Exploring Apple's Widget Manager in OS 10.4.2

Apple released OS 10.4.2 on Tuesday, bringing with it a number of goodies, like the new Widget manager. Widget manager allows you to do a number of useful things, including disabling widgets, deleting widgets and "testing out" a widget before installing it for good. Let's take a look. More after the jump.

widget_manager

Prior to 10.4.2, Safari moved downloaded widgets directly to your "widgets" folder on its own, essentially installing them for you. Convenient, but also a potential security issue. Now Safari asks "Do you want to install and open the widget ___?" in a dialog box with two options: "Cancel" and "Install." Selecting "Cancel" leaves the widget alone at the download location you've specified for Safari, and "Install" takes you into test drive mode.

In test drive, the widget you just downloaded opens in Dashboard via a window all its own. From here you can test out its functionality, adjust its preferences and choose to either delete or keep it. Pretty nice.

Also new is the "manage widgets" option in the widgets bar. From here, you can launch the management widget which lists all the widgets you currently have installed on your system (meaning living in your "widgets" folder), sorted either by name or date. To deactivate an installed widget, simply deselect the checkbox to that widgets left. To delete an installed widget, click the minus symbol to its right. This brings up a dialog box that reads, "Do you want to move this widget to the trash?" Selecting "OK" does just that. It seems that the Apple widgets installed by default cannot be trashed by this method, however.

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Source: http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/dashboard/

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Apple released OS 10.4.2 on Tuesday, bringing with it a number of goodies, like the new Widget manager. Widget manager allows you to do a...

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tim

Or maybe it's not me... According to another review, the old "More Widgets" button should now read "Manage Widgets," correct? Mine's still the old way, so I'm guessing some portion of the update to 10.4.2 didn't take. Any advice here on how to re-run the update?

July 13 2005 at 4:41 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

tim

Pardon my apparent stupidity, but I can't figure out how to launch Widget Manager. Help please?

July 13 2005 at 4:18 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Voxel

Also to be noted, you can use the widget manager to launch widgets by double-clicking on a name/icon in the list. So you can leave the manager open and use it instead of the widget bar. Managing widgets in the bar would be much more of a pain don't you think?

July 13 2005 at 3:23 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Niels 't Hooft

I don't like the Widget Manager widget. For starters, why are there two buttons to open the Widger Manager widget? Second, I don't understand why the Widget Manager is not simply a part of the System Preferences. Or, for that matter, why didn't they just integrate it in the widget bar (using a special 'page' for de-activated widgets)? A manager widget on the same level as the widgets you manage with it just doesn't make sense. Also, a pet peeve of mine, why is the +/x button to open/close the widget bar still not an actual handle you click to pull up the widget bar? :-)

July 13 2005 at 12:19 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Scott Gardner

Try using Pacifist to extract Apple's native widgets from your Tiger install disc.

July 13 2005 at 10:51 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Random

It kinda makes sense actually. Apple Widgets are stored in your root level /Library/Widgets folder. Installed widgets are stored in the user's Library/Widgets folder. You shouldn't be able to delete the system's widgets because you'd be harming every other user on your computer (even if you don't have more than one really). So, to delete these, as Electric Monk apparently did, you'd have to go in and manually delete them. As far as getting them back, Electric Monk, short of reinstalling, you could probably get them from another computer using Tiger, archive & install, or use a third-party program to pick and choose from the package files on the disc.

July 13 2005 at 10:15 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Electric Monk

Yeah I trashed my Apple widgets and both the 10.4.1 and 10.4.2 updates brought them back as zombies without their icons. Anyone know where I can download Apple's own widgets so I can stop deleting them and with the new manager program just let them idle away their lives? I really don't know where my Tiger DVD is, and I don't know if I can extract the widgets separately either.

July 13 2005 at 8:19 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply