Create Your Own Dashboard Widget

Thanks to Mac OS X Leopard, you can make your own custom Dashboard widget. In seconds. They’re called Web Clip widgets, and they’re easy to create. Let’s say you’d like to keep tabs on the “Videos being watched right now” section on You Tube. Here’s how:

  1. In Safari, visit You Tube at www.youtube.com. (You may already see a link for it in Safari’s Bookmark Bar.)
  2. Click the Web Clip button in the Safari toolbar.
  3. Position the clear box that appears over the Videos being watched right now section, click once to place it, then resize the box using the handles that appear along the sides of the box.
  4. When it’s the size you want, click the Add button.

And your part’s done. Mac OS X Leopard does the rest, creating your widget and opening Dashboard, so you can check your handiwork. Since your new Web Clip is live, its contents will update automatically. Click the little information button in the lower, right-hand corner to customize your widget’s border.

One more thing. Click a video (or a link on a featured story), and Mac OS X Leopard closes Dashboard, launches Safari, and takes you to the page whose link you clicked.