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Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Google Gadgets are miniature-sized devices that offer cool and dynamic content—they can be
games, news clips, weather reports, maps, or most anything you can dream up. They've been around
for a while, but their reach got a lot broader last week when we made it possible for anyone to
add gadgets to their own webpages. Here's an example of a flight status tracker, for instance,
that can be placed on any page on the web.
Anyone can search for gadgets to add to their own webpage in our directory of
gadgets for your webpage.
To put a gadget on your page, just pick the gadget you like, set your preferences, and
copy-and-paste the HTML that is generated for you onto your own page.
Creating gadgets for others isn't hard, either, and it can be a great way to get your content in
front of people while they're visiting Google or other sites. Here are a few suggestions for
distributing your own content on the Google home page or other pages across the web:
Create a Google Gadget
for distribution across the web. Gadgets can be most anything, from simple HTML to complex
applications. It's easy to experiment with gadgets – anyone with even a little bit of web design
experience can make a simple one (even me!), and more advanced programmers can create really
snazzy, complex ones. But remember, it's also quick and easy for people to delete gadgets or add
new ones too their own pages. To help you make sure your gadget will be popular across the web,
we provide a few
guidelines
you can use to create gadgets. The more often folks find your content to be useful, the longer
they'll keep your gadget on their pages, and the more often they'll visit your site.
If your website has a feed, visitors can put snippets of your content on their own Google
home pages quickly and easily, and you don't even need to develop a gadget. However, you will be
able to customize their experience much more fully with a gadget than with a feed.
By putting the "Add to Google" button in a
prominent spot on your site, you can increase the reach of your content, because visitors who
click to add your gadget or feed to Google can see your content each time they visit the Google
home page. Promoting your own gadget or feed can also increase its popularity, which contributes
to a higher ranking in the directory of
gadgets for the Google personalized home page.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["Google Gadgets are mini-applications offering diverse content like news, weather, and games that can be embedded on webpages."],["Users can easily add gadgets to their webpages by browsing the Google Gadgets directory, selecting a gadget, and pasting the provided HTML code."],["Content creators can distribute their content by creating and sharing their own Google Gadgets using HTML or more complex programming."],["Websites with feeds offer an alternative for content distribution, allowing users to integrate snippets onto their Google homepages, although with less customization than gadgets."],["Promoting the \"Add to Google\" button on websites encourages user engagement and content distribution through Google Gadgets or feeds, increasing visibility and potential directory ranking."]]],["Google Gadgets, released in 2006, are customizable widgets for web pages, offering dynamic content like news or games. Users can search for and add gadgets to their own pages by copying generated HTML. Content creators can make gadgets, distribute their content, or use website feeds to create gadgets. The Add to Google button promotes content, and following provided guidelines increases gadget popularity. Gadgets' content and functionality are dynamic.\n"]]
