A widget is a
portable chunk of code that can be installed and executed within
any separate HTML-based web page by an end user without requiring
additional compilation (processing). They are derived from the
idea of reusable code that has existed for years. Other terms
used to describe web widgets including: gadget, badge, module,
capsule, snippet, mini and flake. Web widgets often but not always
use DHTML, JavaScript, or Adobe Flash. Applications can be integrated
within a third party website by the placement of a small snippet
of code. This is becoming a distribution or marketing channel
for many companies. The code brings in ‘live’ content – advertisements,
links, images – from a third party site without the web
site owner, or end user, having to update. |