Archive for the “DesktopX” Category

I spent some time this morning and updated my Election Countdown Gadgets, mainly to fix some minor issues, and I made them a bit smaller for a better fit on the desktop.  These gadgets were made and exported using DesktopX.

Download – Gadget for Windows XP/Vista

Download – Vista Sidebar Gadget

DesktopX 3.5 was released recently, and one of the biggest feature updates is the ability to export your DX creations as a Vista sidebar gadget.  Creating a gadget for the Vista sidebar isn’t the easiest thing to do, and it has limitations that DesktopX can easily overcome.  DesktopX is a very powerful application which can create a wide variety of mini-applications for your desktop.  These can range from simple weather gadgets, on up to very complex applications with multiple functions all that can be wrapped in custom graphics. 

The gadgets that can be created with DesktopX can be scripted with many languages including C++, which allows an almost endless amount of possibilities.  Now if you aren’t big on scripting, don’t be too intimidated, as you can still create some great gadgets with the included plugins, or by going through the huge amount of documentation/tutorials provided by Stardock.  You can also find more tutorials written by experienced community members which can be found at the WinCustomize Wiki.

I have created quite a few DesktopX widgets over the last few years, and although I am not a coder, I was able to create some really cool and useful widgets.  I’m going to take you on a walkthrough on how to create a desktop widget, and turn it into a Vista sidebar gadget using DesktopX Pro 3.5.  I’m going to break apart the Election Countdown gadget I made, which will make a perfect example for today’s guide.

Read the full guide here.

DesktopX 3.5 has been released!

DesktopX is a program that lets users extend their Windows desktop to support true objects (as opposed to just icons).  These objects can be cosmetic in nature or using a plugin or some scripting a user can make a desktop object do virtually anything. These objects can then be combined together to make widgets or used to build an entirely new desktop.

DesktopX 3.5 isn’t just a Vista update, however. It allows users to export their creations as Windows sidebar gadgets! This is significant because by default, Sidebar gadgets tend to be limited in functionality. DesktopX objects, however, have no limitations, a user can make plugins in C++ or virtually any other language allowing Sidebar gadgets to be incredibly powerful.

Download: DesktopX 3.5
Visit: www.desktopx.net

This is one of the best sidebar gadgets for Vista….ever!  This gadget checks the status of your website at your choice of intervals (1-60).  You can run multiple instances of this gadget to watch a variety of your sites to make sure they are functioning properly.  The background will change to display the status of your site, so it’s easy to spot a problem.

This gadget was created by RomanDA.

Download: SiteChecker

To help count down the days until the release of the upcoming PC game, The Political Machine 2008, I created these gadgets for your desktop.  One gadget will run on any XP or Vista desktop, and the other is for the Windows Vista Sidebar.

Download: TPM 2008 desktop gadget

Download: TPM 2008 Vista sidebar gadget

With the ‘08 Presidential Election heating up, I took the time and created some countdown gadgets which will show you days remaining until election day.  There are two downloads available.    One is a standard gadget that will run on XP or Vista, and a Vista sidebar gadget.  These were made with DesktopX 3.5 which easily creates and exports to Vista sidebar gadgets.

You can download the standard gadget from WinCustomize, or at the alternate links below.

• Download

Vista Sidebar Gadget:

I really enjoy the holiday season, and one of my favorite things I like to do around this time of year is to create things that people can decorate their Windows desktops with.  I’m working on a couple of things, but this is my latest gadget that was created with Stardock’s DesktopX 3.5.  It’s an animated Christmas Garland that sits on your desktop, and you can run several instances of this and "string" them together to create your own holiday desktop.

If you are a user of DesktopX, you can find the Desktop version here.  If you don’t then you can download the stand-alone gadget from the link below.