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copied!<p><em>Combining and organizing all the current answers into one answer, then adding my own research:</em></p> <p><strong>Brief summary of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Gadgets" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Microsoft gadget</a> development:</strong></p> <p><em>What are they written in?</em> Windows Vista/Seven gadgets are developed in a mix of XML, HTML, CSS, and some IE scripting language. It is also possible to use C# with the latest release of Script#.</p> <p><em>How are they packaged/deployed?</em> The actual gadgets are stored in *.gadget files, which are simply the text source files listed above compressed into a single zip file.</p> <p><strong>Useful references for gadget development:</strong></p> <p><em>where do I start?</em> Good introductory references to Windows Vista/Seven gadget development:</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.odetocode.com/articles/463.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Developing Gadgets for the Windows Sidebar</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.i-programmer.info/projects/38-windows/113-vista-gadgets-.html?showall=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Vista Gadgets</a> Introductory tutorial from I-Programmer</li> <li><a href="http://www.nikhilk.net/SidebarGadgets.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Authoring Sidebar Gadgets in C#</a></li> <li><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb456468(VS.85).aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Developing a Gadget for Windows Sidebar Part 1: The Basics</a> Official MSDN tutorial.</li> </ul> <p>If you are willing to use offline resources, this book appears to be an excellent resource:</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=fRRQ1aTZtDYC&dq=0672329689&source=gbs_navlinks_s" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Creating Vista Gadgets: Using HTML, CSS and JavaScript with Examples in RSS, Ajax, ActiveX (COM) and Silverlight</a></li> <li>blog related to book: <a href="http://www.innovatewithgadgets.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.innovatewithgadgets.com/</a></li> </ul> <p><em>What do I need to know?</em> Some other useful references; not necessarily instructional</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa965850(VS.85).aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Windows Sidebar</a> (Official MSDN documentation)</li> <li>related Stack Overflow question: <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1171588/c-tutorial-to-write-gadgets/1365692#1365692">C# tutorial to write gadgets</a></li> </ul> <hr> <p><strong>Update:</strong> Well, this has proven to be a popular answer~ Sharing my own recent experience with Windows 7 gadget development:</p> <p><strong>Perhaps the easiest way to get started with Windows 7 gadget development is to modify a gadget that has already been developed.</strong> I recently did this myself because I wanted a larger clock gadget. Unable to find any, I tinkered with a copy of the standard Windows clock gadget until it was twice as large. I recommend starting with the clock gadget because it is fairly small and well-written. Here is the process I used:</p> <ol> <li>Locate the gadget you wish to modify. They are located in several different places. Search for folders named *.gadget. Example: <code>C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets\Clock.Gadget\</code></li> <li>Make a copy of this folder (installed gadgets are not wrapped in zip files.)</li> <li>Rename some key parts: <ol> <li>The folder name</li> <li>The name inside the gadget.xml file. It looks like:<code><name>Clock</name></code> This is the name that will be displayed in the "Gadgets Gallery" window.</li> </ol></li> <li>Zip up the entire *.gadget directory.</li> <li>Change the file extension from "zip" to "gadget" (Probably just need to remove the ".zip" extension.)</li> <li>Install your new copy of the gadget by double clicking the new *.gadget file. You can now add your gadget like any other gadget (right click desktop->Gadgets)</li> <li>Locate where this gadget is installed (probably to <code>%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar\</code>)</li> <li>Modify the files in this directory. The gadget is very similar to a web page: HTML, CSS, JS, and image files. The gadget.xml file specifies which file is opened as the "index" page for the gadget.</li> <li>After you save the changes, view the results by installing a new instance of the gadget. You can also <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163370.aspx#S11" rel="nofollow noreferrer">debug the JavaScript</a> (The rest of that article is pretty informative, too).</li> </ol>

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