While it’s not possible to do much about the CPU thing, there is a neat app available that solves the “always on top” issue. Another problem is that the widget is always on top of other windows, so it gets in the way. For one thing, any widget you drag onto your desktop now consumes CPU cycles constantly, even when the Dashboard is hidden. While this quick hack works, it’s not without its problems. It even shows you what mode you’re currently in. If the idea of messing about on the command line doesn’t appeal, there’s a handy widget called DevMode that lets you flip in and out of developer mode at the click of a button. To put a widget back on the Dashboard, do the opposite: Start dragging it, hit F12/F4 to bring up the Dashboard, then position it on the Dashboard and let go of the mouse button.Īs you might imagine, you can turn off developer mode at any time with:ĭefaults write devmode NO & killall Dock Now position the widget on your desktop and release the mouse button. To drag a widget onto your desktop, start dragging it in the Dashboard, then hit F12/F4 while dragging to dismiss the Dashboard. Now hit F12 ( F4 on newer keyboards) to bring up the Dashboard. To do this, open a Terminal window ( Applications > Utilities > Terminal) and type (all on one line):ĭefaults write devmode YES & killall Dock One trick is to switch Dashboard into developer mode – the mode that widget developers use to create their widgets. By default, the Mac doesn’t let you put widgets on the desktop, but there are a couple of ways you can work around this. Examples include calculators, clocks, and anything that you need to look at while you’re working. However, sometimes it’s useful to have a widget on your desktop, where you can keep an eye on it. You can bring them up instantly with F12 ( F4 on newer keyboards), and dismiss them all just as easily.

On the whole, it’s nice to have those widgets hidden away on the Dashboard. The Mac’s Dashboard is a great idea: a separate work area where you can store mini-applications called widgets that can do all sorts of wonderful things, from telling you the current weather, news and stock prices through to giving you calculators, translation tools and games.

How to get mac dashboard widgets