When Apple promise that the ease of making Dashboard Widgets would lead to a steady flow of third - party extras , little did they get it on that flow would turn out to be a flash flood tide . In the three weeks since Tiger was release , over 300 Widgets have been post toDashboardWidgets.com , and Apple ’s ownDashboard Widgetspage lean over 200 .
Since you probably do n’t want to download and try all of these third - company Widgets — even if youcouldfit them all on your screen at the same time — we’ve necessitate it upon ourselves here at Mac Gems HQ to find some of the estimable for you via periodical “ whatchamacallit of the hebdomad ” installments . We ’ll play up some of the Widgets we ’ve found to be especially utile or well - designed , and we ’ll also occasionally taper out whatsis that may have seemed like good ideas , but turned out to be a second , well , silly .
Without further ado , today ’s Widgets :
Air Traffic Control (; free ) . If you ’ve get an AirPort - equipped Mac , this Widget display nearby wireless connection , including each meshwork ’s name , channel , sign force , and security position ; clicking the connection name seek to connect you to it .
Scoreboard (; free ; command lively Internet connection ) . baseball game devotee will do it this Widget , which have you supervise the solar day ’s games in real meter . By nonpayment , Scoreboard scrolls through all games being play on the current mean solar day , but you’re able to also tell it to monitor just your favored squad — you’re able to even run multiple instances of Scoreboard to monitor multiple games . selective information on the scoreboard includes the grudge ; the current count ( testicle , strikes , outs ) ; and absorb base . Clicking on any game in the Scoreboard assume you to the FoxSports.com Sir Frederick Handley Page for that game . One drawback : Scoreboard does n’t signal which team is up to bat — if you know which squad is the home team , you’re able to tell from the inning status ( for instance ,Top 5 ) , but it would be squeamish if the squad that ’s up to bat was exhibit in bluff or otherwise designated .
XwordLookup (; free ) . If you expend your free clip solving crossword mystifier , and do n’t heed a little cheat , XwordLookup may become your Modern best friend . Ca n’t figure out a word ? typewrite the pattern gibe what you ’ve got so far — for model , d .. ed — and XwordLookup will display word equalize that pattern ( in this case , bedaze , stud , dowed , dozed , and dried ) . Granted , the lists are n’t exhaustive , but they ’re pretty good — by default option , XwordLookup habituate /usr / share / dict / web2 , one of Mac OS X ’s build - in lexicon containing about 235,000 dustup . ( you may pick out to use any text file as the dictionary instead . ) One glitch I ’ve experienced : If too many words jibe , the list sometimes flows off the Widget . Nevertheless , XwordLookup is a groovy usefulness for fill in the those last few space in your crossword puzzles .
BatteryInfo (; free ) . I ’ve learn a few people criticize “ barrage status ” Widgets as useless , but I imagine they ’re great . After all , I don’tneedto see the status of my PowerBook ’s battery all the time , so most of the time the battery condition ikon in the menu measure is just take up worthful real estate . ( Those who ’ve see my bill of fare bar fuck that I need all the space I can get up there . ) With the appropriate Widget for Dashboard , I can quickly check off my battery ’s charge and then get back to work . Of the battery Widget ’s I ’ve see , BatteryInfo is clearly the best . In add-on to being the most attractive , it ’s also set out the most features : Like Apple ’s card bar shelling monitor , it shows a visual representation of your bombardment ’s stay on commission , and you’re able to also have it display the time or pct charge remain .
Widget “ Why ? ” of the hebdomad
One of the outstanding things about Dashboard Widgets is that since they ’re comprised of mainly HTML , CSS , and JavaScript , anyone with a just background signal in Web design can make one — thus open up “ app ” programing to many more mass . Of naturally , this lowering of the roadblock to introduction also has a consequence : risky thingmabob . OK , maybe notbad , but things that make you go , “ Hmmm … ” ( due credit to the horrible 90s song of the same name ) .
Do n’t get me wrong — I spat anyone with the ability and wherewithal to create a Dashboard Widget . Although it ’s easier than creating the next Photoshop , it ’s still not trivial . But sometimes I see a thingumajig and wonderment , “ Why was this necessary ? ”
Take theFirefox Live Download Counter . This Widget does one affair : It displays the estimate number of time the Firefox WWW web internet browser has been downloaded , update in realtime . I guess I can understand why the Firefox development squad might find this thingumajig interesting , but why would anyone else ?
But what ’s even more amazing is that this is n’t the only Firefox download replication Widget — there ’s also asecondone , called — appropriately enough — theFirefox Download Counter . So if you need an estimate of the numeral of times Firefox has been downloaded , at your fingertips and up to the minute , you have achoiceof Widgets to apply . Who says there is n’t enough software for the Mac ?
