Customizing the Dashboard bar
Ivan | Sat, 2005-09-03 09:50
I like the default perforated metal background in the Dashboard bar for my G5 tower at work, but it never went down so well for my white/smooth metal iMac at home.
Fortunately there is a very easy way to customize it as I found out from TUAW. Just download the Widget Preference Pane. Double click the Widgets.prefPane file to install it and open the brand new Widget Preference pane from the Sytem Preferences.
You have several options to customize the operation of your Dashboard but for me the most interesting was to easily change the background of the bar. Any seamlessly tiling image can be dropped into an empty slot and by clicking on it you get it installed instantly. No worries, you can always go back to the cheese grater at any time.
You can create your own patterns. The height should be 118px. Here is how. Or just go to squidfingers for an amazing selection of free patterns. I also included here as an attachment the pattern I created for my iMac.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| imac_dashboard_panel.tif | 19.09 KB |
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Now that we know how to play around the dock backgrounds. Will you be starting a section for Widgets too! I know there is one on apple.com. But a personal corner on ppls fav widgets and how they go about using them in everyday life will be cooler.
----kiran@kiranvarghese.com---
Check out http://pixeldecor.com for more trippy patterns.
Ivan, you might want to state clearly that the preference panel is not third party software, but comes directly from Apple. Some users might decide not to install it if they don't trust its source. (Well, they can see the url when they over the link, but...
pierre-etienne courtejoie
sPECTre: I know that is what TUAW says so, but I don't think it's correct. It seems to me that it's a third party app that is provided on the Apple site. On the right you can see that it's developed by EGO Systems, Inc. Is that part of Apple? I'm not sure but for sure there is a statement on the bottom of the page that reads:
That's what I noticed just seconds ago while I wanted to download it.
Do you run a lot of haxies? Can they impede on the mac's stability?
pierre-etienne courtejoie
I try not to run any haxies. This one is harmless and you can just trash the perference pane at any time.
For those who would like a black dashboard bar, heres something I knocked up in a few mins of me free time... go ahead, pimp your widget shelf!
Download image file to customise your dashboard widget shelf
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