000 downloads,”Ryu articulate . “ So I would say that ’s a good indication of the Dashboard ’s popularity and a good sign for its future . ”
Another positive signaling for Dashboard , as far as Ryu and Casasanta are interest : it ’s a fairly straight - advancing surround for building miniskirt - apps . “ The ease of development has definitely been a plus , ” Ryu said . “ Even compared to Konfabulator , Dashboard is in general much easier to develop doojigger for , and I think the resolution is a much more diverse collection of widgets . ”
“ It depends on the widget , of grade , but I think with enough metre and patience , even novices can do some astonishing things , ” Casasanta added . For a detailed look at the fool work that goes into make a thingumabob — as well as steer for making your own mini - app — check over out Dori Smith ’s “ Whip Up a Widget ” Geek Factor column from the October 2005 issue ofMacworld .
