If you’ve spent any amount of time on the web, it’s likely you’ve heard of the Yahoo Widget Engine (formerly known as Konfabulator [before Yahoo bought it]). With YWE, you get a Mac-like heads-up display that overlays your screen (activated by a hotkey), displaying your widgets. The widgets can also float around on your desktop, but generally I stow them in the heads-up display. YWE is not just useful, it’s pretty cool. Check it out if you haven’t already.
After installing YWE, you’re not-so-subtly steered toward the Widget Gallery, a place where you can search/browse for new widgets to install. A lot of people’s first thought is “Whoa, that’s a lot of widgets.” How do you sort through them all? I can help.
If you’re a blogger, or just a webmaster, I can recommend some widgets. Here are some of my favorites in the “webmastery and blogging” category.
- Google AdSense: This widget displays some basic stats pulled from your AdSense account. At a glance, you can see how much money you’ve earned today, and this month. This may be my favorite widget of all time. What’s cooler than knowing how much free money your getting?
- FeedBurner: So you use FeedBurner, do you? Use this widget to keep an eye on your subscriber count.
- PageRank: Google is the undisputed king of the search engines (okay, Yahoo disputes…). Using this widget, you can see what your site’s current pagerank is. It’s easy to track multiple sites’ rankings as well.
- Site Status: Is your website working, or is your host having some downtime? This widget is especially useful if you think you may be at risk to the Digg Effect.
- VivAlytics: Do you use Google Analytics? With this widget, you can keep track of your site’s stats with ease. This widget is amazingly flexible, allowing you to choose any combination of statistics imaginable for display.
- Haa Notepad: This widget, as the slightly odd name suggests, appears in the form of a spiral notepad. You can enter quick notes for later viewing. Don’t worry, they don’t get wiped when you shut-down your computer. Unfortunately, the widget’s fixed size limits the amount of text you can enter.
- Technorati Tag: Technorati… Nearly every blogger wants to get onto the Technorati Top 100 list. This widget can help your blog along to that goal. How? Aptly named, the widget generates a Technorati Tag link from any text you enter.
- Digg Search Widget: Keep tabs on any part of Digg. After all, you never know when you’ll make the front page…
- GMailGeiger: GMail is my favorite email service. Mainly I use it, and my domain email. GMailGeiger is a small widget that displays the number of new messages in your inbox.
- Popcheck Mail Checker mk2: You don’t use GMail? No problem. This widget can check any IMAP/POP inbox on the web. With support for multiple accounts, Popcheck Mail Checker is a great way to check your email accounts. Though not as slick as GMailGeiger, it gets the job done.
Well that’s all for now. If you have any to add, feel free to comment. Now, I wish someone would make a YWE Widget Generator like Apple’s Dashcode….
