When starting to work with an Android device, you have to deal with such a concept as a “widget”. Such programs are an important element of modern mobile devices, so every novice user naturally has a question: widget on Android?

A widget is one of the most important components of an interface, popular today for managing mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. They give greater advantage when customizing the desktop to the user's own needs. As a rule, for ease of use, such programs are located on the main screen or on one of the desktops of the phone or tablet, which are displayed as a graphic image (shortcut) on a certain area of ​​the screen.

For a better understanding of what a widget is on Android, we can give an example of informant programs. They provide the owner of the gadget with the opportunity to instantly receive various types of information: time, weather information, news, exchange rates, etc. The necessary information is updated automatically provided that you are connected to the Internet. There are a huge number of variations, sizes, as well as functional areas of such virtual assistants.

Benefits of using graphics modules

Installing programs with their information modules displayed on the main screen has many advantages for the user. The main ones include:

• Instantly obtain the necessary information;
• The ability to perform a quick search, as well as use information in the device itself or on the Internet;
• Quick user access to existing applications;
• Improving device performance;
• Simplified access to management and .

Where can I get the necessary programs?

If they are not available on your device, you will need to download and install them like a regular Android application. Finding a set of standard programs for your smartphone or tablet is not difficult. For example, a sea of ​​free widgets are downloaded in the corresponding section of Google Play (Play Store).

Now let's figure out how to install a widget on Android. This operation can be performed in two ways:

1. Download the installation file directly to your mobile device, and then run the installer. possible when the gadget is connected to the Internet;
2. If the gadget you are using does not have an Internet connection, then you can download a file with the .apk extension for installation using a personal computer (again, with Internet access). Afterwards, you need to transfer the downloaded file to the gadget you are using and install it.

Displaying applications on the screen

The process of installing widgets is slightly different from installing other programs. The fact is that you need to add shortcuts to the main screen yourself (manually).

Depending on the OS version, adding methods may vary

Let's look at how to add a widget to . To display an already installed application, you need to perform the following procedure:

1. Look at the screen of your gadget and select a free space where it is best to place the program;
2. Open the menu in this place (to do this, when pressing, you should hold your finger in the selected place for a while). The menu also opens when you press a special button or the “Menu” tab on the tablet;
3. In the “Add to home screen” menu that opens (the name is located in the top line, highlighted in color), select “Widgets” or “Widgets and applications” (depending on the version of Android OS installed on the tablet);
4. In the next list, select the one you need by clicking on it;
5. A shortcut to the desired application will be displayed on the screen.

The described one is applicable for earlier versions of the Android OS. For versions 3.0 and higher, the widget is added as follows:

1. You need to click on the cross icon located in the upper right corner of the screen;
2. The window that opens will contain a list of already installed programs and other applications;
3. Select the desired item and drag it onto your desktop.

To move an app to another location on the screen, tap and hold it and drag.

By repeating the sequence of these simple steps several times, you can configure the location of programs on your device.

As you can see, setting up widgets on Android is a very simple operation that can be performed even by beginners in the world of gadgets, especially since many of the programs can become indispensable in everyday activities.

Experienced owners of mobile Internet devices based on the Android platform are probably familiar with what a widget is. Today’s article will be interesting and useful to those who are just starting to get acquainted with this concept. This is an important component of Android devices, allowing you to quickly obtain information of interest, access applications, and also customize your mobile device to your own needs. Let's talk about this in more detail, and also find out how to install a widget on Android and how to remove it if necessary.

Today, it is impossible to imagine a tablet or smartphone without such an important and useful “thing”. With it, you can find out about the weather outside the window, about traffic jams on the road in your city, turn on/off a flashlight or Wi-Fi (read about that here), get information about the battery status or unread letters.

A widget is an element of the Android desktop, designed to solve certain problems and obtain useful information from the Internet. Most basic mobile devices are already equipped with some widgets, which are also often included in various popular applications. They can come in different shapes and designs, ranging in size from a small label to a full-screen image.

Their use will bring a number of advantages to the user of a tablet or smartphone:

• quickly search for information on the Internet and directly in the device itself;
• reduces the time required to complete various operations;
• Instant user access to controls and settings, as well as installed applications.

I propose to consider in more detail the process of installing and removing them from a digital device. It should be said that if during installation you receive an error message: “There is not enough memory in the device,” then its solution is described.

