Netvibes Developers blog

The gates are opening up, and a few thousand of people now have access to the beta version of Ginger, thanks to invite codes given out by many online publications and blogs (to name a few: Techcrunch, Wired, Facebook, GigaOm and others…).

If you are not one of the lucky guys, fret not: you are most probably a UWA developer, and we are providing Ecosystem members with at least one MiniAPI module or one UWA widget with a code. Look in your Inbox, and very soon a pass should arrive.

In the end, if hadn’t submitted a widget to Ecosystem before we gathered the mails, have a look at the demo videos to get a feel of what’s to come, and understand the following advices…

Because a need for advices there is! While properly-coded UWA widgets will still work just as well withinetvibes Ginger, there are a few new aspects to consider if you want to make it better – for you as a developer, and for Netvibes members as users of your widget.

So with no further ado, 4 ways you can improve your widget approach for Ginger…

Setting your icons straight

Remember last december when we told you about rich-icon support for UWA widgets? That was mainly in order for your widget to look even better in platforms such as Windows Vista and Apple Dashboard, which have uses for bigger, cooler icons.

And if you try out Ginger (or look at the Ginger videos), you’ll quickly notice that:

1. users can now search and add content Ecosystem directly from the top bar: no need to click and switch between your page and Ecosystem, it’s now all in one place!
2. most top-of-the-line items have standardized icons, and UWA widget are now easy to spot, since they have the UWA logo, as you can see for the i-Métro widget on the right

Indeed, these icons are standardized, and soon enough we will provide you with the details on how to build these icons according to Ginger’s needs. But just be aware of this: with Netvibes Ginger, the best way to be seen as well-built widget is to provide one of these icons, with the widget’s logo on top, and the UWA logo at the bottom.

Putting an end to MiniAPI modules

It should not come as a surprise that the days of MiniAPI modules are coming to and end. The MiniAPI itself has been deprecated since July 2007, which means that we no longer accepted them in Ecosystem, and no longer supported broken modules – expect in order to push their developers to switch these to UWA.

2008 is now upon us, and while there is no set date, will come a day when we simply will not let MiniAPI modules work in the Netvibes confines. There is still time, of course, and it will not go without big warning signs, but the MiniAPI developers among you should be aware that their modules now have only a few months left, and act right now.

We’ve been writing a lot on this blog lately about converting your MiniAPI module to a UWA widget (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5) ; the forums are always open for question on how to achieve something in particular in UWA ; and for specific cases, the feedback form lets you find a direct way to us.

So there is no excuse: if you have a cool MiniAPI module, something that seems useful (even only to you), switching it to UWA can only do it good. Through Ginger, it will get much more exposure, and be useful to even more people. Don’t put good code to waste: switch it to UWA today!

Opening up to new possibilities

It’s no secret: with Gigner, any Netvibes user is able to create his own Universe – that is, a public pages that he can manage separately from his private page, present visitors with items and feeds and widgets that interest that user. In short, being able to concentrate all his public activities in one public page, each aspect in a different tab.

And that’s where new possibilities come in: when Netvibes was only made of private pages, it could get hard to find a new, useful ideas. But with public pages, the pace has changed, and new breeds of widgets can now appear, widgets which do not have to serve a useful purpose, but makes it possible for the user to display meaningful (or meaningless!) things on his public page.

Think about it: counters, badges, last updates, welcome signs, webcams… You name it. With the new private/public duality of Ginger, UWA developers can now think up new ways to improve one’s Universe instead of focusing on improve a private page!

Plus, I would like to let you in on a little secret: Ginger will be open to all soon, and once everyone has access to it, they’ll want to build their Universe with the best widgets there are. The question is therefore like this: do you want your widget to be a part of their selection?

Make cool widgets!

In the end, it all boils down to one thing: make cool stuffs with UWA! There will be a flood of new users in the coming days, and it can only mean more users for good widgets. New users will want the latest Flickr gadget, latest Flash game, latest blog meme, right in their Universe or their private page.

Do you feel like you have a cool idea, something someone would want to use privately, or brag about on their Universe? Give’em what they want! You can do just about anything with UWA widgets – and they even work outside of Netvibes

Show us the cool stuffs out there, turn them into widget, and most assuredly they’ll soon be at the top of “must-have widgets” list soon!

Tags: ginger, icons, miniapi, uwa

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 1:23 am and is filed under Articles, News, Tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.