Client side & hosted widgets

So I shut down my mmogwidgets web site. The burden of running my own Amazan EC2 instance, web server, and running a J2EE site was just too much. And the cost was a little out of whack for what it should cost to just run a web site. I was paying ~$70 a month just to run the instance.

There have been a lot of recent advances in the client side AJAX frameworks like Dojo, Ext, etc. I figured, why not do it all client side, offload the processing requirements to the client, and let the widget platform host the widget? There would be $0 cost to me both monetarily and time-wise to maintain the server/web server/application.

What I found out was, it is entirely feasible. So long as everything you're widget is doing is capable of being hosted by the third party widget platform. In my case, there was some flash in the widget that is hosted by another third party website...and apparently you can't include flash in a page that is hosted on a different domain. I don't think Widgetbox allows me to host flash on their servers...so I'm stuck.

Has anyone done anything like this? If so, what were your workarounds for these kinds of issues?

P.S. What is this "Flex" thing I keep hearing about? Some kind of next-gen Flash? I guess I'll have to do some research.

Been Busy

It's been a little while since my last post. I just wanted to let you all know that I'm not gone and the widget, my website, and this blog are not going to fade away.

Here's a short summary of some of the features that I'll be working on adding to the widget soon.

1. A vertical layout so that the signature can be included on the sidebar of blogs or other pages where horizontal space is at a premium.
2. The ability to set your signature portrait.
3. The ability to set your guild's website URL if you don't want it to default to the Armory's guild URL.
4. Adding support for non en_us armory profiles, e.g. Korean, Chinese, etc since those come from Armory's at their own distinct Armory URLs.
5. Making the Server selection of the Widget into a pick list.
   
6. Making the signature generally smaller.

And non widget related improvements:

1. Adding a content management system to the www.mmogwidgets.com website so that I can more easily update the front page as well as do things like archiving, permalinks, trac-backs, etc. I'll probably be evaluating TypePad and WordPress, and MovableType. Your suggestions are welcome.
2. Evaluating some of the web 2.0 AJAX frameworks as a replacement for JSF. I've determined that site is not going to be so much of an application as it is mostly a user friendly interface to widgets and other related content. Some of those AJAX frameworks have really slick widgets that make laying out a site and adding dynamic (read:Asynchronous) content a snap.
3. Flash. I thought it might be useful to learn Flash in order to make my widgets more friendly to sites like Facebook and MySpace. However in the recent wake of FBJS and now MySpace's announcement that they're going to be releasing a developer application this might just go on the far back burner.

All for now, I hope you're enjoying the widget. I'll let you know when these features near completion.

P.S. The widget is up to 450+ subscriptions! Thanks to all my users! :)

Warcraft Signature Facebook App

If you want to add the World of Warcraft Signature Widget to your Facebook page follow these steps:

1. Go to http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/world-of-warcraft-signature-widget.
2. Click the "Get Widget" button.
3. Click "Add to Facebook".
4. Click "Install Widget".
5. Rejoice!

Facebook doesn't allow you to list your apps in their app directory until it's installed by at least five users. So if you want to, go out and install it today so I can list it in their directory :). Thanks!

FBJS + Widgetbox = HOT

So, I logged in to Widgetbox today to a pleasant suprise. They now support adding their widgets to Facebook as an application. I'm not sure on this but I guess I noticed the ability to add my World of Warcraft Signature Widget as a Facebook app because Facebook has officially rolled out FBJS.

Widgetbox must have been working on this for a while because they've got a really slick wizard that walks you through the process step by step. They open an iFrame with Facebook in it so you don't even leave the Widgetbox wizard page to follow the instructions.

It's as simple as adding the "developer" application to your Facebook page, creating a new Facebook app, then copy and pasting a couple URL's from widgetbox into your Facebook app configuration page. Sweet!

Widgetbox also offers the ability to add the widget's Facebook app to your profile directly from the Widgetbox subscriptions page. The entire process is well thought out and easy to do.
One last note, Widgetbox is also offering to share advertising revenue for the app. They promote the app, find interested advertisers, and then share the revenue with you 50/50.

WoW Sig Widget: New Artwork

The WoW Character Signature Widget has been updated with some truly exceptional custom artwork. The art was actually done by my Sister. Thanks sis for such a great job! Very nice.

If you are interested in contacting her to get some art done for whatever, you can contact me through this blog or via my email that is listed on the mmogwidgets web site.

Important: if you already have a subscription to the signature widget (through widgetbox) you may need to log in to widgetbox and edit your subscription and update the size dimensions for the widget. You will want to set them to 425 width x 240 height.

It would be nice if Widgetbox would update all subscriptions of the widget when I modify the widgets default width and height.

Penny Arcade in Wired

There's a great article on Wired about my heroes from Penny Arcade. Those two have the coolest life ever.

And they've got some hilarious comics linked with a "reference decoder" and a "jargon translator" to help those non-geeks figure out what the comics are about. Not that we want you in on our little secret world.

Oh, and a slideshow preview of their upcoming game "Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode I"

100 Subscriptions

I'm over the 100 subscription mark for my World of Warcraft Character Signature Widget. 140 at the time of this writing, to be exact. I know it's not a lot yet, but honestly I'm flattered that that many people like it.

On to 1000!