For customers already using Modern or Legacy Widget, sometimes we're asked: why should I switch to Widget 2.0?
We're so glad you asked.
First, the big reason:
While we don't plan to totally discontinue Modern Widget any time soon, we also aren't going to prioritize working on it, either.
As of January 2022, we will no longer be releasing new features or functionality for the Modern or Legacy Widgets. We're focusing our developer resources on Widget 2.0. As of August 2022, we are largely not fixing newly reported bugs with these widgets.
But more importantly, Widget 2.0 offers a lot of things that Modern Widget (and Legacy Widget) do not.
Here's a full side-by-side feature comparison. Here's a quick breakdown of the color coding:
- No background: Widget 2.0 and Modern Widget have the exact same feature
- Green background: Widget 2.0 has a feature that Modern Widget lacks
- Yellow background: Widget 2.0 has a feature that exists in a different way from Modern Widget; you decide which you prefer
- Red background: Widget 2.0 lacks a feature that Modern Widget has
| Area | Feature | Modern Widget | Widget 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Layout & Navigation | |||
| Widget layout | Single page, contact form accessed through button | Separate tabs for Knowledge, Recommended, and Contact | |
| Widget container width | Preset; uneditable | Preset; uneditable | |
| Navigation through knowledge base | Limited; navigation through Popular Articles list, Recommended Articles list, hyperlinks within content, and search only | Full navigation possible through Knowledge tab | |
| Breadcrumbs | No content breadcrumbs displayed | Summary breadcrumbs always displayed; full breadcrumb display available with toggle | |
| Open in full site link in footer | Must be manually created/added | Automatically included in footer | |
| Scroll to top link in footer | Must be manually created/added | Automatically included in footer | |
| Accessibility | Widget iframes have ids, but no titles | Widget iframes have ids and titles | |
| Content Display | |||
| Article content display | Supported | Supported | |
| Custom content category display | Supported | Supported | |
| Topic display category display | Supported | Supported | |
| Default category display | Not supported; prompts to open in full site | Supported | |
| Blog style category display | Not supported; prompts to open in full site | Supported | |
| Display of recommended articles | In Suggested For You section (if none, section isn't displayed) | In Recommended tab (Widget opens to this tab if there are any; if none, opens to Knowledge tab) | |
| Popular Articles list | Displayed in its own section | Not displayed anywhere | |
| Search | |||
| Typeahead search vs. full search UI | No visible difference/hard to tell which search is being used | Visible difference and text to make full search discoverable | |
| Glossary terms in search results | Not supported | Supported | |
| Contact form search | Regular search bar shown, but no deflection in contact form subject | Contact Form subject does auto-suggested search, so ticket deflection is possible | |
| Authentication | |||
| Supported authentication methods | JWT, OAuth2 | JWT, OAuth2 | |
| Custom Widget Content | |||
| Custom body content | HTML block editable in settings to insert under Suggested for you/Popular Articles display | No explicit custom body content section | |
| Custom footer content | HTML block editable in settings | HTML block editable in settings | |
| Contact Form | |||
| Contact Form Zendesk custom fields | Supported | Not supported | |
| Contact Form custom fields | Supported | Not supported | |
| Contact Form multiple email addresses | Supported | Supported | |
| Contact Form reCAPTCHA | Not supported | Supported; automatic for KO subdomains; must be manually configured for private domains | |
| Reporting | |||
| Article views | Tracked in Popular Articles report | Tracked in Popular Articles report |
Why stick with Modern Widget?
In case tables aren't your thing, there are a couple features in Modern Widget that do not yet exist in Widget 2.0:
- Zendesk contact form integration using custom fields
- Contact Form custom fields
- Popular Articles in-widget display
- Editable Custom HTML block in widget body
If you're heavily using those features, Modern Widget might not be right for you. (Though if you are using these features and that's the only thing holding you back from making the switch, please contact us so we can add you to these feature requests and let you know once they're available!)
