In computer software language, a widget engine is known as a software service that is available to computer users for displaying and running applets on something like a desktop which is a graphical user interface. Most widgets can be developed with around 10 to several hundred lines of VBS source code/Java Script/ XML and a few images. A web browser, which is a single host system, runs all of the loaded widgets. This process permits several desktop widgets to erect sharing code and resources. The term desktop widgets, which is usually referred to as just widgets, are virtual interactive tools that supply single purpose services such as displaying to the user the most current weather, a calendar, latest news, the time, photo viewers, a calculator, language translator, desktop notes, a map program, and a dictionary. Some widgets engines include:
- The Apple Macintosh Dashboard widgets
- The Windows Live system and Windows Vista Microsoft gadgets
- For the KDE desktop environment, the widgets in Plasma are Plasmoids
- Google Desktop has Portlets
- The widgets for Linux are Screenlets, adesklets and gdesklets
- Maemo has Homescreen widgets
- The desk top widgets that connect a blog with a user are Blidgets
The Internet is a place that is optimal for the distribution of widgets and installing new code snippets is not a requirement of interaction from the computer user. Web widgets have seen a significant rise in commercial interest which has been a result of their potential in the marketing realm because they provide viral distribution and interactivity through a host of social networks. A web widget that was presented in the late 1990s called Trivia Blitz was considered the first web widget. This game applet appeared on around 35,000 websites that went anywhere from Tower Records, CNN and the Geocities to personal pages.