I don’t use the Dashboard in Mac OS X as much as I expected to when it was first released, but when I do, one of the few widgets I employ is Delivery Status, which keeps track of packages during shipment. Big, bold numbers display the days until delivery, and smaller text reports on various stops throughout the package’s voyage. With support for over 30 carriers, including all of the most common here in the U.S., Delivery Status conveys what you need to know at a glance, making it an ideal Dashboard widget. Also in the works is an iPhone/iPod Touch application serving the same purpose with an interface optimized for touchscreen devices.

Shortly after Google Analytics was released, I gave it a shot. Several days after properly setting it up, I still wasn’t getting results. Today, I read that it doesn’t work in Safari. So much for depending on Google for stats.

As a full time Safari user, I gave up on that front and purchased Mint, an easy to use (and wonderful to look at) web stats generator by Shaun Inman. While it doesn’t have graphical pie graphs like Google Analytics, it sure makes checking out my stats a breeze. Some webmasters go all-out and get very detailed with stats, but me, I just what to have a general idea of what’s going on and what’s hot. For the cost of the average shareware app, Mint reports all this and more with a clean, refreshing style. I couldn’t be happer with it. To top it all off, there’s a simple Tiger widget included in the purchase which displays total visitors.

This is the last Google Maps related post for a while, I swear! I just couldn’t resist bringing this widget to others’ attention, as I find it incredibly useful. The Google Maps Widget provides “in-widget” maps of whatever location you specify, as opposed to opening a browser window with your query. It looks and works much like the Dictionary widget provided by Apple. Check out the details at Apple’s widget page.

For those interested in creating Dashboard widgets, a great development FAQ has been posted over at dashboardwidgets.com. Check it out. Apple also has documentation, which can be found here.

I’m working on two widgets of my own, and you can be sure I’ll post them here soon!

The great folks over at Panic, makers of my favorite FTP and iDisk (WebDAV) client have been busy updating their applications for Tiger. Aside from the fact that Transmit 3 beats the Finder hands-down in both iDisk and FTP connectivity, it also boasts AppleScript-ability. Panic has taken advantage of this with a new Dashboard widget to go along with it, and it is really slick. Upon opening it, you click to configure the widget’s network settings, then click Done and are greeted with an animation that indicates it is ready to accept dropped files. While uploading files, the Transmit truck appears to drive along a road, and successful/failed uploads are met with appropriate colored indicators. Overall, it’s a nice addition to an already fantastic client. Panic did such a nice job on the widget animations, too — it makes me wish more widget developers would make use of them. Although copyrighted, the JavaScript code inside the widget is well documented and may give you an idea of how everything works. Download the Transmit widget.