Embracing Notification Center Widgets

When desktop widgets arrived in macOS Sonoma, reviewers were generally enthusiastic about the update. But for me, the excitement quickly faded, as I found that always-visible widgets made my desktop feel cluttered and overwhelming.

Desktop Widgets

As a result, I didn’t use widgets much, except for a few on my work computer. These widgets provided simple, but useful information: the weather, battery life on my devices, and a small calendar displaying my upcoming meetings. However, my personal computer desktop remained widget-free.

With widgets permanently visible on the left side of my desktop, I noticed a shift in my window management habits. Similar to the behavior changes I observed when my display was too large, I subconsciously positioned non-fullscreen windