Poll time!
A lot of people do not like to participate in polls. However without some information, it is hard to improve on this site. So please help yourself by participating in polls on the right-hand sidebar. Thanks.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Are widgets useless or overrated?
According to Valleywag, widgets are useless or overrated? Below is my comments on the reasons given:
- A violation of blog principles.
I would disagree with this reason. How a widget is being used is depending on the user. The widget developer cannot force the user to use the widget in a predetermined way. The freedom of mix and match is the strength(weakness depending on your viewpoint) of widget. - A sluggish page is a bad page.
In my opinion, users and developers of widget should view widget as graphics. Too many widgets on a page makes the page cluttered. If most of your visitors are from US and most of your widgets are hosted in US, I think 5 to 6 is the maximum number of widgets per page. Otherwise three widgets per page is the general guideline. You may also move the ’slow’ widget to the bottom of a page as most modern browsers support progressive rendering. - Statistics.
I would agree with this point. - Business model.
The issue of monetization is not a unique problem for widget developer. In fact most free web 2.0 sites have similar issue. For now, the developer can use widget for marketing/publicity purposes for other products/services. - Hype.
At the moment, noise to usefulness ratio for widget is quite high. This is not unusual. Widget is in similar position to blog a few years ago. Do you have an idea for widget related finance? You can write down your idea in the comment section of post. You can also get some ideas from This Week’s Top 25 Hottest Facebook Apps
Popularity: 9% [?]
USD 5000 for enhancing a Google gadget/widget
If you have a gadget/widget in Google gadget directory with average pageview of 3600 per day and more, then you can apply for a grant of USD 5000 from Google for further enhancement. See details.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Finance widget showcase #1
- Forex COT Slideshow
- Yahoo! Finance Badge - pretty widget using Yahoo! Finance data
- Ticker Sense finance blog. To turn your blog’s feed into a widget, try Blidget
Popularity: 7% [?]