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Widgets

 [1/13] from: john_kenyon::mlc::com::au at: 16-Dec-2005 17:34


Hi all, OS X provides pop up user utilities called widgets which reside in a dashboard (see http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/dashboard/) Yahoo! have recently released a similar widget system for both Windows and OS X (see http://widget.yahoo.com/) Both of these products are rather slow, memory intensive and complex to develop for. It would be fairly trivial to write a similar tool in rebol which may open up the language to a number of new developers. Common widgets available perform lookups on web sites and present the information in a clean customised format. This type of "screen scraping" is already a strong area for rebol. What does everyone think to this idea? Cheers, John ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________ -- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis -- This e-mail is sent by or on behalf of the named sender identified above. If: (a) you do not wish to receive any e-mail marketing material from this person in the future, please forward the contents of this email to unsubscribe-mlc.com.au with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject box. (b) you wish to unsubscribe from all central e-mail marketing lists used by our business, please forward the contents of this e-mail to unsubscribeall-mlc.com.au with the message "unsubscribe from all central e-mail marketing lists" in the subject box. If you do not forward the contents of this e-mail with your unsubscription then it may not be able to be implemented. The information contained in this e-mail communication may be confidential. You should only read, disclose, re-transmit, copy, distribute, act in reliance on or commercialise the information if you are authorised to do so. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail communication, please immediately notify us by e-mail to postmaster-mlc.com.au, or reply by e-mail direct to the sender and then destroy any electronic and paper copy of this message. Any views expressed in this e-mail communication are those of the individual sender, except where the sender specifically states them to be the views of a member of the National Australia Bank Group of companies. Any advice contained in this e-mail has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any advice in this e-mail, National Australia Bank Limited recommends that you consider whether it is appropriate for your circumstances. If this e-mail contains reference to any financial products, the National recommends you consider the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) or other disclosure document before making any decisions regarding any products. The National Australia Bank Group of companies does not represent, warrant or guarantee that the integrity of this communication has been maintained nor that the communication is free of errors, virus or interference.

 [2/13] from: greggirwin::mindspring::com at: 16-Dec-2005 9:20


Hi John, jmca> OS X provides pop up user utilities called widgets which reside in a jmca> "dashboard" (see http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/dashboard/) jmca> Yahoo! have recently released a similar widget system for both Windows and jmca> OS X (see http://widget.yahoo.com/) jmca> It would be fairly trivial to write a similar tool in rebol... jmca> What does everyone think to this idea? RT is aware of this toolkit, and others like it, along with the value such a toolkit might bring to REBOL. The Yahoo widget tool used to be called Konfabulator--which I think started the trend that Apple integrated into OSX. Konfabulator was recently acquired by Yahoo. I'm anxious to see how many others think this would be a good thing for REBOL. It will take some work on RT's part, so it needs to be prioritized; which means we need to know how important it is to people. -- Gregg

 [3/13] from: jasonic:nomadics at: 16-Dec-2005 20:16


>I'm anxious to see how many others think this would be a good thing >for REBOL. It will take some work on RT's part, so it needs to be >prioritized; which means we need to know how important it is to >people.
Yes !! REBOL definitely needs something like this. I think I posted about Dashboard/Konfabulator on this list ages ago - a shining example of how to do it right [2003-2004 ??] Jason

 [4/13] from: rasmussen::bryan::gmail::com at: 17-Dec-2005 9:05


I don't necessarily feel it is something that Rebol needs, but rather a niche that Rebol could fit in to very well. In fact when the whole Konfabulator thing was going down I was struck by a strong feeling of there but for the grace of having gone for this niche goes Rebol. On 12/16/05, Jason Cunliffe <jasonic-nomadics.org> wrote:

 [5/13] from: jasonic:nomadics at: 17-Dec-2005 11:49


hmm.. Sorry I don't qute undestand your comment. What do you feel were the risks gains? What did Rebol miss for better for worse?? What went down exactly with Konfabulator? thanks Jason ----- Original Message ----- From: "bryan rasmussen" <rasmussen.bryan-gmail.com> To: <rebolist-rebol.com> Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2005 9:05 AM Subject: [REBOL] Re: Widgets I don't necessarily feel it is something that Rebol needs, but rather a niche that Rebol could fit in to very well. In fact when the whole Konfabulator thing was going down I was struck by a strong feeling of there but for the grace of having gone for this niche goes Rebol.

