Netvibes, a personalized home page I wrote about previously, has somewhat hinted at the release of what they call a “mini API.”

From the Netvibes Blog:

If you are a developer and want to build your own mini module on netvibes, you can join our api mailing list by sending us a request at netvibes_api @ netvibes.Com

You don’t need to be an expert to build something, basic HTML knowledge is just enough to make your own modules.

I’m not very impressed with how this API launch is taking place thus far. Netvibes hasn’t been well known for their developer support in the past, in fact it’s been non-existent - at least this is a step (a small one) in the right direction. Unfortunately, dictating that those interested must join a mailing list isn’t the right way to go about this. Shouldn’t an effective API launch include a lot of hype, a few examples, and way to get your “widgets” into the application as quickly as possible? Even the Netvibes Wiki lacks any information on the API launch.

Finally, why do companies insist on touting how easy it is to write your own widgets? “You can do it with simply HTML, no programming knowledge needed!” I see a rash is starting to break out on my arm… I must be allergic to bullshit! Yes, technically you could write a widget in only HTML (”Hi, I wrote this widget, it shows the Google logo - it’s l33t!”), but no one would use it. A widget requires programming knowledge to do anything useful, if it’s not useful it probably won’t even make it beyond the submission form.

And would people with no programming experience even care to make an attempt at writing their own widget? Do they know what a widget is?