So, anyone stumbled across any new tricks for doing things like force-quitting background processes?

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Just open Terminal, and:

kill Dock

and the Dock will quit/vanish, then reload.

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DUH!

It *should* be:

killall Dock

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I prefer

killall -HUP Dock

his results in a much nicer shutdown of the dock, its really like sending a Quit+Restart command to the Dock, rather than a Force Quit

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The GUI way is to quit or force-quit the process from Activity Monitor's list. This is especially helpful if you're not quite sure how to spell the name of the process you want to quit.

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Thank-you for this it was really helpful. I love Wordpress, but it can be frustrating at times.
http://www.24-7bookie.com

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Dunno why, but does not work for me :(

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Jnm.

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Actually, when you write 'devomde' instead of 'devmode', obviously, it does not work ;)

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Jnm.

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is there a way to make widgets not to float above all windows?

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3mors

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OK, this is when Dashboard widgets become DA's as back in System 6.. small useful 'apps' that you can drag out in the 'open'.

The calculator makes Much More sence to me now...!

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/Marook

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TO UNDO THIS ...

Following this hint adds a missing feature (static placement of Widgets).

You can also start dragging a Widget, then hit your Hotkey (F-12 or whatever); and place the Widget back inside Dashboard.

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-- PGP

G5 DP2.5 / 2.5GB RAM

It's so fast I get tired just watching it ...

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Wow, this makes the dashboard infinitely more useful and pretty much destroys all of the complaints I'd heard about it. I don't even have Tiger yet, but thanks!

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A couple notes from playing around with this:
1. I was only able to do this if I dragged to create a new (or new instance of a) widget from the Dashboard Dock, *not* an existing open widget.
2. I was able to do this without devmode on.
3. The widget disappears the next time you hit F12 (and because of this, you can only have one widget on the desktop at a time). I was especially disappointed to learn this as I strongly believe that some of these widgets are really only useful if they are permanently on your desktop. i.e. why bother opening Dashboard to use the iTunes widget when you can open iTunes from your dock just as quickly? This is a lot of what made Konfabulator so fabulously useful and why they need to rethink things for Dashboard 2.0.

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A couple notes from playing around with this: 1. I was only able to do this if I dragged to create a new (or new instance of a) widget from the Dashboard Dock, *not* an existing open widget.

That's because you didn't enable devmode.

2. I was able to do this without devmode on.

...as I said above.

3. The widget disappears the next time you hit F12 (and because of this, you can only have one widget on the desktop at a time). I was especially disappointed to learn this as I strongly believe that some of these widgets are really only useful if they are permanently on your desktop.

Again, because you didn't enable devmode.

If you don't enable devmode, yes, you can drag them from the shelf and hit F12, and then it will be on your desktop, but only until the next time Dashboard is invoked, as you noted.

But if you enable devmode (and then log out, and log back in, or do a 'killall Dock' to cause the settings to be applied), then you can:

1. Activate Dashboard.

2. Take a widget that is already in the Dashboard environment (i.e., NOT in the shelf) and begin dragging it, but don't let go of the mouse.

3. While still holding the mouse, exit Dashboard with the keystroke you have set for it (by default, F12), then let go of the mouse.

4. The widget will remain on the desktop, even when Dashboard is activated and deactivated, and you can do this for multiple widgets.

However, they'll all be floating above everything, and there aren't any Konfabulator-like settings for things like transparency, which layer they're attached to, and so on.

i.e. why bother opening Dashboard to use the iTunes widget when you can open iTunes from your dock just as quickly? This is a lot of what made Konfabulator so fabulously useful and why they need to rethink things for Dashboard 2.0.

*Sigh*

That's because Dashboard isn't supposed to be Konfabulator. Konfabulator is Konfabulator.

Aside from all of this, give it a week or two and there will be a utility that lets you manipulate Dashboard widgets *exactly* like you were able to in Konfabulator, and then some.

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Hi Folks, Thanks for the info.
works great for me as I can view a widget on the desktop.
However how does one keep it so i can add another widget ??
Also how do you save dashboard settings with widgets on dekstop ??

Colin


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Has anyone figured out a way to quit Dashboard? I really don't need the bloat, and 99% of the stuff in Dashboard is also available on the web. My browser is usually open...

dictionary, wikkipedia, flight info, package tracking, weather, dumm jokes, yellow pages, etc. etc.

When they got rid of the DA's I was bummed at first, but then I realized that anything that can be a DA, can also be an app, so why bother with two categories. We already have a dock, and we already have small apps. Why bother with some convoluted nonsense?

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Can't you just shutdown the various widgets? They are after all just a series of mini apps.

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Sorry, I haven't but widgets don't seem to take up any CPU time when inactive. I wonder if Dashboard does. Overall, Tiger is much more efficient in its CPU/memory managment than Panther was... so it may at least not cost you much if anything.

