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Holtz Communications + Technology

Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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Get the FIR widget!

I found a new service called Sprout that allows you to build a widget that plays multimedia, among a lot of other things. It’s remarkably easy to use, as I found out when I managed to get into the beta. It took about 10 minutes to build this widget, which plays the most current episode of FIR. As each episode is posted, I’ll just go into the widget builder and update the media link so it always plays the most recent episode. Just copy the embed code (click “share”) and visitors to your site or blog can listen to FIR directly from your page. Pretty cool, huh?

 

02/02/08 | 9 Comments | Get the FIR widget!

Comments

  • 1.Cool widget, Shel, and good to hear it was nice and easy to build.

    Wonder if there's any way to make that orange arrow in the middle of the widget "hot." My first instinct was to click on it because it looked like a play button, but nothing happened. Of course, I then realized I had to click the little play button at the very bottom of the widget. Hoping most users aren't as dopey as I am!

    Bryan Person, Bryper.com | February 2008 | Boston

  • 2.Shel, I had the same experience as Bryan. I still think the widget is pretty cool though. Do you think it's the beginning of the end of show notes?

    Bryan, you're in good company.

    Eden Spodek | February 2008 | Toronto

  • 3.Okay, I'll see what I can do. To be honest, I couldn't get rid of the orange downward-pointing arrow in the graphic (just a screen grab of the FIR homepage), so I added the arrow on the left to make it look like a design decision.

    Shel Holtz | February 2008 | Concord, CA

  • 4.I couldn't make clicking the arrow start the audio; I could only link it to a URL. So instead, I tweaked it a bit to make it more obvious that it's a graphic and not a button. Let me know what you think.

    Shel Holtz | February 2008 | Concord, CA

  • 5.Yes, I think it's a little better, and arrow at the far left does seem more like a design decision,

    And I bet you didn't think you'd be spending your Saturday doing THIS!

    Bryan Person, Bryper.com | February 2008 | Boston

  • 6.Agreed, the orange arrow looks more like a design element than a link now.

    Funny, I'm working on a project with an external designer and we had the same issue with the design of an online publication. After some informal testing, someone mistook the arrow for a link so it's being redesigned.

    Eden Spodek | February 2008 | Toronto

  • 7.Shel - thanks for sharing this - it looks like a great resource. I've registered on their site and hope I can get into the Beta when they open it up.

    Krishna De | February 2008

  • 8.Krishna, I signed up for the beta on the Sprout website and was invited in the next day.

    Shel Holtz | February 2008 | Concord, CA

  • 9.Shel - thanks for taking the time to let me know this. Have a great Sunday!

    Krishna De | February 2008

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