Widgets can create graphic glitches

if a faulty widget fails to define a valid area no widgets at all will be rendered.

So you mean if it doesn't define the area field it'll break everything? If so I could add a tweak for drawWidgets that fixes this.

Will the code here also run when another app (e.g. the launcher) is loaded?

Yes, it'll be run all the time regardless of if you need widgets.

You can always define a widget, but just not put anything in the WIDGETS array? That would have the desired effect too.