We know that Win11 has deleted and modified many system components, such as the classic live tiles in Win10, which disappeared in the new system. Win11 will usher in the 22H2 "Sun Valley 2" update this year, which is a major anniversary update of Win11 and will focus on improving and perfecting the existing user interface. It is reported that in this update, Windows 11 will support third-party widgets, which are very similar to the previous live tiles.
The news shows that Win11 currently lacks some basic functions, such as the inability to easily turn off the "recommendations" in the start menu, and the inability to increase the number of icons displayed on the same screen in the start menu, and its "widgets" function does not support tools from third parties. Currently, the widget panel in Windows 11 only supports official widgets such as Microsoft Calendar, Movies and TV, and Microsoft To-Do, but with the arrival of 22H2, widgets will support third parties.
A new developer guide on Microsoft's website has confirmed that future Windows 11 updates will see a vastly improved widget panel by adding support for third-party widgets. The documentation shows that third-party widgets can implement various information presentations based on the web. Microsoft does not currently plan to support widgets based on Win32 or UWP, but this will obviously change in the future.
Interestingly, third-party widgets do not depend on the Microsoft Store and do not need to be installed via the store. According to the documentation, publishing widgets to the Microsoft Store can be enhanced, and developers can choose to publish widgets through the Microsoft Store, the same process as publishing other apps.
According to the development documentation, widgets developed by third parties will have the following features.
- The application extension manifest allows users to register widgets in the widgets panel.
- The MSI installation code will call the widget registration API during COM registration.
- Support for web widgets, with more new features to come.
In addition, the development documentation also mentions adaptive cards, which are "platform-independent UI fragments", which are similar to widgets and are designed to be integrated into devices to provide a widget-like experience. Adaptive cards automatically adjust their styles to match different devices to ensure low memory and CPU usage, among other features.
Microsoft may already be working with a small group of developers on the new widget, and public testing should begin in a few weeks as Microsoft hopes the feature will be ready for Windows 11 Sun Valley 2.