Hey
If you are a regular reader on this site you will know that I have my very own widget. This enables you to get all of the latest posts onto your dashboard. Well I have been beavering away at my computer in dashcode over the past couple of weeks and I have produced a new widget. I am really pleased with the result. The following post is going to explain a couple of its new features.
Mac Tricks And Tips Widget V2.2 (444.4 KiB, 3,114 hits)
If you download it at the link above you can follow through all of the new features which I am going to explain.
This widget offers a couple of new features over the old design. Firstly it has been re-designed to match the current site. The same style logo has been used as well as the light coloured image at the top. I spent quite a lot of time and iterations trying to get it right. On the front page you should notice two new buttons. Shrink and Refresh. The shrink button shrinks the widget down to size, making it smaller. It is rather large when it is fully expanded, that button saves some room. The refresh button is designed to instantly fresh the feed. I have noticed on the old widget that it did get stuck with old content every so often. Refreshing the widget wont bring in new content until the feed has been updated or new content produced.
The back has had a lot of updates and features. I have re-introduced an article length slider so you can change the length of the articles. This is also saved in a preference file so if you close the widget it will reload your preference. The biggest update to the widget is the update button. Every time you launch the widget it will check to see if there is an update available. You then have a choice if you want to download and use it. The bottom half of the widget is more text about this site for people who download the widget from update sites like MacUpdate.
Mac Tricks And Tips Widget V2.2 (444.4 KiB, 3,114 hits)
Hopefully you will enjoy using my widget. I have plenty of ideas for the next version. If you have any ideas or suggestions for the next widget please leave a comment below. I would love to hear them.
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Hey James
Great design, although it’s a bit too long (vertical) for my taste. You might want to make the ’shrink’ and ‘refresh’ button hide automatically (like the ‘i’ that are on all widgets. Anyway - the functions are great, and so are the entries brought in the rss-feed.. keep up the good work!
Cheers
Thanks Loi-B i’ll definitely consider that tip for the next update. I might make the size customizable.
I really like the widget and it’s features a lot!! I’ve learned a lot of good tricks from you before and hope to continue. Congratulations.
ps; I especially like the ability to control and refresh as well as shrink features.