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Just drag it out of the dock, disable the hotkey, and your set. Dashboard only starts up the first time you activate it.

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Delete my set ... of what? What set are you telling us to delete?

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osxpounder

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Heh, that's funny. He means "Delete the Dashboard Icon from your Dock, Disable the Dashboard Hotkey (F12) and then 'you will be all set'"

Grammar on the web.

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You can use a prefpane called DashOnOff it is here: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/18261

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-Mr. Unknown-

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you actually don't need to use that defaults command. the rest of the hint (dragging a widget off of the shelf, hitting F12, and dropping the widget) works just fine without it.

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Disinformation. If you don't set the devmode default, your widgets will disappear from the desktop back to the Dashboard when you hit F12 again.

You CAN move a widget to the dashboard without following the instructions, but it isn't NEARLY as useful.

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There's a bug though:

When you have dragged a widget out of the Dashboard layer you can make it go into Widget Limbo like this: press and hold the mouse button over the widget; do not move the mouse. Press F12. Release the mouse button.

The widget will now belong outside (beneath) Dashboard, but only be visible (in a darkened state) when Dashboard is active. So it's not possible to close it nor move it. (Normally you can hold the Option key to close a widget)

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Amazing! Works just like it should now. Of course, it is kind of sad that we had to use a developer trick to get similar functionality to the great program Konfabulator. Somebody mentioned previously that they could only have one open at a time using Dashboard and this hint: I can open as many as I like and place them anywhere on the screen. Got my stocks up, the weather, itunes remote, and stickies all while typing this. Thanks,

Jim

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Jim: Exactly how did you go about detaching more than one widget to the desktop at a time? I can't get more than one to display at a time.

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Here's how I did it:

1) Moved a Widget from Dashboard to the Desktop
2) Moved another Widget from the Dashboard to the Desktop

Of course, if you forgot to follow the instructions in this OSXHint, then nothing will work right. Do that first...

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Pretty straightforward. I just enabled the dev tools as per the hint, hit F12, dragged the widget I wanted, and while clicking on the widget hit F12 again. I can do that for as many widgets as I like, and they'll stay on the desktop.

-Jim

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Actually, if you actually shake the widget around a lot, it works the same way as well.

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The widgets can be brought to the desktop using this technique, but I (at least) can't get them to accept any typed input. I can't enter text into Stickies when it's on the desktop, for example, and I can't enter any text into the translation widget.

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Works fine for me.

I tested with Stickies and the translation widget. Both allowed me to place the cursor in them, and accepted text input.

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Just tested it again. I am currently staring at a yellow sticky on my desktop with no cursor in it. When I move the pointer over it, the italic "i" appears on the lower right, and if I click it, I get to choose colors and fonts. That bit works. But text entry doesn't.

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If anyone else is using case-sensitive HFS, the command above won't work. The file you're editing is com.apple.dashboard.plist, not com.apple.Dashboard.plist. So you have to type

defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES

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Worked great for me "NOW", but does anyone know how to move them to the back so they are not on top of everything

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I was able to drag a widget into "plain view" without changing anything using defaults.

1. Start by pressing F12 or whatever your definded key is.
2. Click on the Dashboard's shelf button (is there a name for that?).
3. Drag out a new widget and while still holding the mouse button down, press F12 again.

That's it. To move a widget back into the Dashboard layer, click and hold the mouse on the one you want to get rid of, press F12, and release the mouse button.

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Adam Spector.

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This will allow you to put only a single widget on the desktop and only until you press F12 again. Try it.

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This works great but since I did this now when I hold option and mouse over a widget I dont get a good close button.... it flashes and wont close... how do I undo the detach widget.... I want to see if that will set it back to normal..
Thanks guys

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Well, that was fast:

Amnesty Widget Browser is a utility for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger 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 independent of Apple's Dashboard environment, maintain their own preferences and feature additional properties such as window depth and opacity.

It looks like this tool provides all the features of Konfabulator that were missing in Dashboard. Cool.

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Got a strange colateral effect though : When using this hint, it disables the dock magnification.

Actually the dock works fine before dragging the widget out of dashboard, but magnification stops as soon as I drag it.

disabling the hint solves the problem.


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Great hint.

But do this: after you get the widget on your desktop, check your system resources. The widget (clock, in my case) was taking 12-15% cpu (1GHz G4) time until I dropped it back into the dashboard.


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While playing with todays The Pick of the week,

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050607132656591

I discovered that I can do the detached
widget without doing the devmode.

I have checked the plist and it is set to NO.



