Mac OS X Technology Guide to Dashboard
reviewed by Robert Pritchett
Author: Danny Goodman SpiderWorks Lulu Booksites: http://spiderworks.com/books/dashboard.php http://www.lulu.com/content/137211 Released: 2005 Pages: 233, eBook, 228 pages. $30 USD printed, $15 USD eBook. ISBN: 0974434477 or 097443440X (eBook) Requirements: Mac OS X and familiarity with HTML, CSS, JavaScripting and DOM. Strengths: Offers a superb process for developing Dashboard Widgets. Weaknesses: None found. |
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Mac OS X Technology Guide to Dashboard by Danny Goodman offers us methods on how to best use HTML, CSS, JavaScripting to best advantage while creating Widgets for the Dashboard in Mac OS X. He also offers his own app for debugging Widgets – The Evaluator – but you can only get it if you get the book from SpiderWorks or Lulu.
I have been leaving the macCompanion Widget on a backburner for a long time. With this book, I realize I can now create that widget after I’ve spent some more time with some of the technologies Danny Goodman has spent a lifetime learning - in HTML, CSS, DOM (Document Object Model) and JavaScript.
There are 16 chapters discussing Dashboard, Widget components, Dashboard authoring and Widget design considerations, single and double-sided widgets, Info.plists, The Evaluator, Widget events, and data persistence, calling shell scripts, dragging-and-dropping to widgets, designing resizable widgets, interacting with Web Services and scraping HTML page content and finally, Widget troubleshooting. There is even an Appendix on Widget Objects.
It took me a while to get through this book, not because it isn’t readable – and Danny Goodman is VERY readable! – but because this is essentially a learn-by-doing skill. It takes a few minutes to really get down-and-dirty with the process. Widgets aren’t your father’s Hypercard or Desk Accessory apps.
And I still have to get registered on the SpiderWorks website so I can get the “Extras” that go along with the book – those pre-debugged files, so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel – so to speak.
If you would like to see what all the fuss is about go here:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/dashboard/ or http://developer.apple.com/macosx/dashboard.html
and here: http://www.dashboardwidgets.com/. Heck, even Google has gotten into the game at http://www.google.com/macwidgets/!
So get this book and learn how to do Widgets right.
