http://www.widgetbox.com Widgetbox™ is an open web widget marketplace and syndication platform. It serves both the developers who create widgets and the web publishers who use widgets on their sites. A web widget is a small piece of interactive content (like an ad or a game) that can be dynamically embedded into a web page. Widgets allow for a new level of expression and creativity as personal web publishers use them to create value and interest in their blogs, social networks, personal home pages, and web sites. In addition, widgets give large-scale online services a greater reach and visibility into the off-domain consumption of their core web services across multiple platforms. As a trusted marketplace and syndication platform, Widgetbox enables developers to easily build, distribute, promote, monitor and monetize widgets. It enables web publishers to easily find, configure, integrate and manage widgets. Widgetbox’s unique Widget Syndication Platform™ is central to the power and simplicity of the service. Developers use simple tools to turn their web application into a widget without coding. The developer does not need to worry about the widget installation or configuration. Widgetbox manages the widget installation to any platform, including TypePad, WordPress, MySpace, etc. In addition, Widgetbox captures and stores the developer’s widget configuration to manage each subscriber’s customization. If the developer changes the widget’s code or configuration parameters, it will be propagated to everyone subscribing to their widget. Web publishers can search the Widgetbox gallery and use the categories, ratings and reviews to find the right widget. Once a widget is selected, Live Preview™ enables the web publisher to see the widget exactly as it will look configured for their site. The configuration is done without coding and the installation to the blog or web site is a visual process. In addition to this ease of use, Widgetbox has unique capabilities that make widgets smarter and more useful: * Widget Panels: Drag & drop placement makes it easy to install and manage widgets within Widgetbox. * Widget Metrics: Widget publishers get a metrics dashboard that allows them to track the spread of their widgets across the web. * Live Widgets: Widgets are always “live” within blogs and web pages. They can be re-configured instantly and without touching HTML code. * Smart Blogs: Widgets can be “tag aware”, meaning a web publisher can make widgets react to the content of their web site. For example, an image widget might display images related to the content of the most recent blog post. As a trusted marketplace, Widgetbox provides a security layer around widgets to prevent such things as Cross Site Scripting attacks. This solves one of the barriers bloggers and social networks have with embedding web widgets. Currently all Widgetbox widgets are free, but as business terms are set by developers in the future, the Widgetbox platform has the underlying technologies to provide robust widget analytics and e-commerce features to support monetizing widgets. Widgetbox will always provide a free service even as for-pay features are added.

Last edited by ab (2007-07-27 03:49:46)