I really wanted to add some color to my iGoogle page since the themes only color the header of the page and title bars of the gadgets. So I wrote up a gadget that lets you color the page background as well as the gadgets themselves. Then I made it more flexible to release it to anyone to use.
I just love seeing this on my homepage: http://niraj.sanghvi.googlepages.com/coloredig.png
It has a list of preset options in a dropdown, or you can choose to specify your own hex value, and it can be used for multiple tabs too...I wrote in detail about it here: http://symbii.com/stories.php?sid=612&tid=25
And it is submitted to the iGoogle Content Directory now, so you can add it from here: http://www.google.com/ig/adde?hl=en&moduleurl=http://symbii.com/colormyig.xml&source=imag |
Wow really cool Niraj. The only thing is that the light blue is more like lilac. BUt I love my Magenta page |
I thoink Niraj made it Zim |
Yes, indeed, I made it. And I figured everyone would have their own color preferences (or naming differences), so I thought adding the ability to specify any color via hex was definitely needed in addition to the presets :)
Making it was actually kind of a hassle because Google has a very weird way of naming the gadgets via number. So changing the page color was easy, but changing the gadget colors were not as simple (you can see that if you view the source). |
Does anyone know how many users are needed for a gadget to appear in the content directory? Or does it have to get manually approved first? The FAQ mentioned the gadget has to reach a "critical mass," but has no indication if that means 10, 100, or 1000 people. And it seemed like they wanted to check it first too. |
I have a similar gadget which be be of use to some folks. This gadget will apply a custom css to your iGoogle page. I maintain a directory of skins. Play for yourself – see http://bonstio.net/skins.
As for gadget directory submission, it can take a week or more as stated in the FAQ here http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Gadgets-API/browse_thread/thread/08740864470ca163/#
Hope this helps |
Bonstio, does your skin gadget work with iGoogle themes? Or is it a total replacement? It looks like it lets you skin everything, so I wonder if you can let iGoogle themes still run to show time of day or weather information. |
Yes my skins gadget is a total replacement enabling anyone to submit a custom css. It also has on "Off" mode tho – and no page reloads when changing skins
Version two of my gadget enables user defined rules to control which skin is shown and under what conditions .e.g time of day, network location etc |