To underscore your special status as readers of The Dilbert Blog, here’s a sneak peak at the totally free and ridiculously awesome Dilbert Widget (See the post below). You can’t see this anywhere else until the end of the month.
What’s a widget?
A widget is a little application you can easily stick to your own blog page, including Myspace, Friendster, Facebook, iGoogle, TypePad, Blogger, and lots more. Think of it as a little window that is programmed to do a variety of cool things.
The Dilbert Widget allows you to see the daily Dilbert comic, for free, and ***IN COLOR FOR THE FIRST TIME***, on your own page. You can also see the Dilbert archive all the way back to January 2005, with the entire archive coming online in batches. All free, which is your favorite price.
TEST IT
I need your help testing this puppy before the larger masses get their mitts on it. Break it if you can.
SHARE
Please grab it for your own page, e-mail it to friends, and share like crazy. It is specifically designed for sharing. Part of what we want to test is how easily it can be shared with friends.
VOTE
For those of you who have opinions, and you know who you are, the Dilbert Widget lets you rank each Dilbert comic. The votes are tabulated in real time, so you can find out how odd you are compared to normal people. This might surprise you.
GRAB IT
To get the widget, simply click the “Grab It” button on the widget you see below. Or to shop for a different size, go to http://widget.dilbert.com and pick from a wider selection.
FAQ
Here are some answers to the questions I expect:
1. The daily comics on Dilbert.com will eventually be in color too.
2. Later this year we’ll have a widget that shows all three panels at once. The current panel-by-panel viewing widgets are more compatible with most web pages.
3. The entire Dilbert archive will be available via the Dilbert Widget eventually. We’re working on it in batches.
Same problem someone else mentioned: Firefox 2.0.0.11, only mousemovement reveals strip under the mouse. IE7, same machine, works fine.
Posted by: MrBdB | January 23, 2008 at 11:52 AM
Add me to whoever wished that this widget would be made back-compatible with earlier Mac OS versions - I've got 10.4, which is only one iteration back, and no go.
Sad day.
Posted by: david | January 23, 2008 at 11:33 AM
Already in my Facebook! Great
Posted by: ICeman | January 23, 2008 at 11:05 AM
I have the dashboard version for my OS X 10.5. I noticed that this morning it did not refresh automatically to the new comic, but rather stayed on yesterdays (in "Daily" view). When I went to "Weekly" view, it also only showed two comic strips (Monday and Tuesday). To refresh it, I had to press "Prev" to go to the previous week, and then "Next" to go to the current week. After this, it showed the proper 3 cartoon strips (Mon, Tue, and Wed). It would be nice if I did not have to do this, and it would refresh automatically. Or, have a refresh button.
Also, I don't see the point for the "Grab It" button. If I already have it installed in my Dashboard (or anywhere else), why do I need to see more options? If I want another version of it, i'll just go to the website to download it again.
Otherwise, looks and works great.
Posted by: Anya | January 23, 2008 at 10:44 AM
will it be possible to search for strips by text / character ?
eg "PHB, Carol, massage" should return the strip for 2007-12-23
that would be cool. you can market it as Dilbert-Pro
you're welcome
Posted by: conan (again) | January 23, 2008 at 09:44 AM
I Face Booked your widget, and it works great. And I have shared it with friends. Your plan to take over the world continues at a pace that would make a megalomaniac donkey jealous.
Muahahahahaha!
Posted by: Jocky | January 23, 2008 at 08:58 AM
The widget is nifty. However, one feature it is lacking (or I can't find) is the ability to easily share a particular strip with someone. For example, I would like to share today's strip with someone. To do so, I had to start my browser, go to the Dilbert website, locate the strip, and then email them the url/image. Ugh.
Suggestion for this function:
- should not require the recipient to use the widget
- should be an image/reference to the script you are currently viewing (may be in the past)
- should give you the option of copying to the clipboard the url to the strip (so you can paste it in an email or IM message)
- give you the option of copying the image to the clipboard (so you can paste it in an email)
Posted by: Zed | January 23, 2008 at 08:19 AM
Thank you for making me feel all warm and fuzzy by granting me "special status" in bold letters. That will grant you my loyal readership for as long as you continue posting.
