Internet is a source of terms that become a trend, and it seems to churn out a few terms every year. Gadget and widget are terms that have become very popular these days as they are applications that are used by people working on mobile phones, computers, and browsing the internet. You are not the only one to wonder about the difference between a gadget and a widget as there is no universally accepted definition of the two tools. Let us take a closer look.
Widget
Widget is a code that can be plugged or placed on any website or a blog. While a gadget is also serving the same purpose, but it is proprietary in nature and can work on a few websites only. But you can add a widget to any website or your blog. Widgets are made in Flash, HTML, or JavaScript. Most of the time, widgets happen to be tools doling out weather information, arrival and departure of flights, currency rates, world clock, stock market indicators, and so on. For example, if you have placed a weather widget on your blog, it derives latest weather information from a weather channel and displays it on your desktop or the blog. All you have to do is to copy paste the embedded HTML code on the page where you want to see the tool. The widgets that can be placed on websites or blogs are called web widgets whereas those that are used on a desktop for personal use are called desktop widgets.
Gadgets
Gadgets are also tools or applications that can be used by people on their computers, tablets, or even smartphones. These applications can also be placed on certain websites, and they bring in current information or updates about weather, currency rates, world time, calculators, translators, meanings of words, and so on. However, the codes of gadgets are limited in nature and thus these gadgets work only on a few websites. There are companies that prefer to call these applications as widgets while there are other companies that call them gadgets. Gadgets made by Google can only be placed on Google sites whereas those made by Microsoft work on Windows operating system only.
Gadget vs Widget
• Gadgets and widgets are applications that can run on desktops and websites. Both contain codes written in flash, JavaScript, or HTML and can be placed on one’s blog, website, or just on the desktop to provide information that could be pertaining to weather, stock market, currency converter, word meaning, and so on.
• Gadgets work on a particular website or a set of websites. For example, Google gadgets work on websites of Google whereas those made by Microsoft work on computers loaded with Windows OS.
• Web widgets can work on any website or blog.