Get quick information with widgets

Dashboard contains a collection of handy “widgets”: small apps for a wide variety of tasks such as checking stock prices, finding local or global weather information, looking up words in the dictionary, and more. You can use Dashboard to get information and do common tasks quickly.

Some widgets are linked to larger apps. With the Address Book widget, for example, you can search for a name and address without opening the full Address Book app. Other widgets, such as Weather, provide information from the web without opening a web browser.

Dashboard is a full screen app that’s always available. To get there, just swipe up with three or four fingers, and then click Dashboard (first thumbnail on the far left next your desktop). Or press the Dashboard key on your keyboard. If your keyboard doesn’t have a Dashboard key, press F12 (Fn-F12 on portable keyboards).

Bring back the Dashboard "ripple"

In Lion, Dashboard has now been incorporated into Mission Control. The most striking consequence of this is that it is no longer a semi-transparent overlay that fades in over your desktop. Instead, it is now its own Space - the far left one. You can still access it by pressing the Dashboard key on your keyboard or by clicking it in your Dock, but now you can also get to it using the horizontal swipe gesture you use to slide between Spaces.

This means that Dashboard now slides in from the left of the screen when activated, and as there is nothing behind it, it has an opaque patterned background. As a result, Apple has decided to disable the fancy ripple effect that used to be shown when adding new widgets.

If you find that you can’t live without the ripple, don’t worry, you can bring it back by unticking just one checkbox. Open up System Preferences, and go to the Mission Control section.
Then simply untick the first checkbox - Show Dashboard as a Space.

This completely restores Dashboard to the way it was in Snow Leopard, including the fancy ripple effect. This also stops the horizontal swipe to activating Dashboard, but you can bring this back using other tools if you really want it.

Change Image in the Tile Game Widget

Amongst the widgets that come with Mac OS X is the Tile Game. You shift around the tiles to reveal a picture of a snow leopard (or a leopard or a tiger, depending on your version of Mac OS X). If you play the Tile Game often, you might find the image a bit boring.

Luckily, changing the image is easy. Start by finding an image in iPhoto or the Finder to replace it. To avoid stretching, go for an image that is roughly square. Now click on the image and hold. While holding down the mouse button, press F12, or whatever key you have assigned to load up Dashboard. Now simply drag and drop your image onto the Tile Game.

Annoyingly, the image will change back to the tiger if you close the widget. Permanently changing the image is a bit more complicated. It essentially involves replacing an image file hidden within the widget file. If you are familiar with delving into package files, this is quite straightforward.



To change this image, first we need to find the Tile Game widget. It is located in the Library folder inside Macintosh HD. Make sure you don't accidentally go to the Library inside your user folder. Inside the Library, look for the folder called Widgets. In here you'll find the Tile Game. To get inside the package, right-click (or Control-click) on the file, and choose “Show Package Contents” from the menu that appears.

The file we want to change is called game.png, and is located inside the Images folder. Just replace this image with your new one, making sure you give it exactly the same file nam

Run a widget without installing it

Normally when you download a widget and double-click it, you are presented with a dialog to install the widget. You can either cancel, and exit the installer, or click install, and the widget is moved to you widgets folder (Library/widgets).

However, in some situations you don't want to move the widget. For instance if you are trying out a widget and don't know if you want to keep it, or you are developing a widget and are just testing it out. To stop the widget being installed, hold down Command and Option while double-clicking it. Instead of an install button, you are presented with Run, which, funnily enough, allows you to run the widget without installing it.
Clicking this opens the widget up in dashboard, but it isn't moved to the widgets folder, instead running it from wherever you downloaded it to.

As a result the widget won't be in your dashboard bar, so it is a nifty trick if you want to save scrolling through loads of widgets (especially if you are a dashboard addict). This also means that once you have closed the widget, its gone for good, and you can't open it up from within the dashboard. Of course its still sitting in your downloads folder, so a quick Command-Option-Double-Click will have it open and running again.

Dashboard

Not everything you do on your Mac requires a heavy-duty application. For those smaller tasks, Mac OS X features Dashboard, a semi-transparent layer that floats above your desktop at the press of a key, and provides access to several fun and functional, mini applications called widgets.

Dashboard even includes widgets for some of your Mac applications, including Address Book and iTunes, which allow you to access your contacts and music, respectively, without having to switch over to the full application. But it doesn't end there, you can add more widgets to Dashboard and, if you're feeling really ambitious, you can even create your own widgets.

