Embeddable chunks of code have existed since the start of the World Wide Web. Web developers have long sought and used third party code chunks in their pages. It could be said that the original web widgets were the link counters and advertising banners that grew up alongside the early web. Later, ad and affiliate networks used code widgets for distribution purposes.

A widget is anything that can be embedded within a page of HTML, i.e. a web page. A widget adds some content to that page that is not static. Generally widgets are third party originated, though they can be home made. Widgets are also known as modules, snippets, and plug-ins.

The first widely syndicated web widget, Trivia Blitz, was introduced in 1997. It was a java game applet offered by Uproar.com embedded on 15,200 websites as of December 31, 1998 and 36,100 websites as of December 31, 1999. It spread virally through an “add this game to your website” button. Sites that carried the game ranged from Geocities and Tripod personal pages to CNN and Tower Records. Uproar paid sites a referral fee for new users that registered through the widget. When Uproar.com was acquired by Vivendi Universal in 2001, the widget was discontinued.

Widgets are now commonplace and are used by bloggers, social network users, auction sites and owners of personal web sites. They exist on home page sites such as iGoogle, MySurfPad.com, Netvibes, Pageflakes, SpringWidgets and yourminis. Widgets distribution platforms such as Clearspring are now used to seed and distribute widgets as Rich media Advertisement units. Media and entertainment companies are increasingly using widgets to run Ad campaign’s. Widgets are used as a distribution method by ad networks such as Google’s AdSense, by media sites such as Flickr, by video sites such as YouTube and by hundreds of other organizations.