After putting it off for several months I finally wrote a Dashboard widget for one of our applications, Tiktrac. What I wasn’t prepared for was the overwhelming response launching the widget had. Not only did existing Tiktrac customers email me numerous thank you messages, we also got hundreds of new signups for the application.

If you’ve been putting off building a widget for your service, our advice is: do it now!. Here’s why:

• You can submit your widget to Apple.com. If it gets listed, potentially millions of people will be exposed to your site
• You can submit it to other widget/gadget sites like DashboardWidgets
• They’re easy to build (trust me)
• People are more likely to continue using your site after signup if they have a desktop connection to it
• If your widget looks cool people will link to it, making your site/product easier to find

Building a widget

To install Dashcode, grab your Mac OS Leopard DVD and install Dashcode by installing the developer tools. Then open it up (either use Spotlight to search for it or look in /Developer/Applications).

When you first open Dashcode you’ll notice there are some templates available. Pick one closest to your requirements, and Dashcode will create a new project for you. When you’re working on a project, notice that Dashcode has a panel called “Workflow Steps” – follow these steps to get used to Dashcode and the requirements of building a widget.

Apple also provide code examples to get you started, accessible in the Library (from the Window, Show Library menu item). The Parts section of the Library contains user interface elements, so you can add form controls and images to your widget.

For non-programmers

Notice that you can still design the interface for a widget by dragging and dropping items out of the Library even if you’re not a programmer. This means you can easily use Dashcode to design a widget, then find a developer who’ll write the JavaScript to make it work.

If you’d like to build something simple, for example, a widget that displays your blog headlines, Dashcode can do this for you. This means you can create a widget with your branding and get it onto desktops with no coding at all.

For programmers

Notice that Dashcode is basically XCode, meaning you have full access to features like a debugger with multiple breakpoints and tracing. There’s a lot of documentation over on the Apple site about the API and JavaScript requirements. Get started here.

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