The How-To Geek Vista Sidebar Gadget
A number of people have written in asking about a Vista Sidebar gadget for our latest articles feed. I finally got some time today, so I've thrown one together that isn't exactly feature-rich, but does get the job done.
Here's a screenshot of the gadget docked to the sidebar, and then another with it pinned to the desktop. (You might notice they look the same right now)
Clicking the article title will take you immediately to the article, and the gadget will automatically update every 30 minutes.
When you click to download the gadget, you'll get this error message since I'm not yet sure how to digitally sign the gadget. You can click Install and the gadget should immediately appear in your sidebar.
If the gadget doesn't appear, you can right-click the sidebar and choose Add Gadgets, and then you'll see it in the dialog window, where you can drag it to the desktop or the sidebar.
I'm considering adding some more features to this, such as the ability to make the gadget bigger when it's dragged to the desktop, and also add an options panel. I'm also going to create a separate gadget for the forum, I think.
For you Vista Sidebar people out there, are there any features specifically that I should add?
We are having an issue with the gadget at the moment, so it's been removed. Please contact the Geek directly via email if you have any questions.
How about a small search bar of the How-to Geek site (like in the Google gadget)?
BTW: Love this site - so Very informative.
Nice One. One remark: the little fonts do not look well when not using ClearType.
I have downloaded the "How-to-Geek" sidebar, but it remains blank. Any suggestions?
There's some issue with the sidebar, everybody has been notifying me about it. I'm going to figure out what the problem is and get back to everybody.
I just released a new version that fixes the problems.
From where do i download the sidebar??? I really cant seem to find the URL for the file!!
I had a quick look into digitally signing the gadgets and came across this:
http://www.microsoft.com/techn.....x?mfr=true
It seems that the signing procedure hasn't been changed at all - you distribute the installer using a cab file and digitally sign the cab file using a certificate from MS.
I might be wrong, but there doesn't seem to be much information dealing specifically with Vista sidebar gadgets and digital signing… the only information I found was about using cab files for distributions and mentioned digital signatures.
i don't think it's like that anymore, Ian.. but i sure don't know.. sry man..