[alcimedes]

so i'm looking into running knofabulator again, and lo and behold, there are hundreds of widgets. so i'm looking for two things.

either a list of the widgets you guys can't live without, or a nice webpage that will allow me to sort widgets based on the number of downloads and rankings. i find that usually good skins/widgets etc. are the ones that are downloaded the most often.

so anyone got some cool stuff i should try out?

[Mac+]

I'm currently running:

1. 8-ball
2. Digital Clock
3. mini Calendar
4. mini Weather
5. Picture Frame

Sometimes I include Word of the Day as well.

I have a screen grab here if you're interested. The new mini widgets are great b/c they preserve desktop space!

Of course, I'm ashamed to admit... I'm still yet to buy it! :embarrass
I'll let you know when I finally cough up the fee.

[HOM]

There are only two I use.

The Weather (built into Konfab install)

iChat Status (It's a small widget that pops up to let you know changes in status in iChat)

[LoCash]

I don't think there are any good widgets out there yet. What I really wanted was a Terminal widget. You know, basically a copy of the terminal, but it was always built into the desktop. There was a console widget for Konfab that had the latest console log entries updating live on top of your desktop. That was cool, if I needed to see that stuff. That's where my inspiration for a terminal like that came from, but you apparently can't do that in Konfab yet.

The weather seems like a silly waste of space when programs like WeatherPop get the job done quickly, easily, and in a small amount of space up in the menu bar. Same with a digital clock, and even iTunes controls.

It seems the widgets out for Konfab, they are either always on top or they easily get lost behind windows. When they're always on top you can't see below them well, and when they're behind windows you can't read them and have to hunting for them. That doesn't seem to make them effective information displays; form over function. I felt as if I'd need an entire extra monitor just to keep those widgets on, which would be silly when the same thing can be done in other parts of the screen.

What might be cool would be if you could call up those widgets with a hot key. For instance, I use LaunchBar as an application launcher. To begin my query with it, I type: command-spacebar and the launchbar query thingy appears and I type, for instance, "MSW" and hit enter to open Microsoft Word. But if I could pull up some Konfab widgets that way... for instance if I did want to check the weather I could assign a hot key to pull up the weather widget, I could see that being useful. I saw a dictionary.com widget at one point too I think. Always keeping them open always proved more trouble than it was worth in my experience. I've tried to use Konfab three times so far, and I always just get frustrated and move on.

[drewprops]

I agree... Konfab's mechanics is nifty, but the interface is iffy (for me).

[Mac+]

I have experienced similar frustrations with some Konfab widgets, but I finally settled on my set-up for the following reasons.

1) Digital Clock - it is large and clear and since I don't always wear a watch this thing is handy... it can also be seen from across the room. Relying on this widget also allows me to de-clutter my menubar. I set the clock to topmost layer (this is the only widget I set this way) and rarely does something on the top right corner of a window need to be clicked. (Occasionally I have to move the Safari window to do a Google search - but that is so infrequent that it is not a major problem.)

2) mini Calendar & mini Weather - bottom right corner. Admittedly, the mini Weather is just nice eye-candy... but I like it. The mini Calendar is very handy when I just want to glance down and see what day my next assignment is due on, or what the date will be two Saturdays from now - without having to launch iCal or any other app. The original weather and calendar widgets were also cool - but killed way too much space, so I never used them. These mini widgets fit the bill nicely - they sit on a normal level and have some translucency so they don't stick out like a sore thumb.

3) On the lhs of my screen I have the 8-Ball, Word of the Day & Picture Frame - purely for goof off value. Accordingly, they sit normally and do not have any translucency set... other windows cover them up so I am not distracted by them.

I will add, however, that the Picture Frame is actually quite nifty in a nostalgic way, b/c sometimes my windows do not cover the bottom lh corner of the screen and it is "nice" to be able to see happy memories. This widget can traverse any folder (with images in it) that you set and pop up pictures at specified time intervals. I like the way that it reminds me that "it all ain't so bad", especially when I'm stuck on some assignment or in the middle of report writing and I'm getting bored/fed-up! (re: report writing - not so much this year, but definitely last year!)

[DMBand0026]

Originally Posted by drewprops I agree... Konfab's mechanics is nifty, but the interface is iffy (for me).

I used it before...but I don't like it much. It uses too much CPU (IMO), it clutters up my desktop, and I can't stand that. If you could see my desktop, it's just my HDD, and only my HDD. Just some of the many reason I can't stand it.

If you can take it, great, but if your at all like me, run for the hills.

[alcimedes]

well, so far i'm using the weather widget, and a cpu temp one. so far i'm also using a word of the day, but not sure that i'll keep it.

i like that you can embed items in the desktop with konfab. perfect for weather. if i want to know what it's going to be (daily event) i just hit the expose key, all the windows go away and there's my weather. the cpu temp is just for the geek in me. word of the day has been educational, so i might keep it.

but so far i'm actually finding konfab usable.

(cpu usage is under 1%)

[NosferaDrew]

Mini Weather, Calender and iTunes Bar are the only ones I use everyday.