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mh

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Of course, there's also Amnesty (see post above) if you want more control over your widgets that dev mode offers (like embedding widgets in your desktop or setting your widgets semi-opaque and click-through).

and Amnesty is also the only way for Panther users to enjoy these great widgets, though the PotW doesn't seem to work in in yet :-(





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If you are already digging through the defaults database, there is another option: Set the key "in-layer" to "NO"! This will move the widget out of the the Dashboard layer into the screen layer. You only need to restart the Dock to make things happen. Suchan on-screen not-in-layer widget is slightly different from a developer mode layer. To remove it, it must be removed from Dashboard by using the close-button. Or you put it into that layer by changing that flag again.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>layer-gadgets</key>
    <array>
        <dict>
            <key>id</key>
            <string>41a07b4761b3ce21</string>
            <key>in-layer</key>
            <true/>
            <key>path</key>
            <string>/Library/Widgets/Weather.wdgt/</string>
            <key>percent-offset-x</key>
...
    

This is from my "com.apple.dashboard.plist" file.

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Well, some odd comments in here.

1. Dock magnification does work OK.
2. It is necessary to set the default right - but only once ever - except maybe some developer application enables dev mode.
3. You can drag as many widgets out of dashboard as you like - once you have more than a few outside of dashboard, you see the logic behind having the dashboard layer.
4. Of course most of the functionality is on the web - pretty much all the data comes from the web. The point of dashboard is to make frequently used stuff more quickly accessible - or alternatively, so you don't have to remember how to get at it.

You don't, however, have to log out. If you quit the dock (using Activity Monitor), then it will restart automatically and pick up the new default.

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Ian Eiloart

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I active dashboard by draging my mouse into the bottom left corner of my screen.

I can drag widgets out of the dashboard as described, but only by pressing the F12 key, really I want to drag the widget into the corner and move it in or out of the dashboard!

Any ideas?


Ben.

P.S.
In my opition:
Best way to activate developer mode is using DevMode:
http://homepage.mac.com/neticen/devmode.html (you can keep it closed when you've used it)

Best way to restart the Dashboard (Dock) is using quitDock:
http://www.ben-robinson.com/software/quitDock.asp (yes it is mine, but I made it because I couldn't find a better way!)

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Iam confused.
I opened terminal wrote the mentioned string, logged out - logged in - pressed f12, choose the widget pressed f12 again while holding mouse button - released mouse button.
the widget ist available as long as i have dashboard activated. when i close dashboard its gone =(
any idea?
i installed the dev mode widget and its telling me "dev mode on"

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In order for the widget to stay on your desktop after you switch to the Dashboard and back, you have to open it in Dashboard first, THEN drag it to the desktop by grabbing it and pushing F12.

If you drag it from the widget list at the bottom of Dashboard directly to the desktop, it'll disappear from the desktop next time you switch to Dashboard and back.

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Whiles this hint is sure handy and useful I am looking for info that is a lot less useful.

Is there a way to edit the dashboard plist file or another plist file so that people with unsupported computers get the water drop effect?



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I don't think so, because the waterdrop effect depends on features in graphics hardware not present in unsupported graphics chipsets.

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Simple way to make Devmode go on and off is a free widget called Dev Mode!
http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Dashboard-Widgets/Webcams/Miscellaneous/DevMode.shtml

Click on for Devmode on - click off for devmode off

Then it is even easier to use this widget moving trick

G5 2.4Ghz duo 10.5.2




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Another utility that makes this easy is TinkerTool, http://www.bresink.com/osx/TinkerTool.html

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I am using this forum from last 2 years, i really love to spend my time there and read all different developments, this makes the dashboard infinitely more useful and pretty much destroys all of the complaints I'd heard about it. I don't even have Tiger yet, but thanks! 642-812 642-436

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Dashboard is an application for Apple's Mac OS X operating systems, used for hosting mini-applications known as widgets. First introduced in Tiger, it is a semi-transparent layer that is invisible to the user unless activated by clicking its icon in the Dock. Alternatively, the user can invoke Dashboard by moving the cursor into a preassigned hot corner, or by pressing a hot key, both of which can be set to the user's website hosting preference. When Dashboard is activated, the user's desktop is dimmed and widgets appear in the foreground. Like application windows, they can be moved around, rearranged, deleted, and recreated (so that more than one of the same Widget is open at the same time, possibly with different settings). New widgets can be opened, via an icon bar on the bottom of the layer, by dragging a widget icon out into the layer. After loading, the widget is ready for use. Dashboard widgets are created using Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Cascading dedicated server Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript. Because the same languages are used for creating websites, many web developers can already build them. Widgets themselves are, at the core, simply HTML files that are displayed within the Dashboard layer; they use the WebKit application framework that is also used in Apple's Safari web browser, meaning even users running earlier versions of Mac OS X — where Dashboard is unavailable.

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Today Freemacware reader Fred wrote to ask if there was a free alternative to Amnesty Widget Browser, a $20 application for running Dashboard widgets outside of Dashboard. I don't know of any free application like Affiliate Programs, but there are two free methods for running widgets "outside" of Dashboard, both from http://www.macosxhints.com:

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