InstaCalc Vista Gadget Released
March 30th, 2007
I’ve created a basic Vista Gadget for your calculating pleasure:
Install it from the Windows Vista Gallery site.
I personally think the gadget was pretty useful and gave it a good rating — a zealous commenter saw this and decided to “even it out” 
. Ah, the ebb and flow of web tools — I just hope people find it useful.
The gadget acts just like the website – you can use unit conversions (“15 feet in cm”), readable numbers (“3.3 billion”), and equations (“a = 3; b = 4; a+b”).
If you mouse over the calculator you’ll see an option to save a permalink, which takes you to the main site.
This version is my first foray into Vista Gadget development and is on a single line; the sidebar doesn’t have much screen real estate. Based on feedback and demand, I may create a multi-row version. I’m starting with the basics and expanding from there.
As an aside, I’m continuing to work on enhanced sharing features for the main site. My core design philosophy is to keep the simple things simple and not harass visitors about logins, emails or registrations. I want the site to be useful on your first visit — stay tuned.
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June 23rd, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Hi there! I love this. Its possibly my favorite gadget! you cannot imagine how easy this has made my life.
I’ve noticed one thing though. The calculator on the website is able to convert and calculate different currencies but the sidebar gadget cannot.
Is that something you are planning on incorporating?
April 1st, 2009 at 2:10 pm
I really love this gadget. One feature I would love to see is to be able to click on the gadget and have it expand (like the weather gadget does) to show a history of the last few (say, 10) equations calculated. Even better, have each calculation be a permalink to the main site.
April 19th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Your Instacalc gadget is the most useful tool ever! My only wish is that there are some color options for the answer text – I find red on black hard to read. I wouldn’t mind having the answer box in white just like the equation box.
Thanks again for an awesome useful gadget!
July 15th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
I love it (Vista gadget), but I’m mildly colour-blind and find the red very difficult to see, so is it possible to build in an option for the answer colour or just have it white?
September 15th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Have you given any thought to packaging it as an Opera Widget? It’s mostly the same (html and javascript), but with an extra config.xml that contains metadata and the size of the widget. It’s then placed in a zip and renamed with the .wgt file extension.
October 6th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
@Tyr: Hi, I haven’t thought about an opera widget yet, but thanks for the idea!
November 8th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Just wanted to let you know that your gadget works perfectly in Windows 7. With the hotkey Win+G (show desktop gadgets), your gadget is a phenomenal calculator tool available quickly and easily. Thanks for the great work!
November 8th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
@Pat: Thanks! I hadn’t tried it on Windows 7 yet, glad it’s working for you!
May 29th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
The gaget works well in Vista. Have you considered a FireFox version?