jStart Subject Matter Experts: John GerkenWidgetGen: surfacing the business value of widgets
Just take a look around and you'll see widgets everywhere: from the desktop to web embedded widgets, companies are using the technology to engage their users. But widgets suffer from many of the same challenges that traditional applications do: they can be cumbersome to develop, they may not play nicely on all platforms, and there really isn't a way to share information between widgets. The jStart team has a solution: IBM Widget Generation Plugin for IBM Mashup Center 2.0 (WidgetGen).
Enter WidgetGen
For those companies wanting to leverage the power and potential of widgets, the succinct question remains: how does one get started, and how do we empower our business users to create widgets relevant to one's target market? WidgetGen addresses this problem head-on by simplifying the widget creation process by giving users a "on ramp" by which they can start by getting their feet wet with templates, all the way to creating sophisticated widgets...all while creating widgets which can operate in a multiplicity of environments--from the desktop to web-embedded, from IBM Portal Server to open source content management systems.
Some things you can do with WidgetGen...
Enter WidgetGen
For those companies wanting to leverage the power and potential of widgets, the succinct question remains: how does one get started, and how do we empower our business users to create widgets relevant to one's target market? WidgetGen addresses this problem head-on by simplifying the widget creation process by giving users a "on ramp" by which they can start by getting their feet wet with templates, all the way to creating sophisticated widgets...all while creating widgets which can operate in a multiplicity of environments--from the desktop to web-embedded, from IBM Portal Server to open source content management systems.
Some things you can do with WidgetGen...
- Create widgets without any programming knowledge
- Create widgets which are standards agnostic--and can work on a variety of platforms
- Allows widget creators to understand user engagement activities with the widget
- Provide a standardize way to disseminate content--instead of content syndicators "loosing control" of their content, it would be wrapped within a brand-able wrapper which could also provide user interaction feedback to the provider
- Provides a number of templates which business users can customize for their own needs
- Allows business users to "jump in" and get started with widgets with minimal effort and in a timely manner
How WidgetGen Works
Since most users might get started with Widgets from within a mashup framework, WidgetGen is designed to work directly within IBM's Mashup Center. Widgets created by the WidgetGen plugin to Mashup Center are easily deployable within Mashup Center environments, but are also deployable to almost any platform/environment the user may wish to leverage: standalone desktop widgets, web-embedded widgets, or within mashups, themselves. To get started, a user simply needs to read the installation instructions, download and install the plugin (additional information is available on the IBM Mashup Center Wiki. (For those users who do not have IBM Mashup Center, a trial version is available here.)
Getting Started
Having developed WidgetGen, jStart has unique capabilities to help your business get started with the technology. You can get started with WidgetGen by visiting our getting started wiki. If you would like a hands-on demonstration, a workshop to explore how WidgetGen could discover opportunities to leverage the technology, or to engage the jStart team to help your company educate your business users on WidgetGen, please feel free to contact us.
