Showing posts with label Dashboard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dashboard. Show all posts

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Killing Dashboard Widgets the Jedi's Way

When you get bored of a widget (hopefully not the MacNify widget), you probably will want to get rid of it and free up some precious screen space.

To close a widget, you click the little "x" button which can usually be found at the top-left corner of the widget. But first you will need to make those "x" buttons show up on screen, a move that can be very clumsy unless the force is with you.

The standard way

The standard way of closing a door is to walk to door and close it. The standard way of closing a widget is to pull out the widget panel, which also causes the "x" buttons of all the widgets to show up on screen, then click on the one that belongs to the widget you wish to close.

The Jedi's way

The jedi's way of closing the door is to remain at where you are and force-grib the door to close it. The jedi's way of closing a widget is to press-hold the option key and mouse-over the widget, a trick which reveals the "x" button of that widget alone, then click on the button and close the widget.
Besides being the über cool way of closing a widget, this trick is the only way to close the widgets you have placed outside the dashboard.

Go kill the Sith... I mean widgets

Your training is now over. Go to the Dashboard System at the outer rim and destroy as many widgets as you wish. May the force be with you.

There I said it all. Now's your turn to translate this article into Yoda's grammar.

Yet another Mac tip is on the Web!

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Updated Tips On Dashboard Tricks

Hope you have been having fun with flipping widgets in and out of dashboard.

There's a newly added command as well as the updated mini app with the trick. Basically it's about how to complete the trick without having to log-out and log-in for changes to take effect. Go check it out!

This is how the mini app's icon looks like.

p/s: the mini app is finally uploaded and ready for download.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Free Your Widgets From Dashboard (Part I)

How about placing your favorite widgets on your desktop?

With the launch of MacNify Widget, I'd love to unveil what is possibly the best trick on Dashboard.

You can use widgets outside dashboard too!

Do Yourself Some UNIX Commands

  1. Fire up Terminal, and run the command: defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES

  2. To verify the changes, run defaults read com.apple.dashboard devmode. It should return you a YES, which means that dashboard is running in development mode.

  3. Lastly, run killall Dock. This will kill the Dock...duh! But Mac will immediately start a new one and reload your dashboard as well.
*if you wish to restore to normal mode, simply type defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode NO.

If There is Part I, There Must Be Part II

Just in case you find the UNIX commands too daunting, I have created a mini application to do just that for you. But you see, my current download bandwidth is all taken up by the MacNify Widget. Many readers have not been able to download the widget and I know it sucks. Therefore I really am not going to put more things there just to disappoint you. I'll leave the direct download of the mini app to Part II of this topic, when I finally find a host with generous bandwidth. Meanwhile, if you are keen on trying out the mini app, you can place a request at macnify@yahoo.com and I will send it to you. You are encouraged to share it with friends too!

Show me the Mm...magic!

After running the UNIX command or the mini app, you are good to go. Let's do the trick!
  1. Launch dashboard by clicking the dashboard toggle key (e.g. F12, depending on your settings in Preference->'Dashboard & Exposé').

  2. Click on any widget and drag a little. Here's the catch: while dragging, hit the dashboard toggle key once. WHALAH! Now the widget is on your desktop, and it stays on top of all windows, all the time!
*repeating step 2 with the widgets on your desktop will bring them back to dashboard.

Show it off

With this trick you can now use your favorite widgets without even launching the Dashboard, and perhaps wow a few friends who don't read MacNify!



p/s: the mini app is finally uploaded and ready for download.

Yet another Mac tip is on the web!