 [6/13] from: rasmussen::bryan::gmail::com at: 17-Dec-2005 17:22


I meant that the konfabulator widget system made a handy little applet writer for windows that was cheap, easy for non-programmers etc. same thing I suppose you meant, that Rebol is suited to this kind of niche, the konfabulator thing going down referred to the purchase by yahoo, that could have perhaps been a yahoo investment in Rebol instead. On 12/17/05, Jason Cunliffe <jasonic-nomadics.org> wrote:

 [7/13] from: antonr::lexicon::net at: 19-Dec-2005 0:42


Dashboard: Hmm.. Are these really widgets or are they mini-applications ? They seem to me to be too customised to be real widgets. Or at least they are widgets built from many other more basic widgets (eg. calculator is built from many buttons etc.) Can the widgets be tied together easily ? Or is the desktop the only place you can drag them ? (Being able to simply drag an application where you want it is a good idea.) Anton.

 [8/13] from: premshree::pillai::gmail::com at: 20-Dec-2005 8:24


On 12/16/05, Gregg Irwin <greggirwin-mindspring.com> wrote:
> I'm anxious to see how many others think this would be a good thing > for REBOL. It will take some work on RT's part, so it needs to be > prioritized; which means we need to know how important it is to > people.
I'm not sure this is a good idea. And I don't think "asking people if it's a good idea" is a good thing either. I look at REBOL more like a platform. You want to develop a widget engine, go ahead develop one - REBOL provides the required tools. I'd hate to see REBOL getting disintegrated (sort of) into a bunch of frameworks. 0.2 cents, Premshree

 [9/13] from: rebolek::gmail::com at: 20-Dec-2005 9:26


Hi, what's the buzz about widgets? I mean, you can write an application in View as a VID style and call it 'widget'. There's no need for some framework or so. Or am I wrong? On 12/20/05, Premshree Pillai <premshree.pillai-gmail.com> wrote:
> On 12/16/05, Gregg Irwin <greggirwin-mindspring.com> wrote: > > I'm anxious to see how many others think this would be a good thing
<<quoted lines omitted: 11>>
> To unsubscribe from the list, just send an email to > lists at rebol.com with unsubscribe as the subject.
-- / Boleslav Brezovsky http://krutek.info \

 [10/13] from: Christophe::Coussement::mil::be at: 20-Dec-2005 13:51


It's an hype and it sells. It could help give REBOL some visibility... My 5 cents --xtof
> Hi, > what's the buzz about widgets? I mean, you can write an
<<quoted lines omitted: 35>>
> To unsubscribe from the list, just send an email to lists at > rebol.com with unsubscribe as the subject.
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 [11/13] from: greggirwin::mindspring::com at: 20-Dec-2005 11:45


Hi Boleslav, BB> Wwhat's the buzz about widgets? I mean, you can write an BB> application in View as a VID style and call it 'widget'. There's BB> no need for some framework or so. Or am I wrong? Part of it is "just marketing", but there is also value in providing a few extra features that make it easy to write small apps that follow certain standards (e.g. preferences, remembering last location). In many ways Viewtop is like a widget environment; giving you a way to publish, discover, and launch scripts. So, why haven't more people used it that way? How many of us use it on a daily basis? Would it be enough to add a new bookmark or menu item linking to a dedicated area for these kinds of things? I think we would also need a few tools to help develop, publish, search, and "install" reblets; and is the current layout model effective for this use? Should it auto-start selected (installed) reblets automatically? Should it shut them down automatically as well? These little features, and even imposing constraints on what reblets can do, can actually be empowering IMO, and help foster acceptance. Of course, we can do this ourselves. The Viewtop is open source, and we can probably write most, if not all, of the desired functionality in REBOL. Or someone could write their own. I'm sure I'm not the only one with ideas and notes for just such a project. -- Gregg

 [12/13] from: pwawood::gmail::com at: 21-Dec-2005 9:42


Hi Gregg Isn't the main difference between Dashboard/Confabulator and View-top that in the former the widgets are contained within the main application window with the effect of considerably reducing "desktop" clutter? All widgets can be hidden (and re-displayed) with a single click. I suspect this feature is one of the main attractions. Regards Peter On Wednesday, Dec 21, 2005, at 02:45 Asia/Kuala_Lumpur, Gregg Irwin wrote:

 [13/13] from: volker::nitsch::gmail::com at: 21-Dec-2005 21:04


On 12/16/05, john_kenyon-mlc.com.au <john_kenyon-mlc.com.au> wrote:
> Hi all, > > OS X provides pop up user utilities called widgets which reside in a > "dashboard" (see http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/dashboard/)
[snip]
> What does everyone think to this idea? >
Played a bit. Maybe somebody gets inspiration? http://polly.rebol.it/test/test/dashboardulator/
> Cheers, > John >
[snipped a lot] -- -Volker Any problem in computer science can be solved with another layer of indirection. But that usually will create another problem. David Wheeler

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