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Mac 101: Whip your widgets into shape

by Lisa Hoover Nov 1st 2007 at 1:00PM



Widgets are way too much fun. Though your Mac ships with a few of them already installed on the Dashboard, frankly they're kind of boring. I mean, how much fun is a calculator, clock, or calendar? Did you know there's a bunch more hiding in the far corners of your computer, and even more waiting to be discovered online? Let's take a look at where to find the extra goodies.
To locate extra widgets already on your computer, click the Dashboard icon on your Dock and watch the pre-installed widgets appear on a your desktop (clicking anywhere on the desktop will make them disappear again).

With your Dashboard open, locate the plus sign in the later left-hand corner. Clicking it will take you to a menu filled with more widgets that you can simply right-click to add to your Dashboard. If you change your mind, select the "Manage Widgets" button next to the widget set and a box pops up where you can uncheck widgets to make them go away.

If the you want more from your widgets than a ski report or stock ticker, be sure to check out the widget page of Apple's Web site for hundreds more to choose from. To install widgets from the site, click on "download" and it will magically appear as a zip file on your desktop. Double click the file, and follow the directions to install it on the Dashboard.

Leopard makes it super easy to create your own widgets but, thanks to the efforts of thousands of Mac users, there are tons of widgets available for free download on just about any topic and use you can think of. Well, maybe not yak shaving. At least not yet.

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Widgets are way too much fun. Though your Mac ships with a few of them already installed on the Dashboard, frankly they're kind of boring....
 

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Neil Anderson

Hockey Widget by Andreas Amann.

November 03 2007 at 5:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
xxdesmus

People actually use Dashboard? This is the first thing I always disable on OSX. What a waste of resources.

November 03 2007 at 10:31 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to xxdesmus's comment
Peter

Waste resources? They are mine and I will waste them however I want.

Like others I use calculator a lot, thanks for the tip to keep it on the desktop, that is useful.

Also I use mine for aviation weather as well as iStat and finding networks.

Sure they are not for everyone, but I sure like it them.

December 27 2007 at 4:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
M

I forgot to mention that. This procedure works on Tiger. I haven't tested it on Leopard 'cos I haven't bought it yet.

November 02 2007 at 11:09 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
j2sheck

As per the posts about dropping widgets on your desktop, wasn't Dashboard-Desktop integration supposed to happen with Leopard? If I remember right (which I often don't), when Jobs first introduced some of the features to be expected in Leopard earlier in the year, one of them was the ability to have widgets actively running on the desktop. I think the example given was showing how the webclip widgets could live on your desktop. Now, in Leopard, I don't think even the drag-and-hold method that M posted about works.

Where did this feature go??

November 02 2007 at 10:28 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
M

Widgets can be very usefull. Sure enough I don't use them all the time, but sometimes they're handy.

A quick tip to Lauram: If you need to use the calculator for a while, open the Dashboard, press the + button on the bottom-left corner and pick up the widget icon, but don't release the mouse. Now press F12 to exit the dashboardd and then release the mouse. This will actually drop the widget right on your desktop.

It's faster than Johnny's method and more friendly for those of you who don't want to mess with the terminal.

Oh, and to remove it from the desktop, just press F12 2x and it's gone to the dashboard. It'll stay active there, though, so remove it if you don't need it anytime soon.

That's how I use some of the widgets and it works for me.

As far as the calculator goes, i guess I never even used the application itself! :)

November 02 2007 at 9:48 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ben

Hey, what's the widget at the top right of the screenshot that appears to have a football score? I've been looking forever for a reasonable sized football widget that will just have the score for my team (a la Scoreboard for baseball).

Ben

November 02 2007 at 8:02 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Wah!

Ditto to Dave: I've removed the Widgets thingamabob from the Dock, and left it with no assigned hot-keys. On the off chance I need a widgety thing, I use the ones on my Google homepage. Sacreligious? Probably. I don't mind.

November 02 2007 at 5:59 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Johnny

I work on both sides of the pond, and it's great to be able to just hit F12 to know what time it is in London.

November 02 2007 at 12:02 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Will

I guess that's the meme that seems to work for most folks. Basically, these things are great for those quick things you want to take a glance at, but not suck up any real estate to manage.

A glance at the weather, a glance at the date or your packages. Hit F12, and do a quick scan of your "iLifes Status Display".

I think if more widget folks thought in those terms, it would be more successful. If you need to interact with them much, then it doesn't make much sense.

I use the calculator because it IS handy. If I had the system one on the "F12" key, maybe I'd use that instead. Most likely when I get Leopard, I'll just start using SpotLight.

November 01 2007 at 8:46 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
nandabanaotakun

I hereby petition the widget development community for a yak-shaving widget.

November 01 2007 at 8:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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