Is there a MeFi Dashboard Widget?

May 26, 2010 2:43 PM

Is there a current, viable Metafilter-specific Mac OS X Dashboard (or, for that matter, Windows-compatible) widget out there? I've found the old threads about Metadash, but the page is defunct. I guess I could use a generic RSS widget, but I'd love something written from the ground up for this place.
posted by yiftach to MetaFilter-Related at 2:43 PM (7 comments total)

I'm not really sure what you're looking for (or the utility of a MeFi widget (I rarely use Dashboard myself)), but you do know you can roll your own widgets, right?
posted by entropicamericana at 3:03 PM on May 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

To the best of my knowledge, there is not. Also, what's a widget?
posted by box at 6:45 PM on May 26, 2010

widgets
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 7:23 PM on May 26, 2010

Widgets are microapplications that generally serve one very specific purpose or perform one task - for instance, a calculator, a weather widget that shows current weather and forecast for a given number of days, a search app for a specific website, or, in this case, a small window that will provide an RSS feed reader for MeFi and the subsites. Essentially, I want a little window that can float on my desktop (like so) and contain linked thread titles as they come on the front page. I use Netvibes as an RSS aggregator now, but I want to spend less time on a different site (note that I just copied the MeFi Netvibes widget for illustration; I have dozens more on my private page).

I just now saw that Netvibes calls each of these little windows widgets, and that under "Share" there's an "Install Outside Netvibes" link which includes a Mac desktop option. How about we try that, eh? BRB.
posted by yiftach at 9:40 PM on May 26, 2010

Hmm. I'll play with this Netvibes Dashboard widget for a few days and see how it goes.

Indeed, the Install outside Netvibes option for Mac creates a Dashboard widget. Nice.
posted by yiftach at 9:44 PM on May 26, 2010

have you ever used a prism?

It lets you have a 'little light browser', specific to just one site, and you can have multiple 'apps', so like gmail, metafilter, any website.

(if you are on ubuntu in firefox just go to tools; and the option 'convert this website to application' easy peasy.)

Windows, I think you need to sign something, volunteer one organ at some point in the future, or one future potential child or one limb over two years, and a promise of some 'life-debt' thing to microsoft. Oh, that is the special full edition, but you might need to purchase the ultimate edition 2000 special full edition to get more features. or get the home basic special extra.

I joke, and it's out there easily usable and for all platforms, it's just made nice and easy with Ubuntu.


If you use netvibes (nifty potential in it all) you may like "Flock" (on mac/windows i think, coming to linux, actually, seems to be there now for linux, yoinks.)... it's like a "blog, sites, pictures, accounts/everything manager".

Useful because it makes everything "right there" (I also use netvibes(not much recently), and I find flock pretty similar..

Both are offshoots of Firefox (can use plugins etc..)
posted by infinite intimation at 8:26 AM on May 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

On reading better, seems you wanted like a live updating widget; wrong suggestions I gave. Sorry.
('flock' still recommended for trying out)
Thank you for reminder of how useful netvibes can be.
posted by infinite intimation at 8:31 AM on May 27, 2010