Widgets on the Desktop

We've been asked how to put widgets on the desktop instead of keeping them in Dashboard. Here are two potential solutions:

1. Widgets Preference Pane - 1.0 (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/27161)

Product Description:

Dashboard Widgets are fun, but they have brought with them several new headaches for Mac users: Management - If you use Safari, or you know where Widgets are supposed to be installed, installing and removing Widgets is easy. If you don't, how to manage your Widgets can be a real mystery. Security - The first version of Tiger opened a big Widget-shaped security hole in Mac OS X. The 10.4.1 update tries to fix this, but it could have done more. Customization - Don't like Dashboard? Want to use Widgets outside of the Dashboard? Want to use a different image for your Widget "shelf"? All of these things are possible, but Apple didn't give you an easy way to do any of them. Our Widgets Preference Pane for Mac OS X allows you to truly take control of your Widgets by allowing you to: See all of your installed Widgets and deactivate, activate or delete any of them. Install new Widgets with a simple drag and drop. Secure both the System and User Widget folders via Tiger's new Access Control List (ACL) security system. Control Safari's "Open Safe Files" function. Disable the Dashboard completely. Allow Widgets on the Desktop. Change the the Dashboard shelf graphic. (We even provide 4 great new graphics to get you started!) Unlike similar utilities, there's no rebooting required and no logging out and back in. Everything happens immediately, and you control it all from one convenient preference pane. (As an added bonus, a Universal Binary version of the Widgets Preference Pane is included on the disk image.)

Product Requirements:  Mac OS X 10.4 or later

2. Amnesty Widget Browser - 1.1.1 (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/26627)

Product Description:

Amnesty Widget Browser is a utility for Mac OS X Tiger and Panther (10.3.9) that allows Dashboard widgets to live directly on your desktop via a convenient icon in your system menu bar.

Widgets loaded in Amnesty Widget Browser run completely outside of Apple's Dashboard environment, maintain their own preferences and feature expanded capabilities such as adjustable window level (desktop, standard or floating), opacity (transparency) and shape (now you can rotate and scale your widgets so they fit on your desktop where you want them). Widgets can also be arranged into multiple virtual workspaces that can be called up—by menu or hot key—to the screen at any time.

This "independence" from Dashboard means Panther users can—for the first time—get in on Apple's widget experience, using Amnesty Widget Browser to run many third-party Dashboard widgets (a library of sample widgets is bundled with every copy).

Fully functional 30 day trial.

3. There are also some ways to make getting to your widgets easier.

Setting shortcuts for Dashboard and Exposé

Using the Dashboard & Exposé pane of System Preferences, you can change the shortcut keys that you use to open Dashboard or activate Exposé.

You can also assign "hot corners" on your screen to open Dashboard and activate Exposé. To use a hot corner, move your mouse to the corresponding corner of your display.

If you have a Mighty Mouse, you can assign mouse buttons to open Dashboard or activate Exposé. The mouse comes configured with the scroll-ball button set to open Dashboard.

1. Open System Preferences and click Dashboard & Exposé.
2. To select actions for hot corners, choose them from the Active Screen Corners pop-up menus.
3. To change a keyboard shortcut, choose one from the corresponding pop-up menu. To modify the shortcut, hold down the Shift, Command, Option, or Control keys--or a combination of these keys--then choose a shortcut from the menu.
4. If you have a Mighty Mouse, you will see two columns of pop-up menus in "Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts." Use the menus on the right to assign mouse buttons to open Dashboard or activate Exposé. To modify the shortcut, hold down the Shift, Command, Option, or Control keys--or a combination of these keys--then choose a shortcut from the menu. Button 3 refers to the scroll-ball button and Button 4 refers to the pair of side buttons on the Mighty Mouse.

You can also assign a hot corner to control the screen saver in Dashboard & Exposé preferences.