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Quick StartOk, so Clearspring sounds cool, and you want to try it out. This page'll get you up and running on the platform, telling you only the things you absolutely need to know to get going, pronto. Create an account and log in
To create an account, just fill out the form at http://www.clearspring.com/register. You'll receive a relatively standard validation email, which includes a link -- just visit that link to verify your email, accept the license agreement, and you're good to go. From now on, you'll be able to log in from http://www.clearspring.com/login at any time. To continue with the Quick Start, make sure you're logged-in.Register your Widget in the SystemOnce logged-in, you'll be looking at what we call the Widget Management Console. This console always shows you all of the widgets in your account and lets you drill down on each one. You're ready to add a widget to your account, just click click the "Add New Widget" button to start the process.  If you don't actually have a widget yet, don't worry. You can just use our example Hello World widget. After clicking the button, you'll be looking at the widget creation/registration wizard. This tool will guide you through a few steps to get your widget registered in our system. Step 1: Specify the type of widget, and it's URL You'll want to specify which type of widget you are dealing with, and where it's located. Widgets can be images, Flash movies, or standard HTML content (with or without Javascript). No matter the type, you'll need to provide the direct URL at which your widget is available. You can read more about the different types of widgets in our docs.
 Remember, you can use the Hello World sample if you want to get a feel for the platform but don't yet have a widget to play with. Specify a name for your widget, then go to the next step. Step 2: Tell us about configuration parametersYou can optionally make your widgets configurable, by you and even by your users, by adding Parameters. If you choose to add them, you'll see a dialog like this:
 When you add Parameters, they will appear in a list at the bottom of the page. These turn into URL arguments or FlashVars from the perspective of your widget, so you as the widget creator know if they are appropriate or not -- if you're not sure, just leave them out. Widget configuration is one of the most powerful things about the Clearspring platform, you can read all about it in the documentation. When you're done dealing with your parameters, click Next to go to the next step. Step 3: Customize your widgetYou can now adjust the height, width, and opacity of the widget. Pretty self-explanatory (we hope).
Step 4: Finalizing your widgetIn this last step, you'll want to fill in the information about your widget. This info will be displayed to users, so make it good!Save your widget by clicking on the Finished button when you're done. Seeing Your WidgetNow your widget is in the system, and ready to be served up, virally distributed, put on your own site, or whatever you want. When viewing it in the Widget Management Console, the left side of the page will show you the options for interacting with your widget, getting it's code, and monitoring it's analytics. To quickly see what it looks like, you can go to it's Home Page by clicking Widget Home Page from the Share It menu on the left side of the page. From there, you can even grab the code, place it somewhere, and share it with the world. Next StepsNow that you've got your widget in the system, play around with the tools to get familiar with what's available. The documentation tree (in the sidebar at the left of this page) can help you navigate all of the documentation, and here are some places you might find useful to go next:
Happy Widgeting! |
