Google Gadgets are dynamic web content that can be embedded on a web page. They can be added to and interact strongly with Google'siGoogle personalized home page (discontinued in November 2013, althoughiGoogle Gadgets still work on other websites) and theGoogle Desktop (discontinued in September 2011) application, as well asGoogle Wave (also no longer supported by Google) andGoogle Sites. Webmasters can add and customize a gadget to their own business or personal web site, a process called "syndication".
Gadgets are developed by Google and third-party developers using the Google GadgetsAPI, using basic web technologies such asXML andJavaScript.
With the advent of Google Wave (now Apache Wave), gadgets became able to have persistent storage and multi-user capabilities and better state management. Gadgets using Google Wave in this way were simply known as 'Wave Gadgets'. For instance, a game written using a Google Gadget could use Google Wave technology to record a list of users and high scores without having to worry about how to permanently store the scores on a hosted server. The use of Google Wave would give the gadget multi-user and permanent storage capabilities. For example, scores could be stored in a Google Wave hosted permanently by Google at no cost to the user.
As of early 2013, Google Gadgets were deprecated in Google Spreadsheets. Shortly after, they were removed from all spreadsheets.[1][2]
Google Gadgets are written inXML and can haveHTML andJavaScript components, and were able to use Google Wave.[3]
Here is an example of aHello World program written using Google Gadget technology.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?><Module><ModulePrefstitle="Hello world example"/><Contenttype="html"><![CDATA[<marquee>Hello world!</marquee>]]></Content></Module>
Google Gadgets API is a GoogleAPI which allows developers to create Google Gadgets easily.[4]
