Google Gadgets
From Pirates@Home
Google allows users to customize their Google home page by adding "gadgets". A wide variety of pre-made gadgets are available, but it is also relatively easy to create a new gadget. The gadget is described in an XML file. The actual contents of the gadget can be included in the XML file, or refered to via an external URL. A simple example is the file uotd-gadget.xml for Pirates@Home, which contains
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<Module>
<ModulePrefs
title="Pirates@Home User of the Day"
description="Shows today's User of the Day for the BOINC-based distributed
computing project Pirates@Home"
height="100"
/>
<Content type="url" href="http://pirates.spy-hill.net/user_profile/uotd-gadget.html" />
</Module>
The actual contents of the gadget are in the file user_profile/uotd-gadget.html, which is generated by the Pirates@Home server when a new User of the Day is chosen.
One can also create gadgets where the contents are included in the XML file rather than being obtained from a URL. In this case the HTML content can contain embedded JavaScript, Flash, ActiveX, or other browser objects. See the Developer Guide for details and more complicated examples.
