Screenlet ideas; What screenlets would you like to see?

[searayman]

post what your ideas for screenlets are, so poeple can look in here and get ideas on what kidn of screenlets poeple want.

My two i really want:

Google Calender Agenda
Gmail Checker

[bluebyt]

I like to have one similar to this:

Picture frame screenlet!

http://widgets.yahoo.com/gallery/view.php?widget=38236

[ScOt_MeNtAl]

Here are some of my suggestions:

UK Weather
Wireless Strength
Drag 'n Drop Burn (Sorta like a Windows Virtual burn folder for making data cd's)
More advanced music controllers
Better system stats reporting
some games? minesweeper?
Drag 'n Drop Zip (same idea as Drag 'n Drop burn)
mac os x dashboard screenlet list (can't see why this would be difficult)
screenlets you can flip to show more info on rear
3d screenlets like maybe a 3d cube picture frame that spins and changes the picture of the hidden sides?
Drag 'n Drop Wastebasket
Drag 'n Drop ftp file transfer

I'll have to stop there because I could keep suggesting lol. Hope some of these ideas can help.

Cheers dan

[Lazesharp]

UK Weather

The Weather screenlet works fine for this. Go to www.weather.com, lookup your town/city and use the code in the URL as the ZIP code (e.g. UKXX0054). In theory, this should work for other countries too.

[Kivutar]

I'd like to have a Tux tamagochi screenlet who could move on the desktop and express emots.

[Vasek]

I'd add
- a check- (or "to do"-) list
- also some games: for example Sudoku, Same, Klotski, Lloyd's 15, Fences
- system status with bar graphs

I'm afraid that screenlets moving over screen and dynamically drawn 3D-ones are not possible and are not going to be in the near future, but someone may know better that me :-)

[mikedee]

Generic web-clip screenlet which can show a clip of any web page with customizable update times etc. Something like this should be a good base.

http://www.burtonini.com/blog/computers/mozilla-thumbnail-20040614.xhtml

PyGtkMozEmbed is in gnome-desktop-extras

[RYX]

Sorry for responding a little late here, but I followed this topic :)

Some notes to the above suggestions:
- PictureFrameScreenlet is now available since v0.0.8
- Drag&Drop Burn/Zip/Trash/* are nice ideas and I hope someone will realize them now that there is basic drag&drop support available (I also thought of a Drag&Drop make/install using paco)
- the gmail-checker is in work due to the recent changes to the MailCheck which will (in v0.0.9) allow adding different mailcheck-backends (POP3, imap, gmail, ...)
- games would be nice but may be a bit ugly to realize
- 3d-stuff is one major task on my brainstorming-list, I am open for any suggestions
- moving screenlets over the screen and animating them should be compiz's job, maybe we can get some better integration (Mike's python-version of a widget-plugin is an awesome approach to that)
- a "TuxagotchiScreenlet" (Tux-Tamagotchi) is already planned ;)

Some of my ideas/wishes:
- more "crazy connectivity", e.g. make the PlantScreenlet depend on the
WeatherScreenlet's service (when it rains, the plant is growing and gets a
blossom and when it is too hot the plant drys out)
- ColorManagerScreenlet (designers' best friend)
- DockScreenlet
- NotificationAreaScreenlet (tough one)

:)

[searayman]

Generic web-clip screenlet which can show a clip of any web page with customizable update times etc. Something like this should be a good base.

http://www.burtonini.com/blog/computers/mozilla-thumbnail-20040614.xhtml

PyGtkMozEmbed is in gnome-desktop-extras

yes i want a web clips screenlet and a google calendar screenlet to show upcomming events, coudl we just use the google gadget that does this already?

[RYX]

If someone finds a non-hackish way to make the bg of a GtkMozEmbed truly transparent, we could do so incredibly cool things (I hope for gtk3 on this one) ... e.g. full support for all HTML/JS-based gadgets/widgets out there. In the end all those mac/yahoo/vista-widgets are just small web-pages ...

:)

[Eight_Quarter_Bit]

I'd love to see a terminal widget. When closed it would be just a little icon, but once clicked it would slide/expand open (both horizontally and vertically) into a full-fledged terminal. Great for those quick commands etc. :D

Another cool gizmo would be a slider widget. Have it issue a customizable command depending on slider position. Or, have it issue a single command once dragged fully from one side to the other ala iPhone (snapping back if not dragged fully across.) This widget would simplify the development of things like audio mixer, screen brightness, etc. sliders in the future.

