Google Premieres Free Web Gadgets
In the latest step in its continuing effort to focus the Web services model around its own servers, Google this morning introduced a way to enable individuals to embed some Google Gadgets -- those handy utilities that many run in the background using the Google Desktop program -- within Web pages, without the need to install software.
The concept is called Google Universal Gadgets, and although it sounds uncharacteristically sweeping, the idea is to let Web sites perform simple functions provided by Google's servers at no cost.
A Web page designer can select from a gallery of gadgets, then to a limited extent customize the chosen gadget's style and appearance. When the gadget looks just right, Google provides the gadget's source code that can be dropped into an HTML page. The source code is actually a <SCRIPT> tag that calls the resource from the server, and runs it in place.
There may continue to be a slight API distinction between Universal Gadgets and Desktop Gadgets (meant for Google Desktop), although the company says the Universal variety will work in both contexts.
| We thought we'd give this a shot. On the right is a simple stock chart, which should contain the latest New York Stock Exchange trading information on Intel Corp. (15 minutes delayed, of course, during trading sessions). You've probably seen chart gadgets on financial Web sites. For this one, we simply dropped in the <SCRIPT> tag for the gadget as it was delivered to us from Google's gallery, not unlike being dispensed the gadget from a sort of virtual vending machine.
We tweaked the criteria a few times, making it present data from DELL and MSFT, for instance, then changing the gadget's title. It didn't require an instruction manual for us to decipher the criteria, so we didn't have to go back to the gallery to make it re-generate a new gadget for us, every time we wanted a chart for a different issue. |
| The Google Map gadget is actually a little disappointing -- at least for now -- because you can't program it with a precise address. Sure, you can give it a ZIP code such as "10019" or a name of a city which easily translates into at least one ZIP code ("New York City"). But one of the key reasons you might imagine someone using a Google Map gadget on his Web page is to direct customers to his precise address. "Here's a map of Columbus, Ohio. Good luck finding us!" might not be a message retailers want to send their customers. Of course, we could always demand our money back. |
| Now, here's something we believe has a million and one uses, all of which could be infinitely and mutually beneficial. In fact, you should definitely consider dropping this into your own Web page. And if you don't have one, you should get one and drop this into it. If you were so inclined, you could set this gadget to pull up just any old RSS feed. The border style and choice of font family are all selectable by the developer, so you can create something that meshes into your own Web environment quite quickly. |