Hey everyone,

Realizing that this may be a sensitive topic, I want to give everyone *advanced* notice that inlined gadgets (type="html-inline") will soon be deprecated from the Gadgets API.

This is an important announcement which I hope will reach as many developers as possible. For authors of existing inlined gadgets, you needn't worry. Your gadgets will continue working as normal. There are some subtleties around what this exactly means, and I'll try to explain them below. I don't have an ETA on when this will happen, but please expect for it to happen soon. The main goal is to give you all a heads up about this change. Feel free to post questions, and I'll do my best to answer them.

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What does this mean? The deprecation of inlined gadgets means that new inlined gadgets can no longer be created after we turn on the switch. For inlined gadgets that already exist, they will continue to be supported and render as normal. This will just prevent any new inlined gadgets from being created. I can't announce exactly when we'll start the deprecation, but the earlier you start, the better the chances you'll make it in time.

Why? Inlined gadgets pose potential security risks to our users in addition to other complications with some API libraries, e.g. Analytics. They're more difficult to develop and cannot be syndicated via Google Gadgets For Your Webpage. This is one of the major reasons why inlined gadgets are generally less discoverable and don't get as much traffic as type="html" gadgets. Supporting inlined gadgets can be difficult because many inlined gadgets depend on specific DOM elements in the iGoogle container page. The container page can frequently change and essentially break your gadget. Just ask Bonstio and Matt ;). By deprecating inlined gadgets, it allows us to standardize the way gadgets are rendered and create a more consistent API resulting in a better developer experience.

Will inlined gadgets be closed forever? Initially, we will not be honoring requests to add additional inlined gadgets. In the future, we may consider allowing developers to submit a proposal to develop an inlined gadget and have it go through an approvals process. However, please understand that this is purely hypothetical at this point with no ETA. The current plan is that once we deprecate inlining, we will stop allowing new inlined gadgets, without exceptions.

Feedback? This announcement is intended to give advanced notice of this upcoming change. Feel free to post comments/questions, and I'll do my best to answer them.

Thanks!

Dann