November 2005 Archives

I found a post detailng a new feature on Live.com, making it possible to automate adding a Gadget. Now I can provide links to add the Analog Clock or Livetris to your Live.com profile.

The following links will open a new window to Live.com and add the respective Gadget.

• Analog Clock
• Livetris

For my next Gadget, I give you Livetris. It's a completely DHTML re-implementation of the classic puzzle game. It's still pretty basic right now, and only has 10 different speed levels (currently non-configurable, so you have to start at level 1 and work your way up). Block randomization needs some tweaking, since right now it's all too likely to end up with a long string of crap blocks without the bar or square you need to complete a set of lines. I also need to do some work on the scoring, as right now there's no bonus for clearing multiple lines at once. Finally, I'm still tweaking piece colors until I find something I really like, but that's the beauty of a Live.com Gadget -- I can make all of the changes I want, and you'll see that reflected on Live.com without any user intervention.

As with my Analog Clock Gadget, this one continues to use the awesome JavaScript VectorGraphics library. This is a very robust and powerful tool, and I highly recommend others check it out.

I plan to eventually put my Gadgets up on the Microsoft Gadgets site, but for now you can use these installation instructions:

1. Copy

   http://www.daishar.com/gadgets/Livetris/Livetris.xml

   to your clipboard.
2. On Live.com, select Add Content on the sidebar and then Advanced.
3. Paste the Gadget URL into the Add a Gadget by URL textbox.
4. Select the Add button.

Compatibility notes: For now, this Gadget is IE-only due to the way I'm handling keyboard input. I hope to get this working with Firefox soon, but I figured I may as well release what I've got right now.

With the launch of Windows Live yesterday, I decided I should try my hand at writing a Gadget (yes, I know Start.com has been doing the Gadget thing for a while, and Live.com is nothing more than a re-branded Start.com). What better than a simple Analog Clock? Thanks to the JavaScript VectorGraphics library folks for an awesome DHTML drawing library.

The Analog Clock Gadget works with both Live.com and Start.com.

To install (cribbed from Microsoft Gadgets' installation instructions):

1. Copy

   http://www.daishar.com/gadgets/AnalogClock/AnalogClock.xml

   to your clipboard.
2. On Live.com, select Add Content on the sidebar and then Advanced.
3. Paste the Gadget URL into the Add a Gadget by URL textbox.
4. Select the Add button.