By default, Dashboard starts up when you first turn on your Mac, but you won't actually see it until you open it by either clicking its icon in the Dock, pressing the F12 key or the Dashboard key (F4 on the aluminum keyboards). To hide Dashboard, click on any Dashboard area that doesn't contain a widget or press the F12 key again. Here's a quick start guide to Dashboard and the included widgets.


Working with Dashboard

1. Make Dashboard active by clicking the icon in the Dock, or pressing F12.
2. A default set of widgets appears. You can move the widgets anywhere you want by simply dragging them, click and hold your mouse button on a widget and move your mouse—or finger, if you're using a trackpad.
3. To see all the widgets on your Mac, click the open (+) button in the lower-left corner of the screen. 
4. The Widget Bar, which displays all widgets on your Mac, slides into view at the bottom of the screen. Click the arrow buttons on either side of the bar to display more widgets.
5. To add a widget to Dashboard, simply click an icon in the Widget Bar.
6. If you want to download more widgets, click the More Widgets button to go to the Apple Dashboard download webpage.
7. To remove a widget from Dashboard, be sure that the Widget Bar is displayed, then click the unwanted widget's close button (the round, black button with a white X).
8. To close the Widget Bar, click the close button on the lower-left part of the screen right above the Widget Bar.
9. To use a widget, just select it and do your thing. In other words, if you click the Dictionary widget, type a word in its search field. If you click the Stickies widget, type a note or two. If you click the Tile Game widget, start playing.

Widgets
Here's a closer look at the widgets you'll find preinstalled in Dashboard, and how to use them.

Many widgets feature user options on their backsides so you can select the information to
display, such as the time in a chosen city in this World Clock widget.

Widget Manager
This widget manages other widgets. Uncheck Widgets that you don't want to use anymore and it will hide and disable them. You can keep check of all your available widgets from here.

Address Book
This widget feeds off Address Book proper, enabling you to look up a person's email address, phone number, and mailing address quickly. Just start typing a name in the search field, or click the arrow buttons to step through all entries.

Business
The Business widget is a great directory of local businesses and substitute for your yellow pages. Just type a business name or category (like "pizza") in the search field, and view your results in the expanded window. To change the local city, click the "i" button; enter a city, state, or zip code; and click Done.

Calculator
This electronic version works just like its real-world counterpart, letting you add, subtract, multiply, and divide numbers without thought. You can enter numbers by clicking the buttons or pressing the numeric keys on your keyboard.

Dictionary
 Get word definitions, synonyms, and antonyms for any English language word you type in the search field. And because the dictionary is built into Leopard, you don't need an Internet connection to get this information.

ESPN
For sports fans, this widget displays the latest scores and news for your favorite baseball, basketball, football, and hockey teams. Just click the "i" button in the upper-right corner and choose a sport from the pop-up menu. When finished, click "News" to view the latest news feeds from ESPN or "Scores" to see how well your team is faring.

Flight Tracker
View the flight paths of practically any upcoming or in-progress flight around the world. Just choose an airline, departure city, and arrival city from the pop-up menus (or enter the information in the fields), click Find Flights, select the flight in the results, and click Track Flight.

Google
When you need information fast, just type what you're looking for into this widget to make Google scour the Internet on your command. Your default web browser will automatically open to display the search results.

iCal
This widget allows you to view the current day and date in a small calendar, as well as view days and dates in the future and past. Just click the up or down arrow buttons to jump through the calendar by month.

iTunes
This widget allows you to control iTunes playback (iTunes must be open for this to work). You can use the widget controls to play, pause, and skip forward and backward through songs in your iTunes Library or a playlist, or listen to Internet radio. You can even control volume with a twist of the outer dial.

Movies
Heading out to enjoy a movie? Use this widget to look up information about the latest releases and find show times at local theaters. Not sure if you would enjoy the movie? Watch movie trailers right in Dashboard, then click to buy tickets.

People
Feeling out of touch with friends and family? Don't use that old excuse of losing their phone numbers. Look them up with this widget, which can look up residential phone numbers by area. Just enter a first name, last name, and a city and state or zip code.

Ski Report
Find out the current weather and snow conditions at popular skiing locations across the country and head for the hills. Just click the "i" button in the bottom-right corner and type the name of a resort to get the current conditions, including the new snowfall, base depth, and temperature.

Stickies
Just like the paper version but for your Mac. Just type notes right on the Stickies pad. To change the paper color and font, click the "i" button in the bottom-right corner. Then select a paper color, choose a font from the Font pop-up menu, choose a font size from the other pop-up menu, and click Done.

