Konfabulous

I have discovered a delightful new desktop toy for my Mac. It's called Konfabulator. Konfabulator is "whatever you want it to be".

Konfabulator is a JavaScript runtime engine for Mac OS X that lets you run little files called Widgets that can do pretty much whatever you want them to. Widgets can be alarm clocks, calculators, can tell you your AirPort signal strength, will fetch the latest stock quotes for your preferred symbols, and even give your current local weather.

What sets Konfabulator apart from other scripting applications is that it takes full advantage of Apple's Quartz rendering. This allows Widgets to blend fluidly into your desktop without the constraints of traditional window borders. Toss in some sliding and fading, and these little guys are right at home in Mac OS X.

The format for these Widgets is completely open and easy to learn so creating your own Widgets is an extremely easy task.

For the "skinning" crowd, Konfabulator is a dream come true. You can easily change the look, feel, layout, even functionality of a Widget so that it matches your lifestyle, your desktop, or the pants or skirt you have on that day.

Click on the thumbnail image to see some of the widgets I've been running. The Chinese landscape painting is actually a clock. As the author describes it

The small boat displays second.
The number of birds displays minute.
Change of color of the background displays the hour.
Please understand with feeling

Konfabulous ( in category Special Interests ) - posted at Thu, 14 Oct, 22:01 Pacific | «e»