So we’ve had some talk about certain changes to the gadget, so I’ll go ahead and start putting out a few things we’re working on for the 1.2 update.

First off, there have been a couple of suggestions for a smaller search button.  This is definitely doable as it is a little big and with certain changes in the next update I might well be making the regular search button a bit smaller to accommodate the possible addition of an options band at the bottom of the gadget for certain engines.  Yes, that’s right folks, we’ve kind of been running out of room on this things and well, it seemed obvious to use the flyouts as individual options for particular engines.  It works better and makes more sense, plus there’s more room.

I have had one request for the word search instead of a “silly icon.”  The problem with this is that I cannot change the shape of the search button unless it’s going from circle to square.  I wish I had the space for something oval in shape to accommodate, but with various configurations, the space beside the search button can be used, so I’m afraid it’s stuck at a circle.  Why not just replace the icon with text in the circle you ask?  Because that text is going to be wicked tiny.  I’d rather have a big icon that 90% of the people using will be able to understand (and the other 10% of the users can either guess or frantically click to find out that there is a search button after all).  Beyond the obvious use as an icon, it also balances out the design a bit more than regular text.  The exception to the rule is the Digg button, but that is also shorter text, so it can be bigger. 

I would like to announce that we will be adding more engines to the gadget, so this next update will be “laying the groundwork” so to speak for future updates to come.  The general idea is to add in as much usefulness as possible, so don’t be surprised if this thing has around 20 engines before we’re done.

In terms of upcoming engines, I will say that we are planning to add something to cover the weather, date, and time.  I know, not a search engine, but still useful within the context of the gadget, especially since it can then be used in place of two or three other gadgets in a pinch.  The other engine I’ll announce later on as we get closer to the update.

There will be the usual smaller bug fixes and tweaks, but expect big changes in the settings panel, flyouts, new engines, and smaller interface tweaks as we get closer to the next update in a couple weeks (at least, that’s what we’re projecting).

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 13th, 2007 at 11:36 am
and is filed under Gadgets, Ultimate Explorer.



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