Widget Resources

This is a collection of some of my favorite posts on the topic of widgets.  I’ve tried to include posts across a range of perspectives – from the big picture, to business models, to “how to” posts, to the skeptics.

Feel free to chime in with more posts in the comments section.

Big Picture Posts

The Future of Media (A VC)
Fred Wilson lays out the four rules that perfectly describe the proliferation of widgets.

Birth of the Social Aggregator (Widgify)
Hooman Radfar describes the new information architecture.

Rise of Web 3.0 (Widgify)
Hooman Radfar describes the platform implications of an atomized web.

World Wide Web of Widgets (Read/WriteWeb)
PollDaddy's David Lenehan gives a solid overview of widgets.

Widget Publisher Strategy and Execution

Ten Sins of Widget Makers (Snipperoo Blog)
Ivan Pope lays out some common mistakes that people make with their widgets.

Building a Widget?  Read This First (Sexy Widget)
A look at five key areas that should be addressed in spec’ing out a widget.

Six Essential Elements of a Good Web Widget (Stefan Juhl)
Stefan Juhl takes the list to six.

Anatomy of a Widget (Sexy Widget)
A detailed look at the thought process behind a full featured widget.

25 Things to Think About When Building Your Widget (YPN Blog)
A somewhat random list of things you should think through while crafting your widget strategy.

Widget Business Models

YAWP - Yet Another View on Widgets (Brad Feld)
Brad Feld outlines four potential business models that could work for widgets.

Whither Widgets (LSVP Blog)
Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Ventures talks about widget business models with real life examples.

The Case Against Widgets

Hypebusting Against Widgets (Valleywag)
Valleywag reacts to the widget hype.

MySpace Hardball (Valleywag)
Valleywag illustrates the dangers of building your business on the back of MySpace.

Widgets Suck (Leah Culver)
Post outlining the shortcomings and question marks around widgets.

Comments

[Will]

Awesome post! I thought I'd throw into the mix that there are a number of fairly interesting posts from Leah Culver and others that keyed off of "widgets suck" as a title...all just a google away. For the sake of a good open discussion (not that I agree obviously).

[lawrence]

Thanks Will... I added it to the list.

[Design Crux]

Widgets are often designed around the temporary cool factor, not use. That's why I added a section on use-centered widgets that blogs and sites should have, but are almost unfindable.