I hereby decree

Attention! Right face! Or at least glance to your right over at the sidebar and check out the latest addition (toward the bottom). What is that you ask? It is a widget I made while working in the Spori computer lab tonight.



(Above: the widget I made, RSS feed readers might not see it)

I have been thinking about making something like this for some time now. I really like widgets. Combine that with my desire to answer questions anyone might have about my beliefs and the recent emphasis of Church leaders to be involved in online conversations about the gospel (see here, and here, and here), and you get a widget that proclaims my belief and calls people to action to learn more about it.

Now there were certain challenges with making this widget. Not because of the design or technical specifications, but because there exists a "Mormon Culture" that is, at times, almost too capitalistic for my liking. One doesn't have to look very far to see that people are out to make money on the LDS way of life. I do not expect that the Church will come knocking on my door and ask me for my widget because they love it so much. That said, I am trying to make these (I am hoping to make more to share) so that if that did ever happen I would be sure that the Church could use them almost immediately without having to change much. This includes aesthetics, message, branding, and class.

Unfortunately this widget isn't very accessibility-friendly which is something I know the Church is concerned with.

Anyway, that is a brief look at a project I am working on (one of many) I am hoping to have these available to all interested soon. I am planning on making them available in Flash, Javascript, and Image format (this first widget, for example, could just as easily be a static image).

Let me know what you think. If you have ideas, comments, concerns, or if you would like to help please let me know.

P.S. I must give a hat-tip to interaction designer Chris Hall for the design of this widget. It is based off another design he did for WidgetNest that never came to fruition.