Stocks
This widget lets you track your favorite stocks (with up to a 20-minute delay). To enter a company, click the "i" button in the bottom-right corner, type the company's name or ticker symbol in the field, and click Done. To get an overview of your stock's performance, click the company symbol to view a graph that shows the highs and lows over a user-selectable timeframe.

Tile Game
You probably remember this one as a kid; the goal of the game is to rearrange all the tiles so that they form a picture. Just click the widget to make it start scrambling the tiles. Click it again to make it stop. To rearrange tiles, click a tile that borders the empty space to move it in its place, and continue in this manner until you see the picture again.

Translation
For those times when you can't decipher a foreign language phrase, or you need to translate one of your own into another language, this widget comes in handy. Just choose the language that you want to translate from and to using the pop-up menus, and type the word or phrase in the text box below "Translate from." C'est facile!

Unit Converter
If you need to convert weights, measurements, temperatures, speeds, currency, volume, and other items, this widget will do the job. Just choose a unit category from the Convert pop-up menu, choose a unit that you want converted from the bottom-left pop-up menu, choose the unit that you want it converted to in the bottom-right pop-up menu, and enter a value in the left field to view the conversion to its right.

Weather
Be prepared wherever you may roam. The Weather widget displays the current weather conditions for the city of your choice in thermal terms (high, low, and current temperatures) and in current graphical conditions too. Click on the widget for a 5-day forecast. To change the city, click the "i" button; enter a city, state, or zip code; and click Done.

Web Clip
Say you check part of a particular website pretty often. Why not turn it into a widget? In Safari, click the Web Clip icon and select the part of the page you want to turn into a widget. Click Add and Safari launches your brand-new widget in Dashboard. From there you can customize it with a selection of themes. Your new web clip widget is always live, acting just like the website it was clipped from.

World Clock
The World Clock widget displays the local time for many cities around the world. Open multiple windows to keep track of different time zones. To change the city, click the "i" button, choose a continent from the Continent pop-up menu, choose a city from the City pop-up menu, and click Done.

Tip: Want to learn more about Dashboard? Check out the built-in Help guide on your Mac (in the Finder, choose Mac Help from the Help menu, and type dashboard in the search field).

Dashboard Guidelines

Dashboard Programming Topics:
(HTML) (PDF)
Explains Dashboard and WebKit technologies used in widgets.

Dashboard Reference:
(HTML) (PDF)
Explains JavaScript, Info.plist, and other objects used within Dashboard.

Dashboard Tutorial:
(HTML) (PDF)
Explains how to develop a Dashboard widget.

Debugging Dashboard Widgets:
(HTML)
TN2139: Dashboard widget troubleshooting techniques, from start to finish.

Developing Dashboard Widgets:
(HTML)
Learn how to create powerful mini-applications quickly and easily.
(10.4 Tiger Developer Overview)

Intel-Based Macs, Dashboard and Safari:
(HTML)
Details regarding widget and web development for Intel-based Macintosh computers.

Refreshing a widget !

A tough reference to find is keyboard shortcuts within Mac OS X Dashboard.I'm not talking about launching Dashboard - everyone knows you can set "hot keys" or mouse corners to trigger that. I'm referring to keyboard shortcuts once your in Dashboard view.
To refresh a specific widget, click on the widget once, and hit Command + R.

You'll notice a very cool "swirl" effect, which almost looks like a hurricane on a radar screen:


Every widget you refresh will perform this "swirl" action, and subsequently refresh the widget content.
If you're wondering what widget this was that I refreshed, it's the basic weather widget from Apple:

If you manually click the "+" icon in the lower left corner of Dashboard view, your "widget toolbar" will appear along the bottom.

Here you can add or remove widgets from display.
To open this "widget toolbar," you can also hit Command + "+".

That's Command and the "+" key at the same time. Hitting it again will close the "widget toolbar."
This is not so much a keyboard shortcut, but a keyboard adjustment.

If you hold down the "Option" key while in Dashboard view, and hover over a widget, you can manually remove the widget by clicking the "X" in the upper left corner of the widget.

The "X" only appears when you move the mouse over each widget.

This is quicker than opening the "widget toolbar" first, and then removing.
I'm making a list of additional shortcuts that would be useful:

• Much like hitting Command + R refreshes a widget, hitting Command + I should provide info on the widget. (Only applicable for widgets that have a "back side" info panel.)
• Some way of removing widgets without having to manually click the "X". (I'm thinking Command + W or something similar.)