How to install a widget on Android.

If you are not satisfied with the standard set of applications installed by developers on your tablet (smartphone) by default, then you can easily install new ones on it. A wide variety of widgets can be found in the Google Play app. Just choose the one you like, download and click the “Install” button.

After it is installed on your tablet/smartphone, you should place it on the desktop of your device. Depending on the Android OS version, the installation process differs slightly. Let's consider installing a widget on the desktop in Android 4.x.

Go to the “Menu” and go to the tab of the same name and select the desired widget to install.

Let's say we want to add a “Clean Master” memory indicator to the desktop area. Hold down on it and drag it with your finger to a free area of ​​the desktop. Move your finger away from the touchpad and the widget will be placed in the specified location.

If you need to change its location, it is very easy to do. Make a long touch on the widget and, without releasing your finger, drag it to a new location.

Now let's look at how to install the widget on a device with an earlier version of Android. To place this information block on the desktop in Android 2.x, you need to click on the touchpad at its location. After this, the “Select Widget” window will open, where you need to select the block of interest.

The image above shows an example of a step-by-step installation of the Everydayword widget on a smartphone. In some cases, such blocks may have different sizes, but in this case you will be offered one of the available ones.

How to remove a widget on Android.

It happens that while using a mobile device, some widgets become irrelevant and you no longer use them. So it's time to remove such widgets from your screen to free up space on your desktop. To delete, simply long-tap on the widget and drag it to the trash can, which will appear at the top or bottom of the screen, depending on the model of your device.

Yandex is a huge portal that is visited by millions of people every day. The company's developers take care of the users of their resource, allowing each of them to customize its start page to suit their needs.

Setting up widgets in Yandex

Unfortunately, the function of adding and creating widgets was suspended indefinitely, but the main information islands were left suitable for changes in the Yandex desktop version. In addition, not so long ago the service once again changed the widget configuration interface, removing the familiar button "Set up Yandex" and buttons with gears that allowed you to control widgets. Let's look at what is now available for configuration for an authorized Yandex user.

Now let's move on to setting up specific widgets. To do this, hover your mouse cursor over them so that an icon with three dots appears to the right of each widget. Click on it to either "Tune", or "Collapse" block.

The collapsed block will look like this. It can be expanded by clicking on the arrow button indicated in the screenshot.

These mini-blocks cannot be completely removed; they will simply remain collapsed.

You can no longer move widgets by dragging with the mouse.

Basic units that are switched off via "Settings", you can only "Hide". In this case, you can return their visibility by the reverse steps shown in step 2 above.

Weather

Everything is simple here - enter in a special field the name of the locality whose weather you need to know, and click on the button "Save". You can also disable automatic data updates (not recommended).

Traffic jams

Initially, the total traffic congestion of the city is displayed in the form of a score, but the user can specify a route from points A and B in the settings (by default, home is work, but the names can be changed by clicking on the word). First, enter two addresses or indicate them with dots on the map, plot a path and select a destination (home or work). Additionally, you can check the box to display this information at night and on weekends.

Map

In the settings, it is possible to specify only the city, which is changed in the settings of the entire Yandex, which means that other information such as traffic jams, data on the metro, suburban and intercity transport will be based on the city you set.

Visited

This widget shows user requests for the services you select. In the settings, select the checkboxes for the resources that are interesting to you, and then click on the button "Save". There is no point in selecting many resources, since only three available ones are displayed. When the page is refreshed, this list changes if more than three services are selected, but the convenience of this method of switching to other Yandex products is debatable.

TV program

The program guide widget is configured in the same way as the previous ones. Go to the settings and mark the channels you are interested in. Below, select the number of them displayed on the page, mark at your discretion the cancellation of the transition to evening mode, to secure it, click "Save". Again, no more than three results will be shown.

Regular users remember that previously there were more than three results, but now all blocks have been significantly reduced in order to minimize the page. The full version of the TV program and other widgets can be obtained by clicking on their name, which also works as a link to a separate page.

Broadcast/Poster

For Russian citizens, the last block is called "Ether", which displays the schedule and allows you to quickly go to the branded service "Yandex.Ether". From here you can immediately get to the section with films and TV series. There are no settings here.

Citizens of other countries instead display a mini-version of the poster, intended for those who do not want to view this information in the form of a large block with pictures, but are simply interested in the films being broadcast and their genre. Has no settings.

