From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base
Comparison of widget engines
None
None
This is a comparison of widget engines. This article is not about widget toolkits that are used in computer programming to build graphical user interfaces.
General
| Engine | Creator | Current Version | License | Status | Adobe AIR | AveDesk | Dashboard | DesktopX | gDesklets | Google Desktop Gadgets | Kapsules | KlipFolio | Microsoft Gadgets | NetFront | Netvibes | Opera | Plasma | Rainmeter | Screenlets | Serious Samurize | SuperKaramba | WebKit | WidSets | Yahoo! Widgets | Engine | Creator | Current Version | License | Status | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Systems | 1.5 | Proprietary | Discontinued | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Andreas Verhoeven | 1.3 | Proprietary | Abandoned | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Apple Inc. | Proprietary | Retired | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stardock | 3.5 | Proprietary | Abandoned | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Martin Grimme and Christian Meyer | 0.36 | GPL | Abandoned | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5.0.0701.18382 | Proprietary | Discontinued | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Andrew Powell | 0.9.9 | Proprietary | Abandoned | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Serence | 5.0D | Proprietary | Active and supported | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Microsoft | Proprietary | Discontinued | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Access Co. Ltd. | 4.2 | Proprietary | Discontinued | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Netvibes | 1.0 | Proprietary | Active and supported | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opera Software | Proprietary | Discontinued | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| KDE (Aaron Seigo, main developer) | GPL | Active and Supported | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kimmo 'Rainy' Pekkola | GPL | Active and Supported | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rico Pfaus (AKA RYX) | 0.1.5 | GPL | Abandoned | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gustaf & Oscar Lundh | 1.64 | Proprietary | Abandoned | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hans Karlsson | 0.39 | GPL | Abandoned | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Apple Inc. | ? | BSD+LGPL | Active and supported | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nokia | Proprietary | Discontinued | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ed Voas, Michael Galloway, and Sam Magnuson | 4.5.2 | Proprietary | Discontinued |
Operating system support
| Engine | Mac OS X | Windows NT5 (XP) | Windows NT6 (Vista, 7/8/10+) | Linux | Android | Adobe AIR | AveDesk | Dashboard | DesktopX | gDesklets | Google Desktop Gadgets | Kapsules | KlipFolio | Microsoft Gadgets | NetFront | Netvibes | Opera | Plasma | Rainmeter | Screenlets | Serious Samurize | SuperKaramba | WebKit | WidSets | Yahoo! Widgets | Engine | Mac OS X | Windows XP (NT5) | Windows (NT6) Vista+ | Linux | Android | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dashboard bridge |
Technical
Languages
Which programming languages the engines support. Most engines rely upon interpreted languages.
| Engine | HTML | XHTML | CSS | XML | JavaScript | Perl | Python | Ruby | C++ | Executable | VBScript | Adobe AIR | AveDesk | Dashboard | DesktopX | gDesklets | Google Desktop Gadgets | Kapsules | KlipFolio | Microsoft Gadgets | NetFront | Netvibes | Opera | Plasma | Rainmeter | Screenlets | Serious Samurize | SuperKaramba | WebKit | WidSets | Yahoo! Widgets | Engine | HTML | XHTML | CSS | XML | JavaScript | Perl | Python | Ruby | C++ | Executable | VBScript | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (as ActiveX) |
Formats and Development
| Engine | IDE | Widget Container | Widget MIME Type | Adobe AIR | AveDesk | Dashboard | DesktopX | gDesklets | Google Desktop Gadgets | Kapsules | KlipFolio | Microsoft Gadgets | NetFront | Netvibes | Opera | Plasma | Rainmeter | Screenlets | Serious Samurize | SuperKaramba | WebKit | WidSets | Yahoo! Widgets | Engine | IDE | Widget Container | Widget MIME Type | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ZIP | application/vnd.adobe.air-application-installer-package+zip | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ZIP | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ZIP | application/x-macbinary | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| EXE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tar.gz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ZIP | app/gg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ZIP | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Proprietary XML Format | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ZIP | application/x-windows-gadget | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ZIP | application/x-opera-widgets | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Online | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ZIP | application/x-opera-widgets | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ZIP, with plasmoid as extension instead of zip | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ZIP, with rmskin as extension instead of zip | application/vnd.rainmeter.SkinInstaller | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tar.gz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ZIP | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tar.gz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Proprietary Format, ZIP | application/vnd.yahoo.Widget |
Development Tools
As widgets are largely combinations of HTML or XHTML, CSS, and Javascript in most cases, standard AJAX tools, such as Eclipse ATF, can be used for development. Specialized tools may give access to additional capabilities supplied by frameworks such as Dojo or Openrico.
References
References
- The [[Yahoo! Widgets]] was originally released by Arlo Rose and Ed Voas as Konfabulator. The name was changed several months after [[Yahoo!]] acquired the software in July 2005.
- As of El Kapitain the Apple dashboard is no longer enabled by default.
- As for the next major version the [[gDesklets]]' developers are planning to support [[Windows XP]] and [[Mac OS X]].
- The current version of Samurize (1.64.2) runs on Vista but there are a few minor issues that need to be worked out, such as security dialog prompts.
- WidSets is for mobiles and runs on the [[Mobile Information Device Profile. Java MIDP 2.0 platform]]
- NetFront is a [[Mobile browser]], which is also preinstalled on the [[PlayStation Portable. PSP]], and on the [[PlayStation 3]].
- Google Desktop for Linux requires an additional download (Google Gadgets for Linux) to run Google Desktop Gadgets.
- Early versions of Windows Sidebar have been successfully ported to Windows XP, though this activity is forbidden under the [[EULA]].
- AveDesk can be extended using AveScripter, which supports plugins written with XML and Javascript, extended using CSS.
- Widgets for Kapsules and Serious Samurize can be written in any scripting language for which there is an ActiveScript engine, including [[PHP]], [[JScript]], [[VBScript]] and [[Ruby (programming language). Ruby]].
- This is only relevant for Opera's and NetFront's extensions; the [[web browser]]s themselves support [[HTML]], [[Cascading Style Sheets. CSS]] and others.
- Samurize supports DLLs compiled with [[C++]], [[Delphi (programming language). Delphi]], [[PowerBASIC]], and [[FreeBasic]], among others. HTML/[[XML]]/CSS support can be added by using certain plugins.
- Yahoo! Widget Engine supports Perl and Python indirectly through the use of the shell, provided that the interpreters are installed on the machine (on [[Mac OS X]], they are by default).
- [[KlipFolio]] supports custom styles using CSS syntax.
- [[Yahoo! Widgets]] can interface with COM (windows) or AppleScript (Mac OS)
- [[Dashboard (Mac OS). Dashboard]] uses a technology called Cocoa Plugins.This allows for Objective-C code to be used through the plugin. The plugin is written with Cocoa and is compiled.
- Widgets for Adobe Air can also be programmed in [[Adobe Flash]], and [[Actionscript]].
- Microsoft Gadget have documentation, but no IDE to aid development.
- Yahoo! Widgets have documentation, but no IDE to aid development. A script was provided to allow Photoshop to be used as the Graphical Designer, the script created a widget whose objects were based upon photoshop layer sets or groups
Info: Wikipedia Source
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
Ask Mako anything about Comparison of widget engines — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.
Research with MakoFree with your Surf account
Create a free account to save articles, ask Mako questions, and organize your research.
Sign up free
Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.
Report