Desktop Widgets on Leo, and the transparent top bar

[one1]

Aside of my MacBook I have a Sony Vaio Duo with Vista on it that the little lady uses. The Vista does a pretty good job of mimicking Leo in most ways, especially the transparent top bar. There are two things on Vista that I like that OS X doesn't seem to have, and I want them.

#1- The ability to stick your widgets on a permanent side bar on the desktop so you can see them without having to bring up the dashboard. Very useful.

#2- The ability to change the color and the transparentness of the top bar straight from the control panel.

These two features in Vista are top notch and work very well. I am sad that Leo doesn't offer this. I was able to use Candybar to smoke the dock, but haven't progressed much on the other two things mentioned.

Does anyone have ideas of what can be done to make these two requests happen on Leo? I don't let windows anywhere near my Mac so bootcamp and vista are out of the question.

TIA!~

 

[tersono]

You could use something like Yahoo's widget engine (freeware), which duplicates Vista's sidebar (which personally I loathe, but there ya go *grin*) or possibly Google desktop. They both offer a wide range of widgets and should cover your needs.

There is also a hidden 'developer' mode in Dashboard, which allows you to drag widgets out onto the desktop - there's still no sidebar, though and the widgets tend to get in the way, so it probably won't suit you.

I've not come across an app to do what you want with the menu bar, I'm afraid.

 

[psonice]

The main point of the dashboard is that you need all of those little apps, but only now and then, so they're best kept out of the way but easily accessible. That's why they're on a separate screen, and not on the desktop.

I think microsoft tried to copy it in vista, but couldn't copy it too closely due to patents/copyright, so they left it on the desktop where it can be useful (as you find it), or it can be distracting or buried under application windows. Btw, for quick access to it try holding down f12 (or whatever it is on the new keyboards) - it'll appear, and disappear as soon as you release the key.

The menu bar - yes, it's bad. It was better in tiger. Some people like it, but so many don't that there should be an option to make it solid.

I disagree on the whole thing about making everything customisable though, it should look good enough out of the box and have less options. Using a computer should be about getting work done, or being entertained, not endlessly messing with the colour of a window or the size of a tick box