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As for no. 1: Not sure. Widgets can link to Objective-C libraries, so it might be possible. (There are games widgets that use a Obj-C engine)

No. 2: No problem. Well in the realm of moderately complicated Javascript / HTML / CSS.

Has anyone written them already? Check yourself: http://www.dashboardwidgets.com/

If you're really enthusiastic, you can build your own laser to point to the correct spot in the sky! ;)

And if you want to be up to date all the time, why not download the OSX Iridium Flare Dashboard widget? :D

Happy flare spotting!

I speak as someone who was a registered user of Konfabulator on the mac since before 10.3 came out.

Konfabulator has a really slow javascript engine which is based on spidermonkey from the Mozilla project. It also is quite resource intensive.

The decision to use XML instead of HTML is also holding them back since they offer no development environment and you cannot use a browser to test your widgets out.

I still have Konfabulator on mac but never use whereas I use Dashboard on a daily basis on my mac. You don't use dashboard and that is your choice but to say that it will fade into obscurity is hyperbole at its best.

Take a look at the amount of dashboard widgets available from third parties like the ones here or here. Now consider how long these sites have been around compared with konfabulator.com.

For a while, after dashboard came out, there were very few contributions being added to the konfabulator widget gallery. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great and wish them all the best but I don't have a compelling reason to use it on a daily basis now that I have Dashboard.

I definately plan on using it work on my windows box for sure.

The site DashboardWidgets has moderators review widgets before they are made available for download. While this wouldn't stop subtle trojans (which are not a uniquely widget problem) it will exclude adware, spoofs, and the like.

http://www.dashboardwidgets.com/showcase/details.p hp?wid=123

What is your problem with Dashboard Widgets? It has a pretty decent site, including most of your bullet points. The only way they fall down is that their front page is devoted to news, and you have to click to get to the gallery (or showcase as they call it). This also seems to be one of the few sites with quite a few widgets already up and available. You claim their preview icons are too small. They are 128x128 which is plenty large on my monitor and larger than most of the images on the Konfabulator site, even with the background image they add to all of theirs. You also complain that they don't have previews for all of them, which is a valid complaint.

Your love for the Konfabulator site, however, is misguided. I found it unintuitive. Their was no text link for more information on the widgets, only two unlabeled graphics, neither of which had an alt tag set. There is also a "More Widgets" button for each widget which, until I clicked it, I had no idea would take me to more widgets by the same author. Sorry, but if you're looking for an expertly designed web site, the Konfabulator site should not be your example.

I gave up on Konfabulator because it was just too dog slow. Hopefully dashboard will not have the same problem.

• DashboardExposed (I'm the admin of this site)
• DashboardWidgets
• Widget Developer
• Dashboard Exchange

• All we want is a big fat button to the widgets-gallery download-page, and no other distractions. Because all 95% of the visitors want is to download widgets. The best thing would be to actually make the widgets page the front page
• Show all widgets in a similar way: Title, a few words, a screenshot that is always the same size. Let users rate widgets and display the result here, too.
• Allocate the same space for each widget. Show 5 or 10 of them on a page.
• Have a detail page with further comments by the author and feedback by the users.
• Make everything stylish. Widgets are, in a way, both about substance and style.

• Konfabulator The original. Nice, clean, efficient. And beautiful.
• Dashboard Exchange Inconsitent design, varying preview sizes, too much stuff shown at once, no ratings.
• Dasboard Widgets Tiny preview pictures that don't convey any information. Some don't even have a preview, this should be mandatory. Compare it with Konfabulator and will likely agree that the page is pretty ugly. No ratings.
• Dashboard Lineup The newest contender, has more proudness than value. It's not even a dedicated widget-database, just a plain ol' blog. No short description. Only 2 widgets. No ratings, only comments.

In 2 weeks Apple releases tiger, and thousands of people will eagerly search the web for widgets. There's a huge opportunity here, too bad all current contenders didn't realize this.

If you want to see a nice one, though, look at DashboardWidgets. Lotsa widgets up already...

This "news item" sounds a bit like a thinly veiled advertisement for the submitter's site. Why no mention of the other Dashboard sites that have sprung up recently, like Dashboard Exchange and DashboardWidgets?