This page last updated: January 16, 2007
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1. Are widgets modified or touched in any way when loaded by Amnesty?
2. Can Amnesty affect Dashboard (i.e. make it crash or unstable)?
1. Where can I get third-party widgets?
2. How does one install widgets in Panther?
3. If a third-party widget crashes or has bugs when running in Amnesty, should I contact the author?
1. Why is a widget disabled in the Amnesty menu?
2. How can I stop widgets from floating over my windows?
3. How do I undo a widget's "ignore clicks" setting once I've set it?
4. Does Amnesty have an Expose/Konspose layer?
5. How do you open more than one instance of a widget in Amnesty?
1. How does Amnesty enable Dashboard to do these things?
2. How do I configure Amnesty so that it launches every time I log in?
3. How do I "Force Quit" Amnesty?
4. I've decided I'd rather use Amnesty instead of Dashboard. Can I disable Dashboard (and if so, how)?
5. I'd like to completely remove Amnesty from my system. How can I do this?
1. Are widgets modified or touched in any way when loaded by Amnesty?
Widget files (.wdgt bundles) are read and parsed by Amnesty, but absolutely no files are modified within (you can confirm this by write-protecting your widgets).
Hint: In Preferences, you can tell Amnesty to load widgets only from its own Widget library. Then, if you don't like the idea of Amnesty reading and parsing your original Dashboard widgets, you can keep copies of them in Amnesty's Widget library.
2. Can Amnesty affect Dashboard (i.e. make it crash or unstable)?
No. Amnesty runs completely independently of Dashboard's server and client processes. Amnesty runs strictly in its own memory space and does not "code-inject" or interact with Dashboard at all. In fact, loading a widget in Amnesty is similar to loading a widget in Safari or DashCode (something widget developers do all the time).
As its name implies, Amnesty is simply a browser designed specifically for loading Dashboard widgets.
3. Do all Dashboard widgets work with Amnesty?
On Tiger, all Dashboard widgets should run in Amnesty. On Panther, all Dashboard widgets that don't require specific technologies on Tiger should run in Amnesty. If you find a widget that doesn't run correctly and hasn't been entered into our Known Issues list, then please let us know about it.
4. How is Amnesty different from Dashboard's "dev mode"?
The "dev mode" is simply a trick to move Dashboard's widgets onto the desktop, where they remain floating over all your windows. You still have to go to the Dashboard to open and close new widgets.
Amnesty is a full-featured Dashboard manager that offers expanded widget features way beyond what is possible in Dashboard. In Amnesty, widgets can exist on different window levels, have opacity, scaling, rotation and can auto-update their information as they exist on your desktop.
1. Where can I get third-party widgets?
A number of sites on the Internet provide widgets available to download. Here is a short list of some popular sites (Note: Mesa Dynamics is not affiliated with any of these sites):
2. How does one install widgets in Panther?
After you have downloaded a widget (see previous question), you need to find the widget's folder, which ends in ".wdgt" and looks like a standard folder (as opposed to in Tiger where it has a special icon). Place the widget into the Amnesty widget library:
~/Library/Application Support/Amnesty/Widgets
3. If a third-party widget crashes or has bugs when running in Amnesty, should I contact the author?
On Tiger: if a widget runs fine in Dashboard, but not in Amnesty, then you should contact us instead. However, if a widget has problems in both Dashboard and Amnesty, then you can go ahead and contact the widget's author.
On Panther: please contact us instead of the author. Most widget authors probably never imagined their widgets could run on Panther, so their widgets may use code that only runs on Tiger. If this is the case, we don't think it's fair to ask the authors to address the problem. Instead, we will maintain a list of widgets not supported in Panther on our Known Issues list.
1. Why is a widget disabled in the Amnesty menu?
If a widget is missing critical information (per Apple's Dashboard Reference), or is known to crash Amnesty—or if you are trying to access one of Apple's default widgets on Panther—the widget will be disabled (grayed out) in the menu. After the 30 day trial period expires in an unregistered copy of Amnesty, all widgets except for one will be disabled until a license is purchased.
