In this walk through, we'll create a simple Twitter™ widget to appear in your My Widgets sidebar panel in Lotus Notes. This widget will serve as an alternative to a desktop shortcut or Web browser bookmark; very simply this widget will enable you to easily open your Twitter account from Notes.

Note: Widgets are designed to let you easily extend Notes using a simple wizard. Click the Getting Started with Widgets toolbar option , to see an overview of the types of widgets you can create. Once you become familiar with widgets you will find the most intuitive way to create them is with the Add to Sidebar and Configure a Widget from Current Context options.

1. Make sure that your My Widgets sidebar panel and toolbar buttons are visible.

If they are not visible, click File > Preferences > Widgets, enable the Show Widget Toolbar and My Widgets Sidebar panel, and click OK.

2. Enable the Notes embedded browser by clicking File > Preferences > Web Browser, enabling the Use the browser embedded in this client, and clicking OK.


3. In the embedded browser address bar enter the target URL; for example double-click on the http://www.twitter.com URL from an open Notes document and the page opens in the Notes embedded browser.

Note: If you are prompted to log in to your Twitter account, do so now.

OK, we're ready to create the widget.

4. Click the Configure a widget toolbar option .

5. There may be several options available; we'll keep it simple and just enable This Web Page... and click Next.

6. On the Select a Web page panel, click Next.


7. Use the default name,Twitter, in the Widget name field (or enter a new name) and click Finish.


8. Your Twitter widget is now available and visible in your My Widgets sidebar panel.


9. Test the widget by exiting Twitter elsewhere and opening Twitter by double-clicking the widget.

10. You can share the widget with others by right-clicking and selecting Email To. You can also make the widget centrally available to others by right-clicking and selecting Publish to Catalog.

How to Learn More:

To learn more about creating and using widgets from an app dev or end-user viewpoint, see the Widgets and Live Text section of Notes help.

To learn more about configuring and enabling Widgets and Live Text for app devs and end-users, as well as creating the widgets catalog itself, see the Configuring Widgets and Live Text section of Domino Admin help.

There are also many Widgets and Live Text posts in the Notes and Domino wiki as well as Lotus Notes and Domino Support available through Search.

Many community-generated widgets are available publically in the IBM Lotus Greenhouse catalog.