Widgets!

Widgets are the future of the web.  A totally user controlled, adaptive environment.  Many herald this technological advancement as the death of conventional web pages…of course the timeframe is debatable.

Widgets are already utilized by some of the big players in the internet and technology spheres:

Google's personalized home page can also be considered a
collection of widgets.  Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo
also offer desktop widgets.  And Typepad, the service that
hosts this blog, now lets you turn your blog into a "blidget,"
or blog widget.

Many see widget technology as analogous to Tivo/DVR.  Tivo/DVR allows you to choose which television content you are interested in watching by effectively fast-forwarding through the ads.  Widgets would allow you to basically do the same thing with your web content; to only experience the content you are interested in, rather than being bombarded with banners or news stories about Paris Hilton’s latest racially charged drunken binge (I apologize in advance for those who take an active interest in Paris Hilton’s life).

The rate of adoption for Tivo and widgets is also analogous.  Tivo/DVR is great technology and will no doubt become the standard in the future, but the product is still in its early stages and hardly has a dominant market presence.  Likewise, widgets are out there now and being utilized by millions of web-heads, but the technology has yet to explode.  Pageflakes.com and Netvibes.com are two examples of widget technology.

With widget technology just waiting to be adopted by mainstream web users, one must consider the implications and possible integration of widget technology into the eteamz framework.  Is widget-esque functionality the future of eteamz site templates?  Can this functionality also be applied to the admin UI experience?  I think it is possible and would be incredibly cool!  Imagine not only being able to customize every aspect of your Web site, but being able to do so in an admin tweaked to your exact specifications…your Web site and your admin would be completely customizable environments.

I would love to hear your thoughts about the current eteamz admin and site design templates as well as any ideas you might have for the future!

Cheers!

-Eric