With Mac OS X Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4), Apple introduced widgets. Widgets have developed ev...

With Mac OS X Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4), Apple introduced widgets. Widgets have developed even more in the Leopard (version 10.5) and Snow Leopard (version 10.6) upgrades to Mac OS X. Widgets are small software applications to meet everyday personal and business needs, such as displaying the current weather conditions, monitoring specific stocks, placing sticky notes on the desktop, or using the World Clock to determine the time in a different country. Widgets form the Mac OS X Dashboard, which the user can display on the desktop by clicking the Dashboard icon in the Dock. This project enables you to learn about Dashboard in Mac OS X Leopard or Snow Leopard.

1

To use Dashboard:

1. Click the Dashboard icon in the Dock. (Alternatively you can press F12 or press and hold the fn key and press F12.)

2. What widgets are displayed?

3. Click the + sign superimposed on the Dock on the left side at the bottom of the desktop. 4. Notice that the widgets you can place on Dashboard are displayed under the Dock at the bottom of the desktop.

5. Click the arrow at the right of the last widget displayed to see more widgets. Now click the arrow on the left side to see the first set of widgets.

6. If Dictionary is not already an active widget on Dashboard, click Dictionary and notice that this widget is now shown on Dashboard.

7. Click the up/down arrows in Dictionary and notice that you can use this tool as a dictionary, thesaurus, or Apple Spotlight search tool. Leave Dictionary as the default selection and enter the word excellent in the spotlight text box. Press return to view the definition of excellent. Click the x in the spotlight (with the magnifying glass) textbox to close the definition.

8. Click the x in the circle in the top left corner of Dictionary to remove this application from Dashboard.

9. If you don’t see a sticky note on Dashboard, find and click Stickies in the listing of widgets at the bottom of the desktop in Dashboard.

10. If necessary, drag the sticky note to an open spot on the desktop.

11. Click the large X inside the circle in the bottom left side of the desktop to close the display of widgets that can be added to Dashboard.

12. Click inside the sticky note on Dashboard and type Meeting at 2 pm in room B15.

13. Click the Dashboard icon in the Dock (or press F12 or press and hold fn and F12) to close Dashboard.