BBC News widget becomes default news provider on iGoogle UK

Olaf Geuer | 12:38 UK time, Tuesday, 28 July 2009

Google has just launched a new version of their iGoogle UK portal and any user signing up for the first time will now get a new optimised BBC News widget as a pre-installed feature on their portal page. Users with existing iGoogle accounts can find and install the widget from iGoogle listings by searching for 'BBC official news' or similar terms.

There are, of course, already quite a few BBC News widgets out there - mostly simple feed readers created by users. However, the 'BBC News - Official UK Edition' widget has been specially built, and is maintained by the BBC, to meet strict standards and offer an optimised user experience for those who subscribe to this service. Features in the first version of the widget include the top stories from News, the latest video and audio, a 'canvas view' for additional headlines, and share functionality.

As this first version of the widget is optimised for iGoogle, users will need an iGoogle account for it to work properly. To sign up or add the widget to an existing account, just select this link and follow the on screen instructions.

Key functionalities

The BBC News widget includes the following key features:

BBC News top stories and latest video and audio headline

The 'expand' icon on the top right or 'More Stories' link at the bottom take users to an extended view as shown below

One of the key features of the new iGoogle portal is the so called 'Canvas View'. This extended view shows additional headlines from BBC News and BBC Sports

A pop-up menu at the top offers the option to share the widget and recommend it to other users

Future Plans

We might consider future versions of this application which could include additional inline content and enhanced functionalities. We also hope to make it more widely available in the near future to be able to offer the widget on additional platforms to iGoogle, technology and resources allowing. Please watch this space for updates...

We are keen to hear your comments and what functionalities you would like to see in future versions of this product.

Install the BBC News widget:
Add to iGoogle
More information about BBC widgets:
BBC widgets
Further information about iGoogle:
iGoogle help
Some alternative platforms:
MyYahoo, netvibes, pageflakes

Olaf Geuer, Senior Product Manager, FM&T Journalism

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Comments

1. At 10:22am on 30 Jul 2009, Researcher 197458 wrote:
I prefer the old RSS feeds... this widget takes up a large amount of screen real-estate because of the pictures (which are too small to be useful) a tab for video (which I can't use while at work) and a 'more stories' link (which duplicates the button built into all gadgets).
I also can't change how many stories are displayed or get a quick summary of the story without clicking through - which is a pain given how rubbish some of the headlines are.
At least give us the option of turning this stuff on or off!

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2. At 1:01pm on 19 Dec 2009, jezza33 wrote:
A great many sites thse days are being developed using Wordpress, which is very rich in free-use templates for starting a site, and above all, and excellent architecture for installation of plug-ins. Isn't it high time a BBC News Feed for Wordpress was developed?

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3. At 09:20am on 26 Dec 2009, Ralph wrote:
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9. At 1:19pm on 21 Jan 2010, indianews wrote:
This is a very good development. I hope people will be satisfied with this new widget.

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