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What's a widget and what does it have to do with Dashboard?

J

jayeskreezy

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 3, 2005
1,137
0
Ok so I have had a mac for a couple of years, but I have no idea what a widget or dashboard is. I have a 1st generation mini and I dont even know about the dashboard and all of that stuff.

I keep hearing about widgets and stuff and I was looking online for an ebay tool to use for my mac and I kept being brought back to yahoo widgets. I'm confused.

How do I access the dashboard easily?
What's a widget?
Which ones are useful and does the new mbp come with some already?
 
Have you read this?

...And if you have Mac OS X Tiger, then you access Dashboard by pressing F12 on your keyboard.


EDIT: Darn, stop putting words in my mouth mad jew! :p
 
Wow...OK. So, Dashboard is a program which allows lots of small applications to be run on your computer. Things like news updates, stock tickers, weather reports, unit converters, etc. The applications(which are the Widgets) are invisible until you launch Dashboard by either clicking on it in the Dock, or by pressing F12. You can download widgets from Apple's website, and 3rd party websites. For more information, just go to Apple's website and search for "Dashboard."

Edit: By the time I finished writing this, two others had posted(with links too!). Guess it's time for bed.
 
And yet another description:

Widgets ares tiny single function programs designed to provide fast access to certain types of data or functionality.

The Apple widget mechanism is designed to provide rapid access to the widgets without taking up additional screen area. They load in on a screen overlay and go away when not being used.

Some widgets use processor cycles even when not visible, this may cause a mild performance drop. (I believe that some of the widgets using the UNITY engine may suffer from this)

Sopranino
 
thanks everyone...now it makes so much more sense...are there any ebay ones that let you monitor your MyEbay that are free?
 
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