This is a comparison of widget engines. This article is not about widget toolkits that are used in computer programming to build graphical user interfaces.
Engine | Creator | Current Version | License | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
Adobe AIR | Adobe Systems | 1.5 | Proprietary | Discontinued |
AveDesk | Andreas Verhoeven | 1.3 | Proprietary | Abandoned |
Dashboard | Apple Inc. | 1.8 (July 20, 2011 [±] | )Proprietary | Retired |
DesktopX | Stardock | 3.5 | Proprietary | Abandoned |
gDesklets | Martin Grimme and Christian Meyer | 0.36 | GPL | Abandoned |
Google Desktop Gadgets | 5.0.0701.18382 | Proprietary | Discontinued | |
Kapsules | Andrew Powell | 0.9.9 | Proprietary | Abandoned |
KlipFolio | Serence | 5.0D | Proprietary | Active and supported |
Microsoft Gadgets | Microsoft | ? | Proprietary | Discontinued |
NetFront | Access Co. Ltd. | 4.2 | Proprietary | Discontinued |
Netvibes | Netvibes | 1.0 | Proprietary | Active and supported |
Opera | Opera Software | 100.0.4815.21 (June 20, 2023[1]
[2]
[3])
|
Proprietary | Discontinued |
Plasma | KDE (Aaron Seigo, main developer) | 4.14.38 (November 7, 2017 [±] [4] | )GPL | Active and Supported |
Rainmeter | Kimmo 'Rainy' Pekkola | 4.3.1 - r3321 (September 22, 2019 [±] | )GPL | Active and Supported |
Screenlets | Rico Pfaus (AKA RYX) | 0.1.5 | GPL | Abandoned |
Serious Samurize | Gustaf & Oscar Lundh | 1.64 | Proprietary | Abandoned |
SuperKaramba | Hans Karlsson | 0.39 | GPL | Abandoned |
WebKit | Apple Inc. | ? | BSD+ LGPL | Active and supported |
WidSets | Nokia | ? | Proprietary | Discontinued |
Yahoo! Widgets | Ed Voas, Michael Galloway, and Sam Magnuson [Note 1] | 4.5.2 | Proprietary | Discontinued |
Engine | Creator | Current Version | License | Status |
Engine | Mac OS X | Windows NT5 (XP) | Windows NT6 (Vista, 7/8/10+) | Linux | Android |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adobe AIR | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
AveDesk | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
Dashboard | Yes [Note 1] | No | No | No | ? |
DesktopX | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
gDesklets | No [Note 2] | No [Note 2] | No [Note 2] | Yes | ? |
Google Desktop Gadgets | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Kapsules | No | Yes | ? | No | ? |
KlipFolio | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
Microsoft Gadgets | No | No | Yes | No | ? |
NetFront | No [Note 3] | No [Note 3] | No [Note 3] | No [Note 3] | ? |
Netvibes | Dashboard bridge | Using browser | Using browser | Using browser | ? |
Opera | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Plasma | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Rainmeter | No | No | Yes | No | No |
Screenlets | No | No | No | Yes | ? |
Serious Samurize | No | Yes | Yes [Note 4] | No | ? |
SuperKaramba | No | No | No | Yes | ? |
WebKit | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
WidSets | No [Note 5] | No [Note 5] | No [Note 5] | No [Note 5] | ? |
Yahoo! Widgets | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Engine | Mac OS X | Windows XP (NT5) | Windows (NT6) Vista+ | Linux | Android |
Which programming languages the engines support. Most engines rely upon interpreted languages.
