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Comparison of widget engines

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    This is a comparison of widget engines. This article is not about widget toolkits that are used in computer programming to build graphical user interfaces.

    General

    [edit]
    Engine Creator Current Version LicenseStatus
    Adobe AIRAdobe Systems1.5 ProprietaryDiscontinued
    AveDeskAndreas Verhoeven 1.3 Proprietary Abandoned
    DashboardApple Inc.1.8 (July 20, 2011; 13 years ago (2011-07-20)) [±]Proprietary Retired
    DesktopXStardock3.5 Proprietary Abandoned
    gDeskletsMartin Grimme and Christian Meyer 0.36 GPL Abandoned
    Google Desktop GadgetsGoogle5.0.0701.18382 Proprietary Discontinued
    KapsulesAndrew Powell 0.9.9 Proprietary Abandoned
    KlipFolioSerence5.0D Proprietary Active and supported
    Microsoft GadgetsMicrosoft? Proprietary Discontinued
    NetFrontAccess Co. Ltd.4.2 Proprietary Discontinued
    NetvibesNetvibes1.0 Proprietary Active and supported
    OperaOpera Software100.0.4815.21 (June 20, 2023; 22 months ago (2023-06-20)[1][2][3])


    		Proprietary Discontinued
    PlasmaKDE (Aaron Seigo, main developer) 4.14.3 (November 11, 2014; 10 years ago (2014-11-11)) [±][4]GPL Active and Supported
    RainmeterKimmo 'Rainy' Pekkola 4.3.1 - r3321 (September 22, 2019; 5 years ago (2019-09-22)) [±]GPL Active and Supported
    ScreenletsRico Pfaus (AKA RYX) 0.1.5 GPL Abandoned
    Serious SamurizeGustaf & Oscar Lundh 1.64 Proprietary Abandoned
    SuperKarambaHans Karlsson 0.39 GPL Abandoned
    WebKitApple Inc.? BSD+LGPLActive and supported
    WidSetsNokia? Proprietary Discontinued
    Yahoo! WidgetsEd Voas, Michael Galloway, and Sam Magnuson [Note 1]4.5.2 Proprietary Discontinued
    Engine Creator Current Version LicenseStatus
    1. ^The Yahoo! Widgets was originally released by Arlo Rose and Ed Voas as Konfabulator. The name was changed several months after Yahoo! acquired the software in July 2005.

    Operating system support

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    Engine Mac OS XWindows NT5 (XP) Windows NT6 (Vista, 7/8/10+) LinuxAndroid
    Adobe AIRYes Yes Yes Yes ?
    AveDeskNo Yes Yes No ?
    DashboardYes[Note 1]No No No ?
    DesktopXNo Yes Yes No ?
    gDeskletsNo[Note 2]No[Note 2]No[Note 2]Yes ?
    Google Desktop GadgetsYes Yes Yes Yes ?
    KapsulesNo Yes ? No ?
    KlipFolioNo Yes Yes No ?
    Microsoft GadgetsNo No Yes No ?
    NetFrontNo[Note 3]No[Note 3]No[Note 3]No[Note 3]?
    NetvibesDashboard bridgeUsing browser Using browser Using browser ?
    OperaYes Yes Yes Yes ?
    PlasmaYes Yes Yes Yes No
    RainmeterNo No Yes No No
    ScreenletsNo No No Yes ?
    Serious SamurizeNo Yes Yes[Note 4]No ?
    SuperKarambaNo No No Yes ?
    WebKit? ? ? ? ?
    WidSetsNo[Note 5]No[Note 5]No[Note 5]No[Note 5]?
    Yahoo! WidgetsNo Yes Yes No No
    Engine Mac OS XWindows XP (NT5) Windows (NT6) Vista+ LinuxAndroid
    1. ^As of El Kapitain the Apple dashboard is no longer enabled by default.
    2. ^ abcAs for the next major version the gDesklets' developers are planning to support Windows XP and Mac OS X.
    3. ^ abcdNetFront is a Mobile browser, which is also preinstalled on the PSP, and on the PlayStation 3.
    4. ^The current version of Samurize (1.64.2) runs on Vista but there are a few minor issues that need to be worked out, such as security dialog prompts.
    5. ^ abcdWidSets is for mobiles and runs on the Java MIDP 2.0 platform

    Technical

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    Languages

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    Which programming languages the engines support. Most engines rely upon interpreted languages.

