There are many services out there that offer widgets you can embed into your own web site layouts.  How do you know which ones are the best?  Well, I am not an expert. Since this is the Internet though, I can pretend.

Here are my top 10 favorite widget related web sites.

Widgetbox – Tons of free widgets to put on your site.

LinkWithin – Post related stories and thumbnails on your web site.

ShoutMix – Free shoutbox/tagboard chat widget.

Wowzio – A lot of random widgets to choose from here.

SpringWidgets – Web site tools for blogs and social networks.

YourMinis – Widgets for your blog, website, start page, and desktop!

Monitter – Real time live Twitter watch and badge creator.

Widgipedia – Your ultimate web site widget resource.

Widgiland – A social network based around awesome widget production.

FeedWind – The free online feed widget.

Know of another great place to grab online widgets or tools for your web site?  Drop in a comment and let us know.  I’m looking for the best of the best in online tools, embeddable items or fun sidebar distractions.

Once the shoutbox is added to your site, messages can be posted in it two different ways.  Your users can include the URL to the shoutbox in their tweet, and Jotabl will pick this up and place it in your shoutbox.  Users can also leave a message by signing into the box via Twitter, with the option to have the message tweeted for them.

You also can remove message and block certain Twitter users if they get too crazy with the shoutbox postings.  Now Jotabl doesn’t re-invent the Web, however it does provide a neat feedback interface for your users.  Give it a shot shout at jotable.com.

Visit this handy Plurk URL here:

http://www.plurk.com/m

Bookmark it (or drag and drop it onto your links bar).  Then right-click it, and select “Properties”.  From here, check the box next to “Load this bookmark in the sidebar”, then save your changes and you are done.

Now you have instant Plurk access no matter what web page you might be on.

Need a friend on Plurk? Feel free to add me! I feel like you all are nearly family anyways!

Update – Thanks to TwisterMC you can get a Firefox add-on that does the same thing, with a few other extra perks.

Windows Sidebar Styler – I wasn’t going to use the Windows sidebar at first, but I thought I would give it a chance for a while and thus far the calender and notes are pretty handy to have there. Windows Sidebar Styler allows you to tweak the look and feel of it (which is needed after a while) and a few other cool features. It is a keeper if you use the sidebar any in Vista.

Logon Studio Vista – This one isn’t helping me as far as performance or getting things done, but have just cool effects and things isn’t always a bad thing. Logon Studio Vista allows you to change the background for the login screen in Vista. There are plenty of pretty ones to choose from too. Just take your pick!

As far as web sites go, the TweakVista.com people have been a real help in lending me a hand via their tutorials and tips on how to make Vista look and work the way I want it to. I tried out the Tweak Vista application too, but right now it just doesn’t offer anything I can’t live without so I have no real reason to drop the cash on it yet.

Vista week continues here on Mitchelaneous, so if you have any topics, questions or things you’d like covered feel free to drop me an e-mail or leave a comment.  I’ll do my best to help.

1. Create a new bookmark (right-click and select “Bookmark this link…”) for this address:
   

   http://www.google.com/notebook/ig?hl=__MSG_locale__

2. Right-click on that bookmark and select “Properties”.
3. Check the box that says, “Load this bookmark in sidebar” and you are good to go! It isn’t exactly rocket science so everybody should be able to enjoy this one.

Now you have a full note taking application to work with in your sidebar and it beats that tiny default extension Google provides you any day of the week.

+ Add the WHS Sidebar Player to Firefox!