Springrolled

How big should a widget be? That’s an “it depends” question if ever there was one, but I think it’s worth identifying some of the things it depends on, and perhaps even offering some answers.

One thing it depends on is the place it’ll end up. For example, if a widget is likely to end up in the sidebar of a WordPress blog, it helps to know what width restrictions this imposes. I’ve used this “sidebar width” perspective on the widget width question over at the WordPress.com-hosted companion to this blog.

Then there’s the “Google knows” perspective, from which Google AdSense looks like a specialized and very successful widget platform. The AdSense Ad Formats page, then, is a useful guide to widget sizing, especially if web designs take account of the formats offered by AdSense.

Since Springrolled is based on the Clearspring widget platform, it makes sense to ask the Clearspring community as well. So I’ve done so on the Clearspring forums.

It’s a widget! It’s about widgets! It may even be worth a minute of your time!