From CUNY Academic Commons

“Google Gadgets” are little code snippets created by Google and third parties which may be embedded into your blog. A complete listing of available “Google Gadgets” is provided in the Google Gadget Directory.

Widgetize Google Gadgets is a WordPress plugin that makes it easy for you to include these little apps into any widgetized area your theme provides.

There are gadgets that create customized search engines which only look in the domains you choose. There are gadgets that provide weather forecasts, quotes, jokes or poems of the day. Some gadgets simply provide themed slideshows. The New York Times gadget provides a configurable tabbed feeds of the day’s news. There are over 200,000 gadgets to choose from, and the list is growing daily.  Google has developed a standard “Google Gadgets API” (Application Programming Interface), and these gadgets can be created quickly.  Some, especially the ones created by Google, unfortunately include advertising.

How to Use the plugin

Step One

Activate the plugin. Go to your WordPress dashboard, scroll down to the Plugins tab. From there, find “Widgetize Google Gadgets” and click “Activate.”

Step Two

Find a gadget in the directory. This list is enormous, but Google (being Google) provides a robust method of searching for what you want. There are many which are not very appealing, or don’t work – this step is probably the most time-consuming.

Step Three

Configure you widget. Follow the directions. You may need to resize it so that it fits where you want it to go. Choose the border that you want to surround it. Finally, copy the code that is automatically generated.

Step Three

On your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance>>Widgets.  Find “Google Gadgets” and drag it to one of your available widgetized areas available. Provide a title if you want (totally optional), and paste the code which you copied in Step Two into the appropriate area. Click save, and you should be good to go.