Yahoo updates widget engine to take Web widgets to the desktop

New Konfabulator 4.5 adds support for building widgets in both HTML and Adobe Flash

By Heather Havenstein

November 29, 2007 12:00 PM ET

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Computerworld - Yahoo Inc. today rolled out a new version of its Konfabulator widget engine that it said will let developers more easily extend existing Web widgets from the browser to run on desktop systems.

Version 4.5 of the Konfabulator engine, which previously supported only JavaScript, will now allow developers to build widgets in HTML and Adobe Flash. That will make it easier to get existing Web widgets to the desktop, Yahoo said. The Yahoo widgets, small pieces of code that run single-purpose applications like a day planner or weather updates, had previously been focused almost exclusively on the desktop, it noted.

"We're focused primary on the desktop experience, at creating a rich, compelling consumer experience on the desktop that takes the best of the Web … and brings it down to the desktop to leverage the full power of your PC," said Jonathan Strauss, a senior product manager at Yahoo.

But with the new version of the engine, the company expects to see developers extending existing Web widgets to the desktop, noted Scott Derringer, Yahoo director of product management.

In addition, Yahoo is working with third-party Web widget publishers like Clearspring Technologies Inc., Netvibes and MuseStorm Inc. to help take their Web widgets to the desktop, Strauss added.

The new engine also includes a more robust security model, Yahoo said, with more clear outlines of how the widgets might be accessing local files or what the widget may be downloading from the Internet.

The release of the new engine comes less than two weeks after Yahoo overhauled its Widget Gallery, which contains more than 4,300 widgets. The gallery now has new categorization tags aimed at allowing users to sort through the widgets more easily, a new ratings and review system and more accurate search, Yahoo said.

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