Keeping Dashboard widgets on the desktop

This article is based on a forum post written by Andy C.

Usually Dashboard widgets can only be accessed by activating Dashboard, however this guide explains how to leave some of them on the Desktop instead.

Enabling dev mode

Before you can move widgets to the Desktop, you need to enable dev mode by opening Terminal and typing:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES

then press Return, logout and log back in again. (Alternatively, type "killall Dock" in Terminal to restart the Dock.)

To get a widget off of the Dashboard and onto your Desktop, follow these steps:

Activate Dashboard by pressing F12 (or whatever key you've assigned to Dashboard)
Begin dragging the widget
Press F12 again, before letting go of the mouse button and drop the widget wherever you want

You can repeat this for as many widgets as you like.