Dashboard widgets on my Mac OS X desktop?

"You'll notice that it lives above everything else on your screen"

Another solution is to use the shareware Amnesty Widget Browser (www.mesadynamics.com) which allows you to keep widgets on the desktop in whatever window layer you like and also make it semi-transparent or lock it in place.

I have set up my Dashboard to open when I press the center button (scroll button) on my mouse.
You can do this through System Preferences... Dashboard & Expose --> select "Middle Mouse Button" in the second drop down menu beside "Dashboard".
I guess this only works if your Apple mouse crapped out on you like mind did and replaced it with a cheaper, more functional mouse.

How do i get a cool desk like this for free ( by saying like this i mean the bottom bar and the left bar ).

http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/1396/evanescenceblue2pz5sv.jpg

Dunno, but that's a pretty cool desktop! Why not ask the owner of the site for help?

I have i just think its wonderfull my desktop is pretty boring but because im still in school ( notschool.net ) http://www.notschool.net i have to be carfull what i put on my computer i can put what i like on it when im 16 because then the computer is fully mine all i want is a simple but effective cool looking desktop…

Dave,
I like your hack for enabling widgets on the desktop but how does one remove a widget using F12 if using a powerbook when the F12 key is mapped to eject command?

Steve Didler:
Hold in fn and press f12

That screenshot is using the Yahoo Widget Engine (available for free for Windows and OS X, this used to be called Konfabulator until Yahoo bought it). The cogwheel icon is the icon of the widget engine, there are thousands of widgets available for the Yahoo Widget enigne.

Also the tabs on the left is most likely DragThing Pro a shareware app. I don't know about the START menu at the bottom, but do you really want your OS X desktop look like Windows (NOoooooo! ;-)

Very very good tricks for imac20, bad for a pbook 12 :)

yes, becouse widget always stay in front of the screen, so it steals too much space!

I acctually think that that might just be windows and with a windows blinds theme, and perhaps the OS X bar across the top is part of the desktop.

That's ridiculous - all this information about widgets was told on the Apple site. Moreover, when you turn devmode on, you can press command-r to refresh (reload) widget with a cool effect.

You don't have to log out. You can simply type in the terminal "killall Dock"

This stopped the magnification of my dock, so I tried to reverse this by changing YES for NO:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode NO

This worked (as did killall Dock) and now I'm back to normal. Pity they don't work together. :(

That's most peculiar, Daniel. I have magnification turned on AND I have my floating widget still showing on my screen. Did you try to turn magnification on from the Dock itself, rather than using the "defaults" command?

Well you convinced me to try again, and lo and behold, success! :D Thanks Davey-T!

Much more simple just to do the following :

1. Go in dashboard (F12 by default)
2. Choose a widget in the widget menu (bottom of screen).
3. As you are dragging the "new" widget, press F12 again, an keep that finger on the mouse.
4. Simply deposite the widget wherever you want it on your desktop and let go of the mouse click.
5. Voilà !

how do i reverse this effect. i am done with the widget and its irritating me that its stuck over all my open apps.

when I open a new window on my desktop I cannot make it small enough to fit on the screen so that I can see the complete window. I tried sizing type down and various other things in the view mode but nothing helps. I tried to move it up by grabbing the window on the sides, but it does not move. HEEEELLLP!

MaggieVee, what happens when you click on the small green button on the top left of the window?

HOW TO GET WIDGETS ON YOUR REGULAR DESK TOP WITH OUT ANY MESS:

1 - PRESS F12
2 - CLICK THE (+) TO ADD A NEW WIDGET
3 - DRAG THE WIDGET ON TO THE SCREEN
(IMPORTANT DO NOT LET GO OF THE MOUSE BOTTON AT THIS POINT)
4 - WHILST YOU ARE STILL HOLDING ON TO YOUR WIDGET WITH YOUR MOUSE PRESS F12
5 - NOW RELESE THE WIDGET. WOW AND YOU HAVE NOW GOT A WIDGET ON YOUR REGULAR DESKTOP.

TO GET RIDE OF IT SIMPLY PRESS F12 AGAIN AND CLOSE IT IN YOUR WIDGETS SCREEN.

HOPE THIS ANSWERS ALL YOUR QUESTIONS

Thanks for that, exactly what I needed :)

Now have digital clock showing beneath our custom made Time Attendance system running on Mini Macs on the factory floor :)

I already have the weather widget in my dash and desktop; but is it possible to embed the html of a widget on a weather web page? And what would the weather dashboard html code be? Thanks

how to move my widgets logo back to my dashboard desktop? i did move it from there unintentionally and it vanished...what can i do?? i have tried all you mentioned a few lines back but it didnt work.

thanks for all
mar merino

I have a student that wants to use the program "Blender" on a new mac (osx 10.4.9). The program requires the use of a scroll button on the mouse but everytime he uses the scroll button it brings up widgets. Is there an easy fix to this predicament.

The thing about the mess of widgets on your desktop is really annoying. is it possible to make it part of your desktop but still dragable with Terminal

The widgets work and are sticking to my desktop - however, they are placed on top of my windows and sometimes cause distraction and block my view of web pages open. How do I make it so that the widgets are on my desktop but not covering my opened windows?

please help me! I have followed the instructions and can put the widgets on my desktop but now i can't seem to put it back onto my dashboard!!! pressing f12 does not seem to bring up my dashboard and i have some big things stuck on the face of my desktop! Please help!!!

please disregard the previous post, i have sloved the problem. pple if you have an ibook just press fn f12 to bring up the dashboard.