Engine | HTML | XHTML | CSS | XML | JavaScript | Perl | Python | Ruby | C++ | Executable | VBScript |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adobe AIR [Note 1] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
AveDesk [Note 2] | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ? | ? |
Dashboard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 3] | Yes [Note 3] | ? |
DesktopX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? |
gDesklets | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | ? |
Google Desktop Gadgets | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | ? |
Kapsules [Note 4] | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | Yes |
KlipFolio | No | No | Yes [Note 5] | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
Microsoft Gadgets | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes (as ActiveX) | Yes | Yes |
NetFront [Note 6] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
Netvibes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
Opera [Note 6] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
Plasma | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
Rainmeter | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Screenlets | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? |
Serious Samurize [Note 4] [Note 7] | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
SuperKaramba | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
WebKit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ? | ? |
WidSets | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Yahoo! Widgets [Note 8] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No [Note 9] | No |
Engine | HTML | XHTML | CSS | XML | JavaScript | Perl | Python | Ruby | C++ | Executable | VBScript |
Engine | IDE | Widget Container | Widget MIME Type |
---|---|---|---|
Adobe AIR | Flex Builder 3, Flash CS4, Dreamweaver CS4 | ZIP | application/vnd.adobe.air-application-installer-package+zip |
AveDesk | AveScripter | ZIP | ? |
Dashboard | Dashcode | ZIP | application/x-macbinary |
DesktopX | Desktop X Pro | EXE | ? |
gDesklets | No | Tar.gz | ? |
Google Desktop Gadgets | Google Desktop Gadget Designer | ZIP | app/gg |
Kapsules | ? | ZIP | ? |
KlipFolio | No | Proprietary XML Format | ? |
Microsoft Gadgets | No [Note 1] | ZIP | application/x-windows-gadget |
NetFront | No | ZIP | application/x-opera-widgets |
Netvibes | No | Online | ? |
Opera | Opera Dragonfly | ZIP | application/x-opera-widgets |
Plasma | No | ZIP, with plasmoid as extension instead of zip | ? |
Rainmeter | No | ZIP, with rmskin as extension instead of zip | application/vnd.rainmeter.SkinInstaller |
Screenlets | No | Tar.gz | ? |
Serious Samurize | Serious Samurize Config Editor | ZIP | ? |
SuperKaramba | No | Tar.gz | ? |
WebKit | No | ? | ? |
WidSets | ? | ? | ? |
Yahoo! Widgets | No [Note 2] | Proprietary Format, ZIP | application/vnd.yahoo.Widget |
Engine | IDE | Widget Container | Widget MIME Type |
As widgets are largely combinations of HTML or XHTML, CSS, and Javascript in most cases, standard AJAX tools, such as Eclipse ATF, can be used for development. Specialized tools may give access to additional capabilities supplied by frameworks such as Dojo or Openrico.
This is a comparison of widget engines. This article is not about widget toolkits that are used in computer programming to build graphical user interfaces.
Engine | Creator | Current Version | License | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
Adobe AIR | Adobe Systems | 1.5 | Proprietary | Discontinued |
AveDesk | Andreas Verhoeven | 1.3 | Proprietary | Abandoned |
Dashboard | Apple Inc. | 1.8 (July 20, 2011 [±] | )Proprietary | Retired |
DesktopX | Stardock | 3.5 | Proprietary | Abandoned |
gDesklets | Martin Grimme and Christian Meyer | 0.36 | GPL | Abandoned |
Google Desktop Gadgets | 5.0.0701.18382 | Proprietary | Discontinued | |
Kapsules | Andrew Powell | 0.9.9 | Proprietary | Abandoned |
KlipFolio | Serence | 5.0D | Proprietary | Active and supported |
Microsoft Gadgets | Microsoft | ? | Proprietary | Discontinued |
NetFront | Access Co. Ltd. | 4.2 | Proprietary | Discontinued |
Netvibes | Netvibes | 1.0 | Proprietary | Active and supported |
Opera | Opera Software | 100.0.4815.21 (June 20, 2023[1]
[2]
[3])
|
Proprietary | Discontinued |
Plasma | KDE (Aaron Seigo, main developer) | 4.14.38 (November 7, 2017 [±] [4] | )GPL | Active and Supported |
Rainmeter | Kimmo 'Rainy' Pekkola | 4.3.1 - r3321 (September 22, 2019 [±] | )GPL | Active and Supported |
Screenlets | Rico Pfaus (AKA RYX) | 0.1.5 | GPL | Abandoned |
Serious Samurize | Gustaf & Oscar Lundh | 1.64 | Proprietary | Abandoned |
SuperKaramba | Hans Karlsson | 0.39 | GPL | Abandoned |
WebKit | Apple Inc. | ? | BSD+ LGPL | Active and supported |
WidSets | Nokia | ? | Proprietary | Discontinued |