News

The news block, which is located at the very top of the page, is also successfully configured and minimized. The user can change the language in which the news is displayed (only if his location is not Russia), and also select his favorite section.

Thus, by customizing the Yandex start page to suit your needs and interests, you will save time in the future on searching for various information. Widgets will provide it immediately when you visit the resource.

One of the first concepts that we come across when we begin to master our first Android tablet or phone is a widget. What is a widget?

A widget is a small program, or part of a program, that is located on the desktop of a device and is designed to display information, control the device’s equipment, and at the same time can launch another program of which it is a part.

For example, there are widgets that can be used to display information such as processor load, battery status, current weather information, and more. There are widgets with which you can quickly turn on or off GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, speakers and control other equipment of your Android device. There are widgets such as weather widgets, which display information about the current weather and weather forecast on the screen, and which can call the weather application of which they are part.

Widgets can have different sizes - from a minimum size of 1x1, in the style of a regular shortcut, to full screen.

As you can see, everything is very simple - a widget is a program that “lives” on the screen of your tablet or phone and allows you to control it, receive the necessary information, and so on.

Now let's figure out how to add a widget to your desktop. It is not enough just to install a widget on your device like any other application; it also needs to be placed on the desktop.

In Android version 3.0 and higher, you can add a widget using fairly simple manipulations:

1. Click on the cross icon located in the upper right corner of the screen

2. In the window that opens, at the bottom of it you will see lists of widgets installed on your tablet or phone, application shortcuts, wallpapers, and more. At the top of the window there is a list of desktops.

3. Tap on the words “Widgets” and select the desired widget from the list below (the list can be scrolled right and left). The widget will be placed on the current desktop.

In addition, you can simply drag the desired widget onto any of the desktops.

In earlier versions of Android, installing widgets on the screen is done a little differently:

1. Press and hold with your finger on an empty area of ​​the tablet or phone screen.

2. In the menu that opens, select “Widgets”

3. A list will open with widgets installed on the device.

4. Select the desired widget from the list by tapping on it, and it will be placed on the screen of your device.

Widgets can be moved around the device screen. To do this, you need to press and hold your finger on it, and then move the widget to a new position. In Android 3.0 and above, you can resize some widgets. To do this, you need to select the widget on the screen with a long tap on it, and then change its size by pulling the frame in the place indicated by the diamond-shaped icon.

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A widget is a small utility application that performs a specific function.

Modern widgets can provide any information, complement the desktop, and provide messaging. To understand what a widget is, think about the signal that indicates that you have received another letter. This is the most common example of a widget.

Let's figure out what widgets are and how to use them. From a formal point of view, a widget is a small application tailored for the implementation of some useful task. It is not entirely easy to understand what the word “widget” means, because for a long time various gadgets were called that way, but over the past 20 years special applications have appeared, written in HTML or JavaScript and performing a specific function.

The widget can show the weather on the home screen of a mobile phone or a large clock on a computer. But you can often hear another description, more generalized. This is an icon (graphic or text symbol) that launches the program itself.

Today, most widgets are used on the Android operating system, social networks and almost all browsers Opera, Yandex, Chrome, etc.

Classification

By appearance

Widgets are classified by appearance, functionality and installation location. Based on their appearance, the following types of programs are distinguished:

1. Toppers located at the top of the screen and look like a strip with a field and a button. They perform an informational function, informing about promotions and discounts, and can also be used to collect contacts.
2. The flor performs the same functions as the topper, but is located at the bottom of the screen.
3. Pop-up windows that overlap a website page. They are used for messages about various kinds of promotions or for invitations to leave contact information.
4. Shortcuts are located on the side of the screen and are used to receive feedback from site visitors.
5. Embeddable widgets.

All widgets can also be divided into groups for the desktop (desktop widgets) and . Developers can place a variety of visual and text programs on website pages. The user can only interact with them.

According to the installation location

Web widgets

This type of widget is built into a website. To understand what a widget is on a website, we must take into account that programmers have divided this type of application into:

• interactive – those with which you can interact;
• non-interactive, working autonomously, regardless of the consumer’s wishes.

A more accurate name for the second type is informer. A classic example is showing a weather forecast or displaying changes in exchange rates.

Examples of interactive widgets include social media widgets and message widgets. Social network widgets are familiar buttons with Facebook logos,