dashboard question ... can it coexist with the finder ?

[djbeta]

i don't want to have to keep switching to the dashboard..
i just want to have certain widgets in view all the time.

Is this possible (as it was with konfabulator-- the app tiger derived this coolness from ?)

[iPenguin]

I don't have Tiger yet, but this hint was just posted at macosxhints.com :

If you'd like one of your Dashboard widgets to be available all the time, instead of only when you have activated Dashboard via F12, then activate the Dashboard dvelopment mode. Open the Terminal and type defaults write com.apple.Dashboard devmode YES and press Return. Then logout and log back in again. Now debugging mode is activated. To get a widget off of the Dashboard and onto your desktop, just do the following:
Activate Dashboard by pressing F12 (or whatever key you've assigned to Dashboard).
Begin dragging the widget.
Press F12 again, before letting up on the mouse button.
Drop the widget wherever you want it.
You can do the same thing in reverse to drag the widget back onto the Dashboard. Also of interest: while a widget is frontmost, you can press Command-R to reload it. (This may be necessary if a widget is buggy and gets messed up somehow.) There's even a nifty Core Image-based twirl effect to accompany the reload.

[robg adds: This isn't really a hidden hack; it's the official way of working on a widget before it's done. However, I find it extremely useful -- there are certain widgets that you'd just rather see and use all the time, instead of only in Dashboard mode. Note that the widgets float above all windows, so this trick is most useful if you have some spare desktop space. To disable this mode, repeat the above command, but replace YES with NO, and then logout/login again. Note that you can also restart the Dock to make the changes take effect (the Dock controls the Dashboard).]

[brianleahy]

Though I can definitely see why you'd want that, I think that's kind of counter to the idea of dashboard. It's supposed to be a kinda-sorta alternate desktop that flips down when needed.

If you want it to behave like a regular app, most (though not all) of the standard widgets have an app version.

iTunes widget - iTunes
Dictionary widget - dictionary (new app!! Have a look!!)
Calendar widget - iCal
calcualtor widget - calculator app

[djbeta]

well.. it's good that some of them have app versions..

thanks for the tip