Windows 7 Gadgets

Seriously useful Windows 7 gadgets

If you want Windows Sidebar Gadgets the useful and easy to use you’ve come to the right place. If you want pretty gadgets that entertain and constantly beg for your attention you should look else where. All gadgets are available on the downloads page.

Simply Weather

If you’ve ever had the feeling that your weather gadget is more about the gadget than the weather, then this gadget is for you. At a glance, you can see the current conditions and a 3 day forecast, all without having to squint or click. There are 3 different formats with different layouts and information. Pick the one that suits your tastes. Simply Weather also monitors for watches, warnings and advisories and will display a message in red alerting you to the situation.

Finally, Simply Weather is unbranded. Like the name says, it’s Simply Weather. [more information]

tweetz

Tweetz is a twitter sidebar gadget. Intended for the casual twitter user, tweetz looks good and provides just the right amount of functionality without overwhelming or annoying. This is my newest gadget and a work in progress, but still it shines in ways the others don’t. Support for Mentions, Direct Messages and a built in url shortener make it breeze to use. It even does reverse looks up on links so you’ll know where they go before click on them.

Activate the message area by clicking anywhere in title area of the gadget near the top. Compose your message including any links. To shorten links, click the ““Shorten”” button (clever name, eh?). tweetz will scan the message for links and shorten them in place. How’s that for convenience?

The buttons at the bottom navigate to different pages like ““Mentions””, ““Direct Messages”” and ““Search””. The ““Docked”” size is designed to fit comfortably in the sidebar. The ““Expanded”” size includes images of the author just like on the twitter home page. [screenshot]

Future versions will include Favorites, Searching, User accounts and more. I’m looking to your feedback for inspiration. [more information]

Stopwatch

Stopwatch was my first sidebar gadget and has set the tone for ease of use and usability. Unique to Stopwatch is the ““No Buttons”” interface. Click any where on the gadget to start it. Click again to stop it. Double click to reset. You don’t have aim at tiny little buttons with weird icons that ““almost”” make sense. The digits are large so they can easily be read while doing presentations.

Stopwatch can also count down. Simply hold down the shift key and click to increment the start time. Then like before, click to start, click to stop and click to reset. Who needs user manuals and buttons anyways. [more information]

Calculator

Calculator has a deceptively simple interface. A single text field.  Want to add 2 + 2?. Type 2+2 and press the enter key. Calculator handles regular algebraic notation like (2 - 5) * 8. It also remembers what’s been entered. Press the up arrow to access the previous entries.

There is also support for hex notation, bitwise operators and built-in functions and constants like PI. Give it try and you’ll love it. [more information]

Market Report

All I wanted was the current stock indices and some indication as to whether the market was up or down. Again, there are lots of stock market gadgets but they all miss the mark. Market Report gets it right. It’s so simple there isn’t even a settings dialog. Install it, run it and your done. Don’t like the color? Click on the gadget and use your mouse wheel to change it. [more information]

AdSensor

AdSensor has been retired due to recent changes from Google.

Non Sidebar Gadgets

Calendar Gadget

Calendar Gadget started out as an experiment in windowless controls (Don’t worry if you don’t know what that is). It allows you to make custom calendars using a drag and drop interface. It can make some amazing looking calendars and has supports for all sorts of things like appointments and holidays. It’s a currently been moth-balled due to my inability to stay focused on any one thing for very long. However, even in it’s current state it’s a lot of fun. Give it try. [more information]

Calendar

Originally known as FreeCal, it’s just a straight up calendar with support for appointments, week numbers and holidays. I got frustrated with having to open Outlook just to see what day of the week a date occurred. It can display multiple months and the window is resizable. [more information]