A sudo/gksudo widget would also be nice. Any icon/file dragged into the widget would be executed with sudo privileges. This could be done with "sudo" and have the password typed directly into the widget, but this might raise security concerns. Conversely, It could be done with "gksudo" and let gksudo handle the password entry.

Last, but certainly not least, a fully customizable pie menu widget would be awesome! See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_menu for what I'm talking about. Have this widget sit on the screen and become active after clicking in it's center. Dragging and dropping of icons from the GNOME menu/desktop would add them to the pie and folders added to the pie would cause a new "slice", or part of a ring, to pop outwards on hover. Items inside the folder would be added to the new ring. Heck, maybe even have it where other widgets could be drag 'n dropped into the pie menu. Here's a cheesy mockup I made so you can kinda get an idea of what I'm talking about:

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/1305/piemenumockupfv5.th.png (http://img59.imageshack.us/my.php?image=piemenumockupfv5.png)

Anyhoo, that's my two cents.

[euskal]

If someone finds a non-hackish way to make the bg of a GtkMozEmbed truly transparent, we could do so incredibly cool things (I hope for gtk3 on this one)

just curious had look at pyro Desktop, http://pyrodesktop.org/Main_Page
looks 100% promising, it's about integrating XUL/FF to gnome , just read that on planet.gnome.org

A secondary goal for Pyro is some level of feature parity with the newest generation of window managers… Aero/Aqua/Compiz. This should help remove the initial concern of new users

(edit. well not exactly inside gnome but whatever... ) :) :)

[RYX]

A secondary goal for Pyro is some level of feature parity with the newest generation of window managers… Aero/Aqua/Compiz. This should help remove the initial concern of new users
I am stunned and amazed by their "features":
- Translucent CSS Dropshadows
- Video on a full desktop
- MPlayer works well
- ...
"Newest generation", maybe from a Windows user's perspective .... :lol: :D :D :D

8)

[yankdownunder]

I'm really surprised that with the folks at both Google and Yahoo! that they haven't started doing something for linux with the desktop Widgets - or something similar to the stuff at www.desktopsidebar.com => for all the "stuff" available for Karamba and gDesklets, there still ain't nothing like that - and it ain't as silly as the crap that comes in M$ Vista - it's very nicely done, very configurable, very USEFUL...so, with that said, I'd not mind seeing something like that for Screenlets. Probably could do a better job of it as well - both in looks and functionality.

[dmoyer]

A graphical clipboard representation, possibly with multiple slots.

[sweetthdevil]

Hello,

I would love a calendar/to do list...
And a instant messanger contact list display, so you could see who's online etc :wink:

[RYX]

A graphical clipboard representation, possibly with multiple slots.
Do you have any concrete picture about how that should look? When I read your suggestion I thought of something like a stack of of images (like bars or paper or whatever) where you can drag/drop onto or from. It could get higher when you add (copy) and lower when you remove (paste) entries ... This would allow copy/paste without using the keyboard!

@sweetthdevil: A calendar is already available. I like the idea of an IM, but it wouldn't be easy to realize, I think ...

:)

[maluze]

1) a calendar similar to Ubuntu's default time and date, in witch you can click on a date within the calendar and see/edit things to do...doesnt have to be tied to evolution or anything of the sort

2) retro games like pac man or tetris

3) stock notifier (for those that own shares in stocks)

4) widget to make prank calls ( a la CDYNE Phone notify (http://desktop.google.com/plugins/i/cdynephone.html?hl=en) ;) )

5) widget to track favorite professional (baseball, basketball, hockey, golf, cricket, football, soccer, etc.) sports teams

6) ...

[maluze]

I highly suggest you look to Yahoo! widgets for some um ideas...(formerly Konfabulator)... http://widgets.yahoo.com/

It is, in my opinion, the de facto standard as far as widgets are concerned. Looks great, visually appealing, and the widgets are actually functional and benefical and help you be more productive...what more could you ask for? ...

in fact, i see many similairities between screenlets and yahoo! widgets, and i see the potential for screenlets to surpass yahoo!..

[RYX]

Screenlets and Yahoo widgets are entirely different in their architecture and the way they work (screenlets are much more powerful :D). The screenlets are full-featured applications, all yahoo/apple-widgets are in fact only small webpages within an invisible browser-application. The screenlets will get a host for yahoo/apple-widgets once it is possible in an acceptable way, that's sure (hopefully soon).

