The Abstract

A widget in general is a small application with a little bit of code, that does one simple thing. A “Widget Engine”, which is the framework needed to run these micro applications, is needed on the PC. Web applications haves also their own widget, that can run within the browser, like clock, web counter, etc.These applications have existed for a long time now. These were previously called plugins, components, extensions and gadgets. Typically, the user can choose to have CNN news, Paris weather, a Flicker photo stream, a clock, photocopiers etc. This approach fits particularly well on mobile world, where space on screen is limited and where it’s not easy to switch between applications.