Before submitting your UWA widget to the Netvibes Ecosystem, you should make sure it works as expected. Here's how you can test your widget.

UWA widgets can be tested locally or on a server, thanks to two emulation files. Placed in the header of your widget, they will emulate the UWA environment, including the Netvibes UI, without having to be installed in Netvibes - this is called the standalone mode.

To use these files, the head of your widget file must feature these two lines:

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" 
  href="http://www.netvibes.com/themes/uwa/style.css" />
<script type="text/javascript" 
  src="http://www.netvibes.com/js/UWA/load.js.php?env=Standalone"></script>

These lines can remain in your file once you submit your widget to Netvibes: it won't harm anythingn they are ignored by all supported environments.

In order to test your widget online, Netvibes has designed a special Netvibes module.

1. In Netvibes, add one UWA module by going to this url: http://www.netvibes.com/subscribe.php?module=UWA ;
2. Copy/paste a widget's URL in the Edit section of the UWA module.

You could also just click on the “Add to Netvibes” or “Add to iGoogle” buttons that are automatically displayed in the standalone display of your widget.

Apple Dashboard users: download the Dashboard UWA widget, install it on your Dashboard, copy/paste the URL of the online UWA widget you want to test (don't use a local, offline copy), and enjoy.

Opera users: download the Opera UWA widget, install it in Opera, copy/paste the URL of the online UWA widget you want to test (don't use a local, offline copy), and enjoy.

There is no test widget for other supported platforms, so testing for Vista, Live.com and others can only be done once the widget has been added to Ecosystem - and therefore, once it has been duly tested in all other testing platforms (standalone, Netvibes, iGoogle, Dashboard and Opera).

Ecosystem is where users will be able to export your widget to all supported platforms. Once you have submitted your widget, you will be able to test its efficiency by exporting it yourself to all other formats one by one.