We’re working our way around the Mac desktop in a series of primers for new Mac users. During last week’s Dock discussion I neglected to mention a Dock icon that awakens a very useful (and very cool-looking) feature of Mac OS X called the “Dashboard”.

Dashboard is the second icon from the left side of the Dock, and looks like a little speedometer. Clicking the Dashboard icon (or pushing the F12 function key, or clicking an assignable button on your Mighty Mouse) places “Widgets” in an opaque layer over your desktop. Widgets are simple yet powerful mini-applications that let you perform common tasks and access data and information contained on your Mac or available via the internet. Mac OS X comes with 18 widgets preinstalled. There are literally thousands of third-party widgets available for download from Apple’s website.

When you open the Dashboard, you’ll notice a circled plus sign icon in the bottom left corner of your display. Click this icon, and a “Widget Bar” appears at the bottom of the screen. The Widget Bar shows every widget installed on your Mac. To put a widget to work, simply drag the widget’s icon from the Bar onto the screen, and enjoy the cool ripple effect as the widget appears. You’ll note that when the Widget Bar is open, a little black circle with an “X” in it appears in the upper left corner of each open widget. Click the “X” to disable the widget if you’re not using it regularly. After selecting your widgets, click the plus sign icon and the Widget Bar disappears.

The eighteen widgets preinstalled in Mac OS X are: Widgets, Address Book, Business, Calculator, Dictionary, ESPN, Flight Tracker, Google, iTunes, People, Ski Report, Stickies, Stocks, Tile Game, Translation, Unit Converter, Weather, and World Clock.

Some widgets’ functions are pretty self-explanatory. The “Widgets” widget controls your widgets. The Dictionary widget also doubles as a Thesaurus. The Calculator is, well, a calculator. World Clock gives you the time anywhere in the world. ESPN displays a scoreboard and news ticker for sports you’re interested in. Google is a floating search field that opens your browser to a Google search. Ski Report can tell you the daily conditions at your favorite ski resort. Flight Tracker can tell you the status of an airline flight of interest and show you where it is on a map. Translation can translate back and forth between many popular languages. Stickies lets you make sticky notes to yourself. Stocks tracks stocks, Weather tracks weather. Unit Converter can convert a unit of just about anything to a unit of anything else, including dollars to Euros (ouch), that kind of thing. iTunes remotely controls your iTunes music. And, Tile Game is a tile game.

Let’s take a closer look at some others. Address Book gives you access to contacts in your (you guessed it) Address Book. Start typing any part of a contact’s name in the Address Book Search field, and the widget instantly provides a list of contacts matching the search criteria. Click on a name in the list to see the contact’s information – without having to open the Address Book application itself.

The “Business” widget gives you access to a Yellow-Pages-like directory of businesses. Select from a list of categories or type in the name of a business or service. Type, say, “Florist” in the search field and a list of florists near you is displayed. You can click the business’ address and your browser will open to a page with a map of the location. You can also easily add the business’ data to your Address Book.