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Opera Widgets: Cross platform applications

The Opera widgets runtime is available on all platforms where Opera 9.x is available. This article discusses the nature of Opera Widgets, as cross platform applications, goes through the benefits of their implementation model, and looks at some platform variations to be aware of when creating widgets.

  1. The same web technologies on all platforms
  2. Platforms have different characteristics
  3. Different use contexts
  4. Conclusions

The same web technologies on all platforms

A key feature of Opera is that the browser is based on a common implementation of web technologies which is reused on all platforms where Opera is available.

The Opera Widgets runtime is based on the same common implementation of web technologies as is used by the browser. A widget can use the same web technologies even if its running on platforms as different as a Windows desktop machine or a mobile phone running a proprietary operating system. The web developer has access to the same features with the same quality on all platforms.

The benefits of this include:

The Opera widgets runtime is available on platforms like:

Platforms have different characteristics

Even though the same web technologies are available on many platforms, a widget may not behave the same way on all platforms.

This is primarily due to the fact that platforms have different characteristics, for instance:

Also, the devices will vary with respect to issues like:

Such characteristics either directly affect the performance of a widget limit, or even aid the user in interacting with the widget.

Different use contexts

Users use different devices in different settings, for instance, a desktop computer is used while sitting down, focusing fully on what’s on the screen. A mobile phone is mostly used when moving around, supporting the user in his primary task.

The user’s needs are not the same in different use contexts, even when using the same widget.

As an example, consider a travel related widget:

A widget need to adapt to the use context in order to be successful.

Conclusions

Using your web developer skills and the Opera Widgets runtime you can create applications able to run on a wide variety of platforms.

In order to develop successful widgets you must understand the use contexts and devices where the widget will be used. You also need to consider the characteristics of the device it will be running on.