Widgets in Theory and Practice

Where’s my Widgets for Dummies book?

In the absence of a “Widgets for Dummies” book being available at your local bookstore, this presentation will try to bring you up-to-speed with what you need to know to start developing widgets.

Split into two parts, we’ll cover the theory behind widgets:

• seriously, yet another platform to code for?! — vendor and manufacturer support for widgets & compatible development frameworks
• what widgets are good for — save your users (and yourself) time, money and frustration
• what widgets are not-so-good for — they’re not a silver bullet!

and widgets in practice:

• widgets and device compatibility — the good news is also potential bad news
• screen sizes — resizing and its headaches
• widget distribution and making money — everybody else is doing it, so why can’t we?

You’ll get most out of this talk if you:

• have heard of widgets but don’t know how to use them
• are wondering whether widgets could solve a particular problem you have. (i.e. no specific browser)
• have tried making widgets but got stuck and gave up