One of the new features of windows 11 is its widgets panel, which is basically an enhancement of the news and interest widgets of windows 10. Although "news and interest" in Windows 10 only provides news updates, the "gadget" panel of the new system can display interactive content from Microsoft Store, calendar and other applications.
However, windows The widget panel is relatively limited because it only supports native applications developed by Microsoft. It can only display weather, sports, news and updates of specific applications, such as Microsoft to-do list, photos, calendar, etc. During build 2022, Microsoft confirmed that a large parts library may be available later this year.
According to Microsoft documentation, gadgets are supported by adaptive cards, which are written in JSON and allow applications or services to publicly exchange data. Using adaptive cards, Microsoft can convert JSON into a local UI and automatically adapt to the container / window of a specific application.
It helps design and integrate lightweight UI for all major platforms and frameworks. The company said that widgets based on adaptive cards can be used as companion experiences for Win32 and PWA applications on Windows 11.
Adaptive card is not a new technology. Microsoft has used it in Windows timeline, team, Cortana, outlook, etc. We don't know exactly how developers integrate their applications with widgets, but a document has confirmed that widgets only have a minimal impact on performance.
Microsoft pointed out that these third-party widgets based on adaptive cards will always use "low memory and CPU", and their adaptive interface will automatically style them to match the host / shape experience.
Later this year, Microsoft will let developers release widgets through the windows store. The process of publishing widgets to the store will be the same as that of submitting ordinary applications.
Earlier this year, Microsoft also announced some new features for the widgets panel.
Currently, the widget opens from the left side of the screen. This may change soon, as Microsoft is developing a new optional feature to open the widget panel in full screen mode. In the full screen state, the widget will cover the entire desktop and occupy the entire screen. This means that users can access more gadgets and news items from MSN at one time, and it is more convenient for tablets.
The widgets panel is getting another feature that will allow the widget panel to display updates related to work and personal accounts. In future updates, windows 11 will display the items of two accounts at the same time. Business or school related items appear on the left and personal items appear on the right.