Konfabulator

Konfabulator (now known as Yahoo! Widgets) is a JavaScript runtime engine for Mac OS X widgets. It also uses XML scripting to allow users to build their own widgets. You can download other users widgets from their homepage, including standard widgets by Konfabulator's creators, Arlo Rose and Perry Clarke. Konfabulator is similar to a feature in Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" called Dashboard.

Konfabulator for Windows was released on November 8, 2004, after Rose complained that Apple copied his idea by creating Dashboard. Its main commercial competitor in this arena is DesktopX, developed by Stardock, which has a more powerful but also more complex and Windows-centric scripting system. Another program offering similar functionality is the open-source widget engine, Kapsules.

Connections

 * Konfabulator provides a feature called Konsposé, a direct reference to Exposé. It is activated by pressing the F8 key, which causes all widgets to be brought to the foreground, and all other applications to be shaded.