backstage.bbc.co.uk

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Konfabulator Widgets Using BBC Data

  • Sachin Patel

Surely I must not be the only person reading BBC Backstage on a Windows computer? I've used Konfabulator for some time now, and it might be very useful to make widgets for this platform, in order to reach a wider audience. The kind of widgets I am thinking of are 1 Traffic Widgets - using the BBC JamCams and Traffic feeds 2 News Feeds - just like the very neat one for Dashboard 3 Radio Player - again, like the one for Dashboard 4 Weather - easy to use as Konfabulator's one is, I like others would prefer to see something in the vein of the BBC Weather service, espescially as I see the new system as a vast improvement.

The thing to bear in mind is that over 90% of the world's computers run Windows, and therefore Dashboard Widgets are irrelevant to the majority of users.

I'm learning about widget-creation as I write this, so some time this summer I might give it a go.

  • 28 Jul 2005 11:56 AM

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  • 1.
  • On 29 Jul 2005 02:40 PM,
  • Lee Grosbauer said:

".. Dashboard Widgets are irrelevant to the majority of users .."

Why am I not suprised to hear this? Getting decent Mac support out of the BBC has taken forever and now that it has indeed started to appear we seem have someone using the BBC Backstage pages to lament over what little Mac support that has finally begun to emerge. C'mon Sachin. Why wait 'til late summer to develop your Windows app? Get moving while Windows still has a pretty good stranglehold on the BBC. Heaven forbid you might lose your opportunity. (Konfabulator is great, by the way. I cheerfully use it right along side of Dashboard, myself)

  • 2.
  • On 29 Jul 2005 04:22 PM,
  • Steve Savery said:

Konfabulator was originally developed for the Mac. Dashboard was designed by Apple following the large developer community reaction and the usefulness of such Widgets on the desktop.

Windows may be installed on 90% of the worlds computers, but this isn't (IMHO) reason enough to argue for developers to stop producing Widgets for the Mac and develop for Windows instead.

I don't intend to get into a lengthy discussion on this subject, but one reason for there being Dashboard Widgets before Konfabulator Widgets could be that Apple have created an easier development environment than that offered (currently) by Konfabulator.

Either way, I wish you luck with your Widget development in the future.

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