Today we talk about dictionary and dictionary widget tricks. Dashboard in the iPhone? My iTunes web widgets announced. More web widgets introduced in iWeb. The holy grail of widgets for video editors reviewed. Very Bad Poetry, The History of Apple Widgets. Cube like dashboard interface patent submitted. Tell us which widget you like the best and why, the best answer will win a prize valued at 25.00!

Dictionary Tricks

First, as with text in many OS X applications, you can get the search box to show you possible completions based on the characters you’ve typed so far. How? Just press and hold Control, Option, or Command, then press the Escape key, and you’ll see a drop-down list of possible completions. Scroll or arrow down to the word you’d like to use, press Return, and its definition will appear.

The other trick with the Dictionary widget involves what you can do once you have a definition visible in the widget. Type rain for instance, and you’ll see that rain is moisture condensed from the atmosphere that falls visibly in separate drops. And a very clear definition it is! But see that half-circle with the on it sticking out on the left edge of the widget? Click that, and you’ll see a list of other known words and phrases that start with Click any of those words to jump to their definition; click the linkĀ again (before clicking another word), and you’ll switch back to the standard definition.

Toggle the widget from Dictionary mode to Thesaurus mode, and the same trick works here it will show you a list of other words in the thesaurus that are similar to the chosen word. Toggle the rainĀ again, and you’re back to the thesaurus entries for rain.

Iraq War Reference…

1. Bring up dashboard

2. Either add the dictionary widget to the dashboard or select it.

3. Type the word: democracy into the search box.

4. Click on the thesaurus button on the top of the Widget to switch to Thesaurus mode.

5. Read the sample sentence in the description: A democracy in Iraq is quite unlikely for now or any time soon.

Best Widget Contest
Do you have a favorite or useful dashboard widget that you cant live without? Then let us know! The best widget description and reason why you like it could win you a prize valued at 25.00!!!

Shownotes: HTML or OPML