Create custom Mac dashboard widgets from web pages with Safari

Mac dashboard widgets FAQ: How can I create a Mac dashboard widget from a web page?

Some time back, I don't remember exactly when, Apple introduced the ability to create Mac dashboard widgets from web pages with their Safari web browser. The process of creating a Mac dashboard widget from a web page is fairly simple, and I thought I'd share the steps in a short tutorial here.

Create a custom Mac dashboard widget from a web page

I just created a Mac dashboard widget from an "aurora borealis" forecast web page, and these are the steps I followed:

• Start the Safari web browser.
• Go to this aurora borealis forecast web page.
• Click the File menu.
• Click the Open in Dashboard... menu item.
• Follow the instructions to "Select part of the web page, then click Add".
  • In my case I wanted the large numbers and map shown in the middle of the page, so I moved the mouse cursor around until Safari highlighted that section.
  • After clicking that main section, Safari lets you choose an even smaller portion of the web page. (This is nice, because on my first attempt, I created an enormous web page dashboard widget, lol.)
• Once you've selected and minimized the portion of the web page you want to turn into a Mac dashboard widget, click the Add button.
• Safari then takes you to your Mac dashboard screen, and in a few moments your new dashboard widget will appear.

Here's a photo of the portion of the web page I just turned into a custom Mac dashboard widget:

(You can right-click that image and select "View Image" if you want to see a larger version of it.)

As you can see, Safari lets you resize the web page selection area, which is very nice for helping to control the resulting size of your dashboard widget.

Custom Mac dashboard widget - Summary

As you can see, creating a custom Mac dashboard widget from a web page (what Apple calls a "web clip") is a pretty simple process. I now use this web page dashboard widget process for several web pages I look at all the time, including this web page, Facebook, Twitter, and news web sites that I tend to look at often

I hope this tutorial on how to create your own custom Mac dashboard widget from a web page has been helpful.