Posted by: Tyler | January 23, 2008 at 08:11 AM
My gift to you: DON'T SEE CLOVERFIELD!
Posted by: Dwight Schrute | January 23, 2008 at 08:07 AM
Just from playing around with it for a few minutes, the only addition that I would like would be to add a button that takes you to the beginning and end of the archive.
Posted by: scolby | January 23, 2008 at 08:06 AM
How do you monetize this?
Posted by: Piache | January 23, 2008 at 08:00 AM
WTF? Am I caught in a time loop? Is my oxygen-deprived brain playing tricks on me? Where are we? Where am I? Do I answer any questions here? Help.................
Rita Mae
PS Peek is still peek.
Posted by: rita mae | January 23, 2008 at 07:57 AM
awesome, this is what i've been waiting for. =)
Posted by: roy ashbrook | January 23, 2008 at 07:52 AM
Testing report - the version I wanted was the dashboard version for mac os. Apparently, your fancy widget only runs in the very latest mac os, which I don't have yet. It would be easy to make it run in my OS, too, though, FYI.
My work here is done.
Posted by: Matt | January 23, 2008 at 07:48 AM
WORKS GREAT FOR ME!
http://awritersblock.com
Posted by: John | January 23, 2008 at 07:35 AM
Scott's gettin' all technical and fancy on us. Oooooooooo.
Posted by: Drew | January 23, 2008 at 07:26 AM
Does not work for me - I tried to choose Blogger service and add widget on my blogs sidebar, but it never opened whatever page it planned to open. I clicked all this widget asked and then nothing happened. I tried also with different browser and it didnt work also under IE. Please make em fix it.
Posted by: Validool | January 23, 2008 at 07:24 AM
That is really slick. Any chance of getting something like that released as a widget for MacOS widgets or the Windows Vista side bar?
Really slick.
Posted by: Eric | January 23, 2008 at 07:03 AM
mmm....
Surprised you haven't yet blogged on this:
http://lifetimelearning.blogspot.com/2008/01/id-better-tell-horses-and-rooster-to.html
As to to widget, I'm considering adding it to my blog, as it is my favorite cartoon. But doesn't mean it's the favorite of MY readers so I'm not sure if I'll add it. I look forward to seeing it all in one strip. It took my feeble mind a little while to figure out how it worked.
Posted by: Cathy | January 23, 2008 at 07:02 AM
I don't know how I did it, but I had the Google calendar widget on my iGoogle page and I added your widget. When I tried to move your widget around, I eventually got it moved, but someone my "Google Calendar" now had your widget body (but still the Google Calendar title). I still had your widget on the page, but I had another copy that said "Google Calendar" as well. I've since deleted the google calendar from my page, but I'll see if I can re-create it.
Posted by: Alcanzar | January 23, 2008 at 06:51 AM
très, très cool. having dilbert on my blog will be so much better than having content! now I'll have a reason to go there, even if no-one else has ...
but for the voting, I'd rather not know the result until after I've cast, so my degree of (non-)normality will come as a bigger surprise.
but if I don't have to go to dilbert.com any more, how will I be able to feel smug about not clicking on the ads?
Posted by: conan | January 23, 2008 at 06:47 AM
I read the post below - what does the widget have to do with words?
Posted by: Eric Harrelson | January 23, 2008 at 06:27 AM
Peek.
Posted by: Mike D | January 23, 2008 at 06:18 AM
Scott, I have a question.
Why?
I thought you tried making your work available for free with "God's Debris" and found the results... Unfit for duplication.
Is the theory that, since recent comics have been available for free online around the times that their books are published, it won't make much difference in this case?
Anyway, sorry to be a killjoy.
Good luck!
Posted by: Lake | January 23, 2008 at 05:38 AM
Am I correct in believing that you are doing this, in part, to control access to your strips? i.e. You'll make the archive available for free, but we have to view it through your chosen portal?
I ask, because while it's easy to simply save the .gif from http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/ it is not simple at all to do so from your widget.
It means that I can't save the .gif, print it out or email it to a friend except via your widget.
Posted by: Oblong27 | January 23, 2008 at 05:23 AM