Choosing The Right Format And Understanding Requirements

From WidgetAvenue Wiki

Widgets can be developed using a wide variety of standard formats, plus a proprietary format (waHTML/waJS). The following points should be considered when choosing a source format.

Contents 1 Flash/ActionScript 1.1 Benefits 1.2 Requirements 1.3 Parameters 1.4 Issues 1.5 Useful links 2 HTML/JS 2.1 Benefits 2.2 Requirements 2.3 Parameters 2.4 Issues 3 waHTML/waJS 3.1 Benefits 3.2 Requirements 3.3 Parameters 3.4 Useful links 4 RSS 4.1 Requirements

[edit] Flash/ActionScript

[edit] Benefits

• Flash is the only format which allows to play multimedia content (video, music...).
• waHTML/waJS or HTML/JS widgets do not support Flash embedding, so it is recommended to use the Flash format directly.
• ActionScript can be used to communicate with the wrapper and contextual functions.

[edit] Requirements

• Flash version: no specific requirement. However AS3 should be used to communicte with the environement of the widget using ActionScript.
• Size: It is advised to use resizable swfs rather than fixed size, as rendering on startpages will be nicer. If a fixed size is preferred, suggested width is 300 px. Otherwise, if the swf file is resizable, the width can vary from 200 px to 400 px.

[edit] Parameters

• root name is "flash"
• ratio or (width and height) need to be specified

[edit] Issues

• Flash is not supported on mobile platforms.
• On certain desktop platforms (Vista Sidebar, Apple Dashboard), transparency is not supported, so it is advised to use a rectangular shape.
• On Apple Dashboard external links and mouse over events will not work. Additionally, there are special requirements for Flash to work: see Using Flash Widgets On Apple Dashboard.

[edit] Useful links

• Creating A Flash Widget
• Flash Specific Parameters
• Using Flash Widgets On Apple Dashboard

[edit] HTML/JS

[edit] Benefits

• HTML/JS widgets are simpler to develop than waHTML/waJS

[edit] Requirements

• HTML or Javascript versions: no specific requirements
• Size: a fixed size is required, suggested width and heigt are between 200 and 300 px.

[edit] Parameters

• root name is "web"
• width and height need to be specified

[edit] Issues

• HTML/JS widgets do not work well on Desktop host platforms (for example, links do not work on Apple Dashboard)
• They do not resize properly on startPages.
• This format is also generally not suitable for mobile host platforms.
• HTML/JS widgets are rendered inside an iframe, so they have to be rectangular.

[edit] waHTML/waJS

waHTML and waJS are subsets of HTML and Javascript with specific tags and functions.

[edit] Benefits

Using waHTML/waJS provides major benefits:

• waHTML/waJS is the most universal format: unlike other formats, it works perfectly on mobile and desktop platforms
• the widget is sized depending on the space available. This is particularly interesting with Startpages, where the space is limited and may vary depending on the width of the columns
• the widget inherits the CSS style of the website where it resides. This is also interesting for Startpages, where a user may not be willing to have as many different visual styles as there are widgets
• Custom Preferences can be set and stored on the host platform (where appropriate) directly from inside the widget
• waHTML/waJS widgets support transparency, so they do not need to be rectangular

[edit] Requirements

In order to develop a widget using waHTML/waJS, it is required to follow waHTML and waJS specific guidelines.

[edit] Parameters

• root name is "html"

[edit] Useful links

• Creating A Hello World waHTML/waJS Widget
• Adding Javascript to a waHTML/waJS widget
• Using Ajax in a waHTML/waJS widget
• waHTML reference
• waJS reference

[edit] RSS

RSS is the simplest choice if the widget contains only an RSS feed. [edit] Requirements The RSS root is compatible with RSS 0.9 through RSS 1.0. It also parses RSS 2.0, and Atom. (with a few exceptions)