Programming Widgets for Dashboard

[Carlos Camacho]

With so much excitement over Tiger, and its Dashboard feature, this new board (http://www.idevapps.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=16) has been created to allow for discussions on programming widgets. If you haven't already, take a look at ADC's "Dashboard Programming Guide (http://developer.apple.com/documentation/AppleApplications/Conceptual/Dashboard_Tutorial/index.html)."

Please feel free to post your screenshots and WIP (work-in progress) tidbits of widget programming to this thread.

Hopefully with more widget development, and community participation, we can run small contests for widget programming, much like iDevGames (http://www.idevgames.com/) does with its various game contests.

Regards,

[iman1003]

I am currently working on a Periodic Table widget. The final version should have the following information on each element:

Atomic Number
Symbol
Atomic Weight
State at STP
Group/Series Information
Radioactivity/Man-made

Other possible features could included pictures of each element (from wikipedia, although I have to look into whether or not the licensing scheme on these images is compatible with how I plan to release my widget) and additional information such as density, boiling/freezing points, etc. These features will most likely not be availible in initial releases and may never be included as this widget is meant to be a basic resource. It is possible that instead of providing this additional information myself there will be a link to the wikipedia page of each element.

I have finished the basic layout of the widget in HTML/CSS and just need to write the JavaScript portion (the real meat of the widget). Additionally I need to get on a computer with Photoshop to create the background, and some other graphics for the widget.

I will post screenshots as a continue developement, and eventually links to beta versions.

Do you all think that a periodic table widget would be useful, and what additional features would be useful. Any help/recommendations would be appreciated.

[johnred]

We're working on iClip lite:


http://inventive.us/iCliplite/Intro.jpg (http://inventive.us/iCliplite/)


More info will be at http://inventive.us/iCliplite/ as work progresses on it.

----------------------
John Casasanta
Inventive, Inc.
http://inventive.us

[phillryu]

Here's our flagship widgets that are finishing up development:

http://www.mathgamehouse.com/images/echo.png
Record, store, playback voice notes.

http://www.mathgamehouse.com/images/puck1.pnghttp://www.mathgamehouse.com/images/puck2.png
View your Mac's statistics on three dials.

[sadamson]

i have been thinking about creatig widgets for the tech support people among us but have not dedicated the time or energy to this, so they are up for grabs...

i have been thinking about top virus alerts (from symantec/trendmicro/sophos etc). i work on both mac and pcs and it would be good to have a virus watch widget...

also http://isc.sans.org/ and http://www.iss.net/ provide some great alerts about general internet concerns which may be of interest to some people.

i would love to see someone make these things a reality (with any additional ideas/resources welcome). thanks, and let me know if you have questions or would like some feedback.

scott

[nevermore]

:o hello everyone :???:

first of all, great great idea about the new widget forum. the offical dashboard froum load so slow, like i would surf with my mobil.

here is my widget dev status...

...iDrop.

.....what is iDrop?

have you ever thought about how funny it would be to drop a sound to your friend instead simple answer something like "lol, haha, funny...." while chatting with iChat. THATS iDrop.

so for example:
when a friend of you tells you he got a g5 while you still working must work on g4, you could just open the dashboard and drop a him sound as answer(http://www.soulretrieval.de/youwillpay.wav) instead of allways typing the same things like "**** off, but i got a wife" and your friend will hear that sound at once, cause of a serverside ajax lib.

- well, ok its not the best example. but trust me. in most situations its sooo funny. and there will be a lot of sound to those.

http://www.soulretrieval.de/iDrop.png

i ll upload the beta(only 40user max. while beta) and set the demo-server online this weekend.

sry for my worse english :p

thanks for reading. enjoy.

[Burden]

Interesting idea, nevermore.

You may want to take a look at Apple's Dashboard design guidelines (http://developer.apple.com/documentation/AppleApplications/Conceptual/Dashboard_Tutorial/Design/chapter_4_section_2.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40001340-CH204-DontLinkElementID_4).

Specifically,

Avoid using Aqua controls on your main interface. Aqua controls should only be used for the reverse side of your widget. Instead, design custom controls for your widget’s main interface.

That seems especially important if your "Aqua controls" are being used in ways unrelated to the original context or behavior, as with those green buttons at the top.

And also,

Avoid advertising on the face of your widget. Branding your widget is acceptable and important, but advertising takes away valuable space in your widget. Presence on a user’s Dashboard is a privilege. Use the reverse side of the widget for information that isn’t vital to the widget’s purpose, such as branding, licensing information, and copyright notices.

Since your widget is named "iDrop", perhaps the inclusion of "soulretrieval" at the top isn't entirely appropriate. That space might be better used for something functional, anyway. :)

[nevermore]

thx burden,
i ll take care of those thoughts. but keep in mind, its still beta and the interface even more. :innocent:

That seems especially important if your "Aqua controls" are being used in ways unrelated to the original context or behavior, as with those green buttons at the top.
what do you mean? the green bottoms have a behavior. they show whether your are logged in or off. they turns red when you are offline. ...and i did not copy them from any apple lib. made them on my own.


Since your widget is named "iDrop", perhaps the inclusion of "soulretrieval" at the top isn't entirely appropriate.mhhh well, the name just came out of this "i"-hype. but i think its allready in use. so when you have some better names post them please.

That space might be better used for something functional, anyway. :)maybee you missunderstood this. "soulretrieval" isent some dumb advertisement to promote my latest website. soulretrieval is the name of the user who is logged in. when i log in as nevermore, "nevermore" would repleace "soulretrieval". and when you are not logged in there stands simply "Offline".


i hate advertisement in any kind of software. sure they got there authorization, but i keep my apps free.



:o is anyone interested to join this little projekt? cause i think i need to split the serverside-scripts on many server(like jabber) to get better performance when to many users would be connected at same time.


//EDIT
argh. just saw the dahsboard design guide. if design is your main job, like i do, this site tells you nothing new.

"Three simple widgets, each focused on a single task"
i dont agree with this. many small widgets are such a performance killer.
i put every info that is in the same gerne in just one widget. so i got one widgets thats show me my ip, netsats, in n outgoing, ... . One widget with input-fields to search the sites which i want.(why is every second new widget that comes out, a search widget(ebay, google, amazon, what comes next? lol those widgets are to dumb, my opinion.)) oh sry this edit could even be off-topic.

[Burden]

what do you mean? the green bottoms have a behavior. they show whether your are logged in or off. they turns red when you are offline. ...and i did not copy them from any apple lib. made them on my own.

The point is, an almost-identical button has a completely different behavior in the context of an Aqua window:

http://postpose.com/joel/temp/redyellowgreen.jpg

Users will expect a button that looks like that to function in a certain way, so perhaps it's best to use something else instead.

I might think that a flatter, more iconic and less color-saturated indicator would look better with the rest of your layout anyway. ;)


maybee you missunderstood this. ... soulretrieval is the name of the user who is logged in.

I completely misunderstood. :???: Sorry for the mixup.