Widgets are small programs designed for the Mac OS X Dashboard. Some widgets included with Mac OS X include a dictionary, calendar, weather forecast, and stock list widget. Several thousand other dashboard widgets are available from third-party developers.

Unlike standard applications, widgets are not standalone programs. Instead, they can only be run within the Mac OS X Dashboard. While this limits the capabilities of widgets, they are not meant to be full-blown applications. Instead, each widget is designed to serve a single purpose. Since the Dashboard can display multiple widgets at once, it provides a simple interface for performing several common tasks.

Important: Yahoo also provides a widget interface for Mac and Windows systems called Yahoo! Widgets.

Updated: March 4, 2011