    Engine HTMLXHTMLCSSXMLJavaScriptPerlPythonRubyC++ExecutableVBScript
    Adobe AIR[Note 1]Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
    AveDesk[Note 2]No No Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes ? ?
    DashboardYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[Note 3]Yes[Note 3]?
    DesktopXYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ?
    gDeskletsNo No No Yes No No Yes No No No ?
    Google Desktop Gadgets? ? ? Yes Yes No No No No Yes ?
    Kapsules[Note 4]? ? ? ? No Yes Yes No ? ? Yes
    KlipFolioNo No Yes[Note 5]Yes Yes No No No No No ?
    Microsoft GadgetsYes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes (as ActiveX) Yes Yes
    NetFront[Note 6]Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No ?
    NetvibesYes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No ?
    Opera[Note 6]Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No ?
    PlasmaYes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
    RainmeterNo No No No No No No No No No No
    ScreenletsYes Yes Yes ? No No Yes No ? ? ?
    Serious Samurize[Note 4][Note 7]No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
    SuperKaramba? ? Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? ?
    WebKitYes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes ? ?
    WidSets? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
    Yahoo! Widgets[Note 8]Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No[Note 9]No
    Engine HTMLXHTMLCSSXMLJavaScriptPerlPythonRubyC++ExecutableVBScript
    1. ^Widgets for Adobe Air can also be programmed in Adobe Flash, and Actionscript.
    2. ^AveDesk can be extended using AveScripter, which supports plugins written with XML and Javascript, extended using CSS.
    3. ^ abDashboard uses a technology called Cocoa Plugins.This allows for Objective-C code to be used through the plugin. The plugin is written with Cocoa and is compiled.
    4. ^ abWidgets for Kapsules and Serious Samurize can be written in any scripting language for which there is an ActiveScript engine, including PHP, JScript, VBScript and Ruby.
    5. ^KlipFolio supports custom styles using CSS syntax.
    6. ^ abThis is only relevant for Opera's and NetFront's extensions; the web browsers themselves support HTML, CSS and others.
    7. ^Samurize supports DLLs compiled with C++, Delphi, PowerBASIC, and FreeBasic, among others. HTML/XML/CSS support can be added by using certain plugins.
    8. ^Yahoo! Widget Engine supports Perl and Python indirectly through the use of the shell, provided that the interpreters are installed on the machine (on Mac OS X, they are by default).
    9. ^Yahoo! Widgets can interface with COM (windows) or AppleScript (Mac OS)

    Formats and Development

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    Engine IDEWidget Container Widget MIME Type
    Adobe AIRFlex Builder 3, Flash CS4, Dreamweaver CS4ZIPapplication/vnd.adobe.air-application-installer-package+zip
    AveDeskAveScripterZIP?
    DashboardDashcodeZIPapplication/x-macbinary
    DesktopXDesktop X ProEXE?
    gDeskletsNo Tar.gz?
    Google Desktop GadgetsGoogle Desktop Gadget DesignerZIPapp/gg
    Kapsules? ZIP?
    KlipFolioNo Proprietary XML Format ?
    Microsoft GadgetsNo[Note 1]ZIPapplication/x-windows-gadget
    NetFrontNo ZIPapplication/x-opera-widgets
    NetvibesNo Online ?
    OperaOpera DragonflyZIPapplication/x-opera-widgets
    PlasmaNo ZIP, with plasmoid as extension instead of zip ?
    RainmeterNo ZIP, with rmskin as extension instead of zip application/vnd.rainmeter.SkinInstaller
    ScreenletsNo Tar.gz?
    Serious SamurizeSerious Samurize Config EditorZIP?
    SuperKarambaNo Tar.gz?
    WebKitNo ? ?
    WidSets? ? ?
    Yahoo! WidgetsNo[Note 2]Proprietary Format, ZIPapplication/vnd.yahoo.Widget
    Engine IDEWidget Container Widget MIME Type
    1. ^Microsoft Gadget have documentation, but no IDE to aid development.
    2. ^Yahoo! Widgets have documentation, but no IDE to aid development. A script was provided to allow Photoshop to be used as the Graphical Designer, the script created a widget whose objects were based upon photoshop layer sets or groups

    Development Tools

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    As widgets are largely combinations of HTML or XHTML, CSS, and Javascript in most cases, standard AJAX tools, such as Eclipse ATF, can be used for development. Specialized tools may give access to additional capabilities supplied by frameworks such as Dojo or Openrico.

    References

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    1. ^"Thanks for downloading Opera". Opera Norway. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
    2. ^"Thanks for downloading Opera". Opera Norway. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
    3. ^"Index of /ftp/pub/opera/desktop/100.0.4815.21/". Opera Norway. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
    4. ^"KDE Ships KDE Applications and Platform 4.14.3". KDE. 11 November 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
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