Sunday, June 29, 2008

Widgets and whatchamacalits


The upcoming Etsy Bloggers Blog Carnival has two theme choices:

Theme 1: Catch up! now that it's summertime, and you (and/or the kids) are out
of school, it's a good time to catch up on those chores, reading list,
organizing that Etsy shop, etc. What are you going to catch up on, in July?
Theme 2: Your favorite widget(s) and how it/they work, with links, etc.
Since I have no illusions that I am actually going to catch up anything this summer, I guess I'll be blogging about widgets.
But first, I had to go to Wikipedia to find out what in the heck a widget is.

Etymology
Blend of window and gadget, coined by George S.
Kaufman in his play Beggar on Horseback (1924).

*An unnamed, unspecified, or hypothetical manufactured good or product. (Note: this is the definition I was familiar with already as in "We aren't making widgets here.")

*(graphical user interface) A component of a graphical user interface that the user interacts with.

*A floating widget or other device inside a beer can, meant to create foam when opened

*A small scraping tool consisting of a blade and a handle, commonly used to remove paint from glass and other smooth surfaces

*The child of a gremlin (Roald Dahl - The Gremlins)

*An object of fiction or obfuscation (Gigawidget)

OK, so it seems that we are probably talking about the second definition, but I'm still not entirely sure what qualifies as a widget. I'll guess that the little slide show called "Pictobrowser" on the right hand side of my blog is a widget. If so, it's my favorite widget. It automatically updates from my Flickr account and displays all the photos from my Flickr Crafting 365 set. I like that I don't have to do a thing to update it. Today, I did figure out how to re-order my photos in my Flickr set so that it would show the most recent photos first. Here's a link to Pictobrowser: http://www.db798.com/pictobrowser/


However, you don't even have to go there to get one. Just click on the word "pictobrowser" at the bottom of mine, enter your Flickr screen name and press continue. then choose a set, keywords, or groups you want to show from your Flickr photos. You will get code that you copy and paste to your blog. Simple and very cool!
And speaking of widgets, I just added a new one to my blog. It's a guestbook with a map that you can sign. Check it out at the bottom of my blog.

8 comments:

Waterrose said...

wow...it's that warm there? We are heading to Colorado for a week in July and I am so hoping that snow will still be around!

HomeMadeOriginals said...

I think it was 93 here today!

storybeader said...

that's a widget! Neat. I just got a guestbook too. Thanks for signing it.

Great post! {:-Deb

Made by Melissa said...

Very cool widget! And I must say I love your little image "Would it kill ya to comment?" Its fabulous!

Anonymous said...

Excellent widget! Probably the all time find to me. I have added it to my fav's and when I "catch up" I want to give it a whirl.

Thanks,

Lily

jackie said...

Enjoyed reading your blog today. Its nice when people comment because it helps you to keep going, knowing someone is out there. I'm off to look at the flickr widget. Thanks.

Kim said...

Just wanted to stop by and see how your summer is going. I always look forward to seeing what you are cooking up!

A Keeper's Jackpot said...

I knew what a widget is, but I didn't know know what it is. I could describe it but never thought of the definition and its roots... good to know! Thanks :)