Week 11: Widgets

I set up my Flickr Blogger widget earlier in 23 Things - I felt that it added a bit of visual interest to my blog, but perhaps that I didn't update my Flickr often enough for it to be really relevant. I do enjoy the Twitter widgets I have seen on others blogs though - but again find the update frequency (and having a locked Twitter account) to be a deterrent. The need to use things regularly - or else lose a lot of their benefit - seems to be a recurring Web 2.0 theme!
I also added the Delicious bookmarks widget on iGoogle. I must admit that my iGoogle page has fallen out of use - though I can see how it is handy, I just prefer having multiple tabs open with the full versions of sites I need. I think my frustration stems from a similar place as issues I have with phone apps - I just want every feature that I'm used to to work, even if it means needing more time/screen space! Often with widgets, especially those created by 3rd parties, this isn't the case - more advanced functions seem to be the first thing to go in order to provide a "slimmed down" service. I tried delicious bookmarks, as it seemed to have a fair few users. Though it's functionality seemed sound enough, I found the layout to be a bit dull and boxy. I think that I am far more likely to continue to use the Firefox add-on - it seems a lot more straightforward to me than navigating to iGoogle, then to the page I need, and so on.
Finally, I feel that I can't mention Widgets without showing my Mac's equivalent - Dashboard! Again, I find the problem here to be that you have to navigate to the Dashboard screen (admittedly through clicking only one button) to reach all the widgets - and, especially as my computer gets older, they can take a little while to load. If they worked in a manner more similar to, for example, Stickies (little post-it notes which are always on screen) I might find myself remembering to use them more often. That said, there are a huge range of widgets out there, and they're certainly fun to explore and try out!
In conclusion, I can see the benefits provided by widgets - having all the Web 2.0 gadgets you wish to use in one place, not needing to open and log-on to various different sites. As a visitor to a site, I find them very helpful - it's useful to be able to see all the other accounts linked to an institution or site, and to be able to choose the manner in which I receive information from them. As for updating all those sites for myself, however, I'll probably stick to opening each site seperately in a tab!

Image courtesy of Wikipedia