clearspring - the widget network.

The Widget Console is your central point of management for making, sharing and tracking widgets using the Clearspring platform. This dashboard enables you to quickly view basic information about your widgets, and drill into the details as needed.

The Basic Views

There are two basic views in the Widget Console:

• Widget List View: The default view when you enter the Widget Console, is the Widget List View. This view displays a complete and compact list of your widgets (you can click on the + or the widget name to get more information). Each widget shares a common set of actions that can be performed on it: Edit, Publish, and Analyze (as well as delete). Each action allows you to perform varying operations on a widget, or to enter more specific widget tools. At the right side of the page there are a variety of options allowing you to sort and organize the Widget List View. The image below shows the Widget List View (no widgets expanded).
  
  
  
  

  To view the details about an individual widget within the List View, click the arrow icon to the left of the widget name, or select the Expand All option at the top of the console. With the widget expanded, you can Preview your widget, check Stats, and view Summary data. The expanded list view looks like this:

  

  Also from within the expanded List view, you can click on the Properties tab to check out the various widget properties.

  If you want to modify or view more information about the widget, most of the tools in the expanded view will take you to the Detail View, where you will see a common Edit/Publish/Analyze menu on the left side of the page.

• Detail View (Edit/Publish/Analyze): For an individual widget, clicking on any of the widget tools takes you into the Widget Detail View, which presents an Edit/Publish/Analyze menu on the left side of the page (displayed at right).

  This menu is divided into three sections: Edit, Publish and Analyze. Each section of the menu can be expanded to show more options. These options each bring you to a specific widget management tool. The tools allow you to do things like edit and update parameters for your widget, share and distribute your widget to a variety of destinations around the web, configure gallery publication, API access, more. They also bring you to detailed analytics about your widgets. This menu is your entry into a wide variety of widget-specific tools.

  To go back to the List view at any time, just click My Widgets at the top of the page.

These two views are fundamental to the Widget Console.

Adding Widgets to the System

You can add new widgets, registering them with Launchpad On-Page or In-Widget tools, depending on your needs. Either way, start just by clicking Add Widget from within the console:

• Getting Launchpad On-Page
• Getting Launchpad In-Widget (Standard mode)
• Getting Launchpad In-Widget (Advanced mode)

 

The Quick Start guide can help you get started with each type of widget. All of the widgets you create will appear in this List View in the Widget Console.

Organizing Widgets

Widgets can be categorized using Tags. Tags are keywords that you can use to organize your widget collection into different sets. The default tag value for a new widget is "tag me." Tags can be modified when viewing Widget entries. From the expanded Widget Entry, click on Edit Tags right under the Preview and enter your tags. Multiple tags can be entered as a comma separated list. Make sure to click Save to permanently store any of your changes.

Sorting and Searching Widgets

To Sort your widgets, select the appropriate option from the "Sort By" drop-down lists. You can sort by:

• Widget Name: Select the "widget name" column header to sort by name.

• Views: Select "views" in the Sort By dropdown list.

• Location: Select "locations" in the Sort By dropdown list.

• Last Modified: Select "last modified" in the Sort By dropdown list.

• Creation Date: Select "creation date" in the Sort By dropdown list.

On the right side of the page, you'll also see a Search box, some Quick Sort options, and any Tags you have set up for your widgets. This is an easy way to find and sort all of your widgets.

Filtering Widgets by Tags

Widgets in the List view can be filtered using the Filter by Tag feature. Each tag you select will add widgets to your display. For example, if you select tags 'foo' and 'bar,' you'll see a list of all widgets tagged with 'foo' and 'bar.'

To remove any tag filters and just view all widgets, click the "Deselect all tags" link at the base of the Tag list.

Widget Options

Within the List view, any expanded widget will have text links to let you access the detail view to accomplish a variety of tasks:

• Edit a widget
• View the Analytics for a widget
• Manage different Distribution & Publishing options for a widget
• Delete a widget.

Widget Type and URL

The most basic function available when Editing a widget that uses Launchpad In-Page tools in Standard mode is to modify its type and the URL at which it is 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 here, in our docs.

Widget Parameters

One of the most important tools available to you while Editing widgets, or creating them in the first place, is the Parameters tool (available under Edit Widget ->Edit Parameters).

This tool allows you to manage your widget's configuration parameters, as described in detail here. When specifying parameters, you always give them a name and a default value, but you must also indicate whether they are user editable or not:

• User editable: When the widget is shared, the user will have the option of changing the value of this parameter for their new placement.
• Hidden: A Hidden parameter will be managed by the server and passed as usual, but the end user will not be able to see or edit it.

For user-editable parameters, you then have several other options:

• Required: Whether or not the end user is actually required to enter a value for this parameter when grabbing the widget.
• User Facing Label: The user-friendly name of the parameter, which end users will see when getting their own instance of the widget.
• Type: The data type of the variable, which is used to control the type of input the user is allowed to specify. You can use this parameter to, for example, offer a list of choices to the end user, or to allow them to type text freely.

Widget Customization

The Customize tool, available to you when Editing widgets, allows you to specify values that will determine how your widget will appear in the wild. The following is a description of the capabilities for customizing the widget appearance.

• Dimensions: define size of your widget.  Use the "Maintain Widget Aspect-Ratio" check box when you want to scale the widget proportionately.
• Shadow:  enables a drop shadow  to the Widget.  This option is only available for Flash and Image widgets.
• Flash Scale Mode: sets the Flash will scale.  This option is only available for Flash widgets
  
• Flash window mode: sets the back ground of the Flash container.  When Opaque is selected the back ground color can be defined.  This option is only available for Flash widgets
• This Widget can be resized when shared: when checked allows users who get this widget to define the size of the widget for their placement.  The min and max values can be defined.
  
• Get & Share Button: defines whether the button for the share menu is displayed.
  

Entering an HTML Wrapper (SEO Header/Footer)

The HTML Wrapper tool, available from the Widget Console, allows you to provide some HTML that will be displayed above and below your widget when it is shared into the world. This can be used for two purposes:

• To include links in HTML code, which will work on sites that block Flash-based link outs
• To assist with your widgets being found by search engines

Note that the code you provide here will NOT be modified or parsed, it is up to you to specify the markup you would like to appear on the destinations. It is best to experiment a bit with the results before fully publishing your widget.

Well over 20 share locations support the HTML Wrapper.  However there are a few locations, specifically start pages, which do not support displaying the HTML Wrapper.  These are Live, Live Spaces, iGoogle, Netvibes, Webwag and Pageflakes.  When using the HTML Wrapper to enhance SEO the start page limitation is not a concern, since Web crawlers are not authorized to access a user start page.

Specifying Widget About Data

Also while Editing a widget, the About tool lets you modify the information that will be displayed about your widget, should a user request to see this information. It will be publicly visible, so should be accurate and useful.

Other Features

Little features scattered throughout the UI should be self-explanatory (we hope). Remember that you can click the ? Help icon at the top right of most pages throughout the console to view related documentation.