Big canvas, big opportunity

Thursday, October 16, 2008 at 9:52 AM

Some artists say that a blank canvas is daunting. We think of it as an opportunity, which is why we’re excited to be launching the canvas view feature to iGoogle users. Canvas view will roll out to users in the U.S. over the course of the day, and to international users in the near future.

Canvas view allows developers to deliver richer content, games, and UI to users on iGoogle as well as the opportunity to monetize. We’ve seen a lot of great development in the sandbox already, and we are proud to highlight several of our developers' canvas view gadgets. To start building a canvas view, check out our how to guide, which includes sample code for views, latency tips, and suggested design principles.

In addition to canvas view, we’re also replacing the tab interface with the left navigation seen in the sandbox. This allows users to jump from one canvas view to another with only one click. Going forward, we're working hard to graduate more functionality out of the sandbox and into production, such as OpenSocial.

Giving developers new opportunities makes for better gadgets, which is ultimately great for users. We’re eager to see what you create. If you have any questions, please join the developer forum.

Happy coding!