6 replies to this topic

[Alex (nedge2k)]

[teaser]As some of you may have seen, Fuze Mobility went a bit mad earlier and released a whopping 50 WM6.5 Widgets. Now, not that I'm bitter that there was no MoDaCo widget in those 50 ( ) but they themselves admit that their widgets didn't exactly show to true potential of of the widget platform. So I've had a little play and come up with a nifty little widget with which to read the MoDaCo news page. It basically uses javascript to grab the MoDaCo News RSS feed and then formats it into something thats nice and easy to read There's even an animated loading icon so you're not sitting there looking at a blank screen wondering what the hell is happening while the data is being grabbed

Not bad for a couple minutes work eh? [/teaser]

I've modified bits here and there but the basic javascript RSS reader code can be found here and the javascript loading code can be found here. If you want to modify this for your own site's RSS feed, just change the URL in the widget.htm file.

Widget file is attached in a .zip (you need to be logged in to download).

Attached Files

•  modaco_news.zip   15.73K   299 downloads

[thelondonthing]

It's always nice to welcome new apps to the platform, and I applaud the sentiments behind the creation of this one too.

However, I think that any MoDaCo news widget would only be of any use or great interest if there was more MoDaCo news to enjoy.  There are many days - sometimes a string of days in a row - where no news is posted, and headlines are often posted long after they've already been up on other sites such as Engadget, Boy Genius Report, or even msmobiles.com, for a while (and by which time, it's not so much a case of reading what's new - more a case of reading MoDaCo's coverage of what was new a couple of days ago).

Please don't get me wrong - I'm a huge fan of MoDaCo (and I have been since I bought my first WM phone many years ago, the Orange SPV E200 / HTC Voyager), but the availability of the latest WM news has never really been a part of my decision to keep returning, simply because the news side of things is something that has always appeared like a fairly half-hearted effort on this site, secondary to the much stronger and more appealing offering of the forum-based community that exists here.  

The forum and community elements are, in my opinion, the great strengths of MoDaCo; if you're going to offer a new way to digest the latest news postings that are made, I'd humbly suggest that the news offering itself be in some way reinforced too - there's not much point in downloading a widget to my handset that's going to be telling me there's no news to report two or three times a week, or where I have to wait a couple of days for MoDaCo to pick up and report on something that other sites have already covered earlier in the week.

[cultavix]

I have an Omnia 900 and I would like to install 6.5 Windows Mobile. How do I need to go about doing it?

Once I have that can I use these widgets?

[Alex (nedge2k)]

thelondonthing, on Jul 25 2009, 09:28, said:

However, I think that any MoDaCo news widget would only be of any use or great interest if there was more MoDaCo news to enjoy.

This is an issue we are currently addressing. As you will have seen, we have taken on new staff to post news in the hope that the MoDaCo news section will be brought up to the standard expected from MoDaCo.

[Alex (nedge2k)]

cultavix, on Jul 25 2009, 10:55, said:

I have an Omnia 900 and I would like to install 6.5 Windows Mobile. How do I need to go about doing it?

Once I have that can I use these widgets?

I am by no means an expert on the Omnia but there is a 6.5 rom for the i900 here:

http://www.modaco.co...kka9-wm6-5-rom/

Once you have 6.5, you should have no issues using this widget

[thelondonthing]

Alex (nedge2k), on Jul 25 2009, 18:17, said:

This is an issue we are currently addressing. As you will have seen, we have taken on new staff to post news in the hope that the MoDaCo news section will be brought up to the standard expected from MoDaCo.

Fantastic.  Believe me, that's my only criticism of the site - I think you guys do a great job, and that's the reason I've been coming back here all these years!

[rameses]

Alex (nedge2k), on Jul 25 2009, 02:14, said:

I've modified bits here and there but the basic javascript RSS reader code can be found here and the javascript loading code can be found here. If you want to modify this for your own site's RSS feed, just change the URL in the widget.htm file.

Widget file is attached in a .zip (you need to be logged in to download).

I've just got my HD2 and would like to try and make a few similar widgets. Any chance of a 'dummies' guide, as I'm not sure where to find the widget.htm file?