If you're looking for something about Inspector Gadget I'd suggest you look elsewhere .

h2g2 recently announced:-

"Because JavaScript has been causing some serious security problems on site, we have taken the decision to phase out support for it. But because we realise that this will disappoint a lot of people, we're going to replace it with something - h2g2 Gadgets. The idea is, when someone in the community comes up with a cool JavaScript gadget, they submit it to 'The Gadget Crew' (a group made up of expert Researchers and/or people inside h2g2) who check that it's OK, does what it says it does, and would be useful. It can then be added to our stock of gadgets, and anyone who wants to use it can do so simply by including simple tags."

An example of a GuideML Gadget is the new <WHO-IS-ONLINE> tag that replaces all this tedious mucking about in HTML and Javascript.

So what's this about then?

I thought it would be handy to get some idea of what everyone thought might be good to be included as a GuideML Gadget. h2g2 has not told me anything about how Gadgets will be assessed, approved, or even when it will happen (though it is my guess it may take some time¹).

This is an unofficial page, just to get the ball rolling and to try to save those in h2g2 Towers some time and, maybe, a bit of work in finding out what you, the community, wants as Gadgets.

What are the guidelines?

I don't know what the guidelines for Gadgets being approved will be. If I hear anything I'll be sure to add it here.

In the meantime, I'd guess that the following might be some of the criteria -

• It should be popular and widely used on h2g2.
• It should be useful.
• It shouldn't mess about with the look of the h2g2 site too much.
• It should replace existing things that h2g2 supports and shouldn't mean that h2g2 has to add new functionality to the site².
• It should work in all (or at least most) popular browsers.
• It should be "nice" and not compromise the security and/or privacy of someone visiting a page containing the Gadget³   and should comply with the h2g2 Terms and Conditions.

Pulldown Lists - An Example

One of the most common pieces of javascript on the h2g2 site would have to be the "Pulldown List". There's a couple of standard ones, ACEs, SubEditors, Guardian Angels as well as individual user lists, and they come in a few different interface flavours (plain, radio button and command button).

Because all the variations share the same basic code it should be relatively easy to combine them into one GuideML Gadget. Here's a few of the obvious criteria that a PULLDOWN Gadget should satisfy -

• Standard lists like ACEs, SubEditors and Guardian Angels would benefit from having a centralised list of URLs that could be maintained by one person, that automatically updated the PULLDOWN list where ever it was used (as is currently done with the ACEs list).

• h2g2 Researchers should be able to have their own custom list of friends, favourite pages etc.

• Researchers should be able to pick the interface flavour they prefer.

Perhaps a PULLDOWN Gadget's syntax would look like this -

So what do you think?

Any comments, suggestions for this page or as proposed GuideML Gadgets?

If you want to suggest a Gadget you think should be considered please supply an address (URL) to a page that contains the current javascript version of the Gadget, and if possible a link to a page that displays the code for the current javascript. Fully worked examples like PULLDOWN above, though appreciated, aren't essential.

¹Afterall, most of the h2g2 tech staff is rather busy right now with all the recent and upcoming changes to the site.²For example, this probably isn't the place to suggest h2g2 page hit counters.³Something called SPAMBot that grabs a visitors e-mail address and sells it to WorldWideSpam Inc. almost certainly won't get approved.