" is it possible to make it part of your desktop but still dragable with Terminal"

Not with Terminal. But you can do this with Amnesty.

The F12 tip worked for me on 10.4.11. Thanks!

I have leopard instaled in a Macbook, and I lost all of the widgets, I have them but the F12, does not work, and when I touch the dashboard icon it appears but with out the widgets, can any person help me on this

Thanks

How do I turn devmode back off? I want to completely reverse this effect, as my computer has been acting quirky since trying this. Thanks,

Tyler

Dave (sorry for the name misprint on previous email)
I found your widget trick very helpful. I have developed a series of films that are in a quicktime format. I have loaded them into a play list in itunes and the presentation work very well, however, during the prolonged presentation i.e. days,weeks,months and years, I would also like to have tickershock and weather overlaid at all times, I can't figure out how to do this. Can you help!

Harvey

Question regarding wigets:
If a wiget appears in the "Manage wigets" list but is NOT active on the dashboard, is it still utilizing the system's resources? (i.e. updating the information in the wiget or performing it's function) or is it completely released from the system resources until you enable it in the dashboard?

Nice hack! Now I can see Yahoo videos while working.
Thanks!

How the hell does this work with Leopard 10.5.4? - F12 - Drag - F12 - and drop doesn't work for me. Although I activated dev settings via terminal ...:-(

@Jo-Chen : Works with Superdocker - check it out ! http://www.ed-shiro.net/?p=38

I found it useful. Thanks

How to remove widget from my desktop on macbook pro, help

Instead of logging out and then back in again just type

killall Dock

into the terminal to restart the dashboard.

An easy way to remove a widget from the desktop is to click on the widget and then press the Option key; a black X will appear and if you click this you will have removed the widget.. tested on Macbook pro with Leopard.

Imm in love with the dashboard too but i only have a dell at home can you help me get them, or something close on my Dell

hello, im a student and my friend who doesn't own a mac saved an innapropriate video onto my dashboard as a widget, and now every time i click on dashboard i can hear the video and not turn it off, but i cannot see it to click the usual black x to erase. any help would be very much appreciated on how to get rid of it.
cheers

The dictionary widget on my dashboard summons what's identified as the Oxford American dictionary. But it lacks many words I want to look up. Can that dictionary be replaced with another one? Or can I make another widget that will summon the web site of another dictionary?

OK, I've been trying to get widgets to stay on my desktop in 'devmode' and I finally got it to work however with some important differences in the steps taken.

* First off I don't have an Apple keyboard so I had an issue with the F12 key being mapped to the eject function. To get around this log out and log back in ~ this 'resets' the eject mechanism, basically if u press F12 it will work as F12, if you hold it down it will work as an eject operation. In short there's some sort of bug with this on first boot-up, the log-out/in cures it.

* Next you can follow any of the steps above to get into 'devmode', personally I used the Devmode widget -> it's simple and makes switching it on or off easy.

* The most *important part*, press F12, click on the + plus sign on the dashboard, drag out a widget you like, DROP the widget (very important), again click on the widget you just dropped, while moving the widget around press F12. You're widget should now stay on the desktop. The most important part is dropping the widget first, on my system if I held onto the widget and pressed F12 it would disappear along with the dashboard.

Hope this helps with anyone who has been in Widget Hell.

OK, I've been trying to get widgets to stay on my desktop in 'devmode' and I finally got it to work however with some important differences in the steps taken.

* First off I don't have an Apple keyboard so I had an issue with the F12 key being mapped to the eject function. To get around this log out and log back in ~ this 'resets' the eject mechanism, basically if u press F12 it will work as F12, if you hold it down it will work as an eject operation. In short there's some sort of bug with this on first boot-up, the log-out/in cures it.

* Next you can follow any of the steps above to get into 'devmode', personally I used the Devmode widget -> it's simple and makes switching it on or off easy.

* The most *important part*, press F12, click on the + plus sign on the dashboard, drag out a widget you like, DROP the widget (very important), again click on the widget you just dropped, while moving the widget around press F12. You're widget should now stay on the desktop. The most important part is dropping the widget first, on my system if I held onto the widget and pressed F12 it would disappear along with the dashboard.

Hope this helps with anyone who has been in Widget Hell.

Hi Dave,

My language translation and it seem doesn't appear anything if I typed something on it. Can you please help to solve it?

Hello,

is it normal that the widget dropped on the desktop always stay on front ?

Is it possible to send him background when opening an other window ?

Thanks for answers

Is this process completely reversable? Does this affect any other settings on my MB? I'm always weary about messing with terminal. Should I back my stuff up before trying this?

Hi Dave,
I am having a problem with some of my widgets, the calender, weather and stock widgets all have white out lined type instead of solid white type.
I'm on a Mac Pro running the latest update to Leopard, any ideas?

Hi Dave,
I have a few widgets on my desktop now, however they are on top of all other windows. Is there a way of having them on my desktop but be behind the application i'm using i.e Safari?

Hi, I tryed this and did not worked! I have Mac OS 10.5.8, and that command did nothing! I tryed OnYX but there is no "preferences" options....I can't do them!

Same here. I'm running MacOS 10.5.8 and still not able to get the widget stay on my desktop. F12 just vanishes the widgets even when I'm holding.