2. How can I stop widgets from floating over my windows?
Control-click (or right-click) a widget, select Configure... and set Level to Standard (mixed in with your other windows) or Desktop (embedded in the Desktop). Widgets in the Standard and Desktop levels can be quickly accessed using Expose: F9 or F11, respectively.
3. How do I undo a widget's "ignore clicks" setting once I've set it?
There are three ways to accomplish this:
1) Press and hold the option key while selecting the widget from the Amnesty menu. This will force the widget's configuration sheet to appear over the widget; or
2) Press and hold the control key while selecting the widget from the Amnesty menu. This will force the widget's popup menu to appear over the widget, from which you can select Configure; or
3) If you need to review/adjust settings for multiple widgets that may be set to ignore clicks or embedded in the desktop, use Bring Widgets to Front from the Layout submenu to force all the widgets in the current layout to the front of the screen temporarily (widgets are "clickable" in this mode). Use Return Widgets to Layout when you're done.
4. Does Amnesty have an Expose/Konspose layer?
Yes, in fact, even better. In Amnesty, you can set up multiple "hot keyable" layers, each with its own different widget layout. Here's how you do it: Now, whenever you want to bring up your Expose/Konspose layout, simply press the hot key you've defined. You can set up as many layouts in this fashion as you wish.
1) Activate the Hidden Layout, select Save Layout As from the Layout submenu (this will create a new empty layout) and give it a name.
2) Open up the widgets you want in this layout and arrange them on the screen however you like.
3) Select Configure from the Layout submenu. A dialog box with settings for the current layout will appear.
4) Define a Hot Key to hide/show this layout.
5) Check "Display background behind floating widgets" (this is optional, but gives your layout that Expose/Konspose look).
6) Press OK and activate the Default Layout.
7) Quit and relaunch Amnesty.
5. How do you open more than one instance of a widget in Amnesty?
This isn't possible in the current version of Amnesty. However, you can 1) make a copy of a widget and 2) edit the copy's internal Info.plist file and give it a unique CFBundleIdentifier to work around this limitation. See Amnesty Help inside the application for details.
1. How does Amnesty enable Dashboard to do these things?
It doesn't.
Some people have speculated that Amnesty is just a Dashboard "hack" or that it somehow "enables" Dashboard to have extra features. This is a misconception.
Amnesty doesn't interact with Dashboard at all. Amnesty is a completely independent environment for running Dashboard widgets (in fact, Dashboard is not required to be running or even installed for Amnesty to run).
2. How do I configure Amnesty so that it launches every time I log in?
Any application, including Amnesty, can be configured to launch when you log in. 1) Select System Preferences from your Apple menu.
Next time you login, Amnesty will launch automatically.
2) Click on Accounts
3) Select the Login Items tab; you will see a list of applications that open at startup
4) Add Amnesty to this list either by:
a) Pressing the "+" button and finding it on your disk; or
5) Check the box next to the Amnesty name in the list
b) Dragging and dropping the Amnesty icon from the Finder into the list
6) Close the System Preferences window
3. How do I "Force Quit" Amnesty?
Launch Activity Monitor (in /Applications/Utilities) and select Activity Monitor from the Window menu. Locate the entry for Amnesty in the window (typing Amnesty into the Filter box can help), select it and press the Quit Process icon in the window's toolbar.
And please let us know which widget caused Amnesty to lock up, thanks!
4. I've decided I'd rather use Amnesty instead of Dashboard. Can I disable Dashboard (and if so, how)?
Amnesty does not require Dashboard to be running, so yes you can disable it if you like. Instructions for disabling Dashboard can be found in this article at Macworld.com.
5. I'd like to completely remove Amnesty from my system. How can I do this?
In addition to the Amnesty application, place the following files and folders into the Trash (not all may exist): ~/Library/Application Support/Amnesty/
~/Library/Caches/Amnesty/
~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Amnesty_*
~/Library/Preferences/com.mesadynamics.Amnesty
~/Library/Preferences/com.mesadynamics.AmnestySecurity
~/Library/Preferences/com.mesadynamics.AmnestyWidgets.*