:)

[maluze]

(screenlets are much more powerful ).

The average person wouldnt be able to tell that..they might see a couple of quaint widgets that, while useful, dont provide the same range of abilities found in yahoo or google's widgets (yet). And after all, theres nothing wrong in having web based screenlets, is there?[/quote]

[RYX]

Not really. But you should think of the screenlets as a lower-level of programming than the common HTML/JavaScript-based "widgets". They are "real" applications and don't differ from any usual gtk-application in nearly all aspects. Also Screenlets can use any kind of python-modules and -libraries, "widgets" are quite limited in what they can do. The two are not comparable and totally incompatible, but it will be easy to write a Screenlet that hosts "widgets" once the mentioned background-transparency is available in gtk. I don't know when that will be, but I am sure it will not take very long.

btw: What amazing range of possibilities offer those yahoo-widgets? Especially if you take into account that the screenlets have about 1.5 active developers while the "widgets" have about 1.5 million active developers ... :D

:)

[maluze]

^ LOL... they offe everything pretty much everything under the sun... there is also a sort of widget layer embedded (cant compare to compiz fusion though :D) , and also an easy way to add widgets. Just a widget engine that is polished, easy to develop, and very user friendly. Oh and there are also yahoo widgets that display photos from your computer (and from flickr too), grow flowers like the ones here, display what is in playing iTunes, show CPU/Memory usage, how could they be just browser frontends? I dunno...

and I would help you guys out, if i knew anything about programming :D

[dmoyer]

A graphical clipboard representation, possibly with multiple slots.
Do you have any concrete picture about how that should look? When I read your suggestion I thought of something like a stack of of images (like bars or paper or whatever) where you can drag/drop onto or from. It could get higher when you add (copy) and lower when you remove (paste) entries ... This would allow copy/paste without using the keyboard!
:)

I have no idea what it would look like, but what you describe paints a pretty picture in my head. I think it would be a cool and innovative addition to an O.S., and there are already several programs (crappy ones) like that for XP. I had an idea earlier wherein the task list drags like a tail behind the mouse, what about the clip board doing that? I can make a mockup for you if you're looking for ideas? I'm an artist by trade, so it wouldn't be out of the question.

Thanks for thinking about my ideas!

[Crashmaxx]

Some of my ideas/wishes:
- more "crazy connectivity", e.g. make the PlantScreenlet depend on the
WeatherScreenlet's service (when it rains, the plant is growing and gets a
blossom and when it is too hot the plant drys out)

:)

I think I got a better idea. How about a Window Screenlet that shows the weather outside, and heck, maybe you can even open it. And you need to have the flower near it to get sun and have it react. That would just be too cool.:cool:

[coz]

hey guys,
Well I did the themes for the test screenlet with logo themes... It would be nice to have a screenlet dedicated to this kind of stuff .stickers..etc.
Although it is easy to add images to the test screelet and make one of then the default, but the name "Test" doesnt quite do it :).
I tried hacking the py file to change some of this unsuccessfully.
So much for my python skills :)
coz

[kwaanens]

I'd like to see some last.fm screenlets like these: http://www.last.fm/widgets/ Please!
(By the way, here's another one to look at: http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/radio_podcasts/lastfmrecenttracks.html )
I know it's possible to use RSS-feeds, but that is definetely not as slick.

I'd also like to see a (logo)art screenlet that includes Rico's fish, and the Graphreak's Compiz Fusion logos someone made usable with the Test screenlet. (Just noticed the post above this one, that actually points out *exactly* this)

- Ketil

[coz]

hey guys,
i would like a note screenlet but one that is not typed in but hand written in or a sketch pad screenlet that can also save the sketches in png at least.
I guess it would be something like the little sketch application "gogh" or "gsumi"
I realize the apps exist but having them always available especially with widget layer would be a nice touch for the artist to sketch ideas down quickly.
coz

[davim]

hey guys,
i would like a note screenlet but one that is not typed in but hand written in or a sketch pad screenlet that can also save the sketches in png at least.
I guess it would be something like the little sketch application "gogh" or "gsumi"
I realize the apps exist but having them always available especially with widget layer would be a nice touch for the artist to sketch ideas down quickly.
coz

That would be really cool :)

[coz]

Just want to retract my hand writing screenlet or sketch screenlet request since I can also just simply make one of the smaller applications like gogh or gsumi work with the widget layer.