Friday, February 23, 2007

We're off to see the Widget

Hipster, please! readers are the best readers in the world.

I’m not being conceited when I say that. Shit, I’m still a little uncomfortable with the fact that I actually have readers, but the stats don’t lie and neither do the comments. I’m light-years away from the Penny Arcade level of mass devotion, but there are folks out there who read every post and download every podcast, and, though you are far from legion, I appreciate you one and all. (I even appreciate those of you who just wander through intermittently.)

The relatively small number (I hesitate to use the phrase “Faithful Seven,” as that one’s already been called) of you is actually a bit of a perk within itself. Most of you aren’t merely faceless IP addresses, but genuine, jovial personalities with whom I interact regularly. Whether it’s the very nerdcore artists that I blog about, my fellow nerdy writers, or new and refreshingly creative forces that share with me their time and their talent, I genuinely enjoy your company and I humbly thank you for your time.

The Internet is a big, lonely place, but I feel like I’ve got real allies here. Moreover, I often feel like you give so much and ask so little.

Anyone who’s read more than a single post here is familiar with the name churchhatestucker. Church makes delightfully nerdy videos using stock footage, geeky tunes, and a wealth of personal creativity. He also keeps me abreast of news on many fronts. Hell, he even goes out of his way to comment on my posts. Even the boring ones!

Church decided, completely without compulsion on my part, to craft the world’s first Hipster, please! Widget. It works as follows:

“It ... shows the last five headlines. Clicking them opens the article in your browser. It was created with the beta of Apple's upcoming Dashcode application. As I get used to Dashcode, I'll probably be adding functionality, most likely some way of tapping your new RFH feed.”

If any of you possess both a Widget-friendly OS and the mad urge to populate your desktop with live links to my musings, this is surely the best way to do so.

Enormous thanks go to Church for putting this together on my behalf. To misquote Wayne’s World, I am truly unworthy.

Y'all're too nice to me. I mean it.

Church is crazy.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I should also have mentioned that there's an "article length" slider on the back, but it doesn't actually do anything b/c the Hipster Please feed is already quite short. (It was part of the template I used, and I just didn't bother to take it out.)

AFAIK, this widget will only work on Mac OS X (Tiger or higher.) OS X widgets are essentially javascript-enabled web pages, so if someone wants to port this to another OS, you should be able to poke around inside of it and find the necessary components.

Finally, if anyone has a bug report or feature request, post it here. I'll check back periodically.

Anonymous said...

AFAIK, this widget will only work on Mac OS X (Tiger or higher.)

In otherwords, this will work for anyone smart enough to use a decent OS.

*slips on fireproof suit*

Z. said...

Thanks for the info, Church. And again, thanks for putting this together.

And I believe the only appropriate response to Matt's comment is as follows: Oh snap! ;)

Anonymous said...

Damn my stubborn devotion to Windows! Damn it! At least i've got the google homepage RSS feed.

Anonymous said...

bigot. XD

Z. said...

Sadly, I too am tethered to Windows. :(

Anonymous said...

Fortunately, Z, you're the one person who doesn't need this widget!

Anonymous said...

*does a spirited jig in celebration of not being tied to the Microsoft demon*

We are humbled at the linkage to our website.

funky49 said...

widgets huh?

Z. said...

Actually, Denika, I’m humbled by the artistic prowess and utter ass-kick-osity displayed by you, Dennis, Church, and the rest of the HP-faithful! :)

Widgets indeed, funk! ;)