V1.1 Feature: Widget Browsing UI Revamp

Sometime in the next two weeks we will be releasing version 1.1. One of the features is an improved UI for browsing and trying out widgets. Below is a screenshot from our staging system. This finished version is likely to look substantially similar to this. Key points:

• Consolidated details & tryout page. We currently have a widget details page (at widgetbox.com/widget/[widget-name]) and a tryout page (at widgetbox.com/tryout/[widget-name]). These have been consolidated into a single page.
• Related widgets. On this new consolidated page are also links to related widgets and other widgets from the same developer.

As always, we welcome feedback.

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Widgetbox sponsors Widgets Live! conference

Widgetbox is pleased to be the main sponsor of the Widgets Live! conference, on November 6 2006 in San Francisco. Ed Anuff, our CEO, will be presenting during the session on widget aggregators. We will be producing some Flash screencasts of various aspects of Widgetbox based on the presentation and based on your requests in the past. If you'd like to put in more suggestions, please drop an email to support.

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Upcoming Release v1.1

Later in November we are planning to release v1.1. As we get closer we'll be more precise on the date. Here's some of what should be in it. Please let us know what you think -- there's still time to make changes!

1. Externally configure your widgets. As a developer, you can link to the tryout page of your Widgetbox widget from your own site and pass in configuration. This lets your users configure your widget from a configuration screen on your site, and then link them directly to your widget on Widgetbox, retaining the configuration.
2. Widget chiclets. A quick, handy way for bloggers (and developers) to get a chiclet that says "Get This Widget!".
3. UI revamp for bloggers. A UI revamp to make it easier for bloggers to navigate between information about a widget, trying it out, and seeing related widgets.
4. Sizing improvements. Better ways for developers to manage the sizing of their widgets.

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Widgetbox v1.0.1 Released

Tonight Widgetbox relased version 1.0.1. This release contains a bunch of small things.

• Faster widgets. We've done a lot of work on making sure all the JavaScript is compressed, and that all browsers cache it correctly. We've tested the compression pretty extensively, but please PLEASE let us know if you see an issue with your widget that wasn't there before.
• Color Picker. Developers can add a color picker to their widget's config screen, rather than making the user type in a hex value or choose a color from a dropdown.
• Leaderboard UI. The featured and most recent widget lists on the front door now have mouseover hover info and click to preview.
• Small developer workflow stuff. A bunch of things that make it just a little easier for the developer to make and maintain their widgets. For example, most devlopers didn't realize they had a profile that was separate from their user profile. That's been make clearer.

Thanks again to all the bloggers and developers who have invested their time and energy into making Widgetbox a better place!

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Widgetbox Finally Has A Soapbox

Widgetbox has been serving piping hot widgets since July. It seemed obvious to us at the time that of course we'd have a blog, but everybody thought somebody else was on it. Now, three months later, with a private beta, public beta and a 1.0 release under our belts, we're finally ready to put down the load tests long enough to talk about the state of the widgetsphere. Today we are also rolling out this site, our documentation and support site, docs.widgetbox.com. We hope you like it better for structured documentation than our forum site, which will now just be used for Q & A.

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