I'm sure you go to great pains to select and install widgets on your sidebar or footer. However, like most of us you may then forget about them --- unless they stop working. "If it ain't broke don't fix it." Here are some reasons to take a fresh look at your widgets with an eye toward pruning, replacing and adding. This can only make your overall design fresher and cleaner.
Technology Moves Forward - That includes Blogger. The old list of 9 or 10 basic gadgets is a thing of the past. You now have favorite widgets integrated into Blogger. This means fewer JavaScripts to stuggle with and no annoying credit links at the bottom of the widget.Why shouldn't our widgets look seamless like WordPress sidebars? Widget developers still get credit as you install their gadget.
Blogger organizes gadgets in 4 groups:
Basics - there are currently 20 familiar widgets like those for Html/JavaScript, Text, Adsense and Link Lists.The newest additions are highlighted at the top of the selections:
 Followers (New!) Displays a list of users who follow your blog  By Blogger The Followers is the Google Friend Connect widget. |
 Search Box (New!) Search over your blog, your blogroll, and everything you've linked to. By Google Custom Search The search is the Google search box which looks first in your blog and optionally all of your blogroll or links list, or the web. This is a preview of the box for inputting search phrases:  |
Tip: Improve your design by hidding the blogger navigation bar and install the blog search gadget. Read more: why you should be fearful of what blog is behind door #1 on Blogger?
Featured - there are nine featured gadgetss, including Recent Posts, Twiter Updates. I added the Recent Posts summaries which I like very much. It allows you to show fewer posts on the homepage and give visitors other pages to consider. Also in the featured category are these gadgets:
Flickr Photostream -Display thumbnails of your most recent Flickr photos By Blogger Buster
TheFlickr Stream is cool to add at the bottom of your blog. There's a similar one for Picasa Photostream.
Recent Comments Show your most recent comments, with optional summaries By Blogger Buster
I installed the Recent Comments widget just to update the one I had from BloggerBuster --- removes offsite link ("Add this widget to your blog.".) But I had to delete it since it doesn't show the post name and doesn't interpret special characters like apostophes. See my current one and the snapshot of the new one on the right:
Most Popular -The six most often installed --- including the Recent Comments widget. There's one for an animated fish pond where you feed custom colored fish with mouse clicks. Also Digg news, YouTube and Event Countdown clock.
More Gadgets - The complete list of 159, many you may already have on your iGoogle desktop. These include quotes, cute puppy photos, games, horoscopes, digital clocks and calendars. So maybe you don't need most of these on your blog's sidebar!
What's your favorite new gadget?
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