How to Create a Windows Gadget
Windows gadgets are the application icons that appear in the Windows sidebar. These gadgets direct users to applications that are installed on the system, or to specific websites on the Internet. If you want to customize your Windows system, one way to do so is to create your own custom gadgets for the Windows sidebar. Once you have created all of the components for a Windows gadget, installation of the gadget is easy.
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Instructions
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Make a new folder on the hard drive of your computer in one of the Windows sidebar folders. These sidebar folders are found at "C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets," and this is where you will place all of the components of your gadget. Name the folder something that makes it easy to distinguish, such as "practice.gadget."
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Design your custom gadget for the Windows sidebar using design or graphics software. Begin your design by opening a canvas that is 64-by-64 pixels and add text or images that you want in your gadget. Save the gadget design to the folder that you created by going to "Save as..." and selecting "UTF-8" as the "Save as" type.
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Open a basic text editor, such as Notepad, and create the manifest file for your gadget. The gadget manifest contains presentation information for the gadget and the basic configuration. A detailed explanation of the elements that must be contained in a gadget manifest is available at Microsoft's website (see Resources). A typical Windows sidebar gadget manifest looks something like this:
"<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> \ <gadget> \ <name><Practice></name> \ <version>1.0.0.0</version> \ <authors name="Creator Name"> \ <info url="youtube.com/"/> \ </author> \ <copyright>© Copyright Holder</copyright> \ <description>Angel Video</description> \ <hosts> \ <host name="sidebar"> \ <base type="HTML" apiVersion="1.0.0" src="Practice.htm" /> \ <permissions>Full</permissions> \ <platform minPlatformVersion="1.0" /> \
</host> \ </hosts> \ </gadget>"Each forward slash "\" represents a separate line of code.
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Use the text editor to make an HTML file for your Windows sidebar gadget. A very basic HTML file for a sidebar gadget looks something like this.
"<html > \ <head> \ <title>practice</title> \ <link href "Practice.htm/" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> \ <script type="text/javascript" src="ShowMeLife.js"></script> \ </head> \ </html>"
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Open the Windows sidebar on your desktop by going to the "Start" menu, "All Programs," Accessories" and clicking the "Windows Sidebar" option. Click the "+" sign at the top of the sidebar to bring up the "Gadget Gallery." The gadget that you created should appear in the Gadget Gallery if you saved the gadget to the "Gadgets" folder on the "C:" drive.
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Double-click the name of the gadget that you created for the sidebar. The gadget installs to the sidebar automatically.
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