Yahoo! Widgets | Ed Voas, Michael Galloway, and Sam Magnuson [Note 1] | 4.5.2 | Proprietary | Discontinued |
Engine | Creator | Current Version | License | Status |
Engine | Mac OS X | Windows NT5 (XP) | Windows NT6 (Vista, 7/8/10+) | Linux | Android |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adobe AIR | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
AveDesk | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
Dashboard | Yes [Note 1] | No | No | No | ? |
DesktopX | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
gDesklets | No [Note 2] | No [Note 2] | No [Note 2] | Yes | ? |
Google Desktop Gadgets | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Kapsules | No | Yes | ? | No | ? |
KlipFolio | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
Microsoft Gadgets | No | No | Yes | No | ? |
NetFront | No [Note 3] | No [Note 3] | No [Note 3] | No [Note 3] | ? |
Netvibes | Dashboard bridge | Using browser | Using browser | Using browser | ? |
Opera | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Plasma | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Rainmeter | No | No | Yes | No | No |
Screenlets | No | No | No | Yes | ? |
Serious Samurize | No | Yes | Yes [Note 4] | No | ? |
SuperKaramba | No | No | No | Yes | ? |
WebKit | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
WidSets | No [Note 5] | No [Note 5] | No [Note 5] | No [Note 5] | ? |
Yahoo! Widgets | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Engine | Mac OS X | Windows XP (NT5) | Windows (NT6) Vista+ | Linux | Android |
Which programming languages the engines support. Most engines rely upon interpreted languages.
Engine | HTML | XHTML | CSS | XML | JavaScript | Perl | Python | Ruby | C++ | Executable | VBScript |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adobe AIR [Note 1] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
AveDesk [Note 2] | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ? | ? |
Dashboard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes [Note 3] | Yes [Note 3] | ? |
DesktopX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? |
gDesklets | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | ? |
Google Desktop Gadgets | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | ? |
Kapsules [Note 4] | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? | ? | Yes |
KlipFolio | No | No | Yes [Note 5] | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
Microsoft Gadgets | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes (as ActiveX) | Yes | Yes |
NetFront [Note 6] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
Netvibes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
Opera [Note 6] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | ? |
Plasma | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
Rainmeter | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Screenlets | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? |
Serious Samurize [Note 4] [Note 7] | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
SuperKaramba | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
WebKit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | ? | ? |
WidSets | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Yahoo! Widgets [Note 8] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No [Note 9] | No |
Engine | HTML | XHTML | CSS | XML | JavaScript | Perl | Python | Ruby | C++ | Executable | VBScript |
Engine | IDE | Widget Container | Widget MIME Type |
---|---|---|---|
Adobe AIR | Flex Builder 3, Flash CS4, Dreamweaver CS4 | ZIP | application/vnd.adobe.air-application-installer-package+zip |
AveDesk | AveScripter | ZIP | ? |
Dashboard | Dashcode | ZIP | application/x-macbinary |
DesktopX | Desktop X Pro | EXE | ? |
gDesklets | No | Tar.gz | ? |
Google Desktop Gadgets | Google Desktop Gadget Designer | ZIP | app/gg |
Kapsules | ? | ZIP | ? |
KlipFolio | No | Proprietary XML Format | ? |
Microsoft Gadgets | No [Note 1] | ZIP | application/x-windows-gadget |
NetFront | No | ZIP | application/x-opera-widgets |
Netvibes | No | Online | ? |
Opera | Opera Dragonfly | ZIP | application/x-opera-widgets |
Plasma | No | ZIP, with plasmoid as extension instead of zip | ? |
Rainmeter | No | ZIP, with rmskin as extension instead of zip | application/vnd.rainmeter.SkinInstaller |
Screenlets | No | Tar.gz | ? |
Serious Samurize | Serious Samurize Config Editor | ZIP | ? |
SuperKaramba | No | Tar.gz | ? |
WebKit | No | ? | ? |
WidSets | ? | ? | ? |
Yahoo! Widgets | No [Note 2] | Proprietary Format, ZIP | application/vnd.yahoo.Widget |
Engine | IDE | Widget Container | Widget MIME Type |
As widgets are largely combinations of HTML or XHTML, CSS, and Javascript in most cases, standard AJAX tools, such as Eclipse ATF, can be used for development. Specialized tools may give access to additional capabilities supplied by frameworks such as Dojo or Openrico.