Blog Bling

Posted on September 26, 2007
Filed Under web 2.0 |

Check out my new widget in the far right sidebar. I used the free NewsGator widget maker to build it from my existing feed. A couple of things worth mentioning, first being that I can build a widget from multiple feeds, which quite honestly I think it more useful than having a blogroll. I think if I were to have a blogroll widget I would probably want it to be some kind of scrolling widget that rolls up posts in my blogroll on a continual basis.

Secondly, one of the consequences about aggregating feeds is that there is a lot of stuff that I want to filter out. For example, maybe I want my widget to just feature the tech posts I write and not the public policy stuff, which I know a lot of people don’t want. Using the Editor’s Desk app that is part of the service I can select items to feature in the widget by simply checking off the post items.

The widget maker also has a pro version, which I am embarrassed to say I don’t know the cost of, that gives you complete control over the javascript, css, and html rendered version, and I know the team is working on a Flash capability. The widgets that we built for USAToday are all done in Flash and are as good as any widgets I’ve seen from anyone.

This is one of the lines of business that most people are unaware NewsGator offers, and given my interests over the last couple of years I don’t imagine you will be surprised to learn that it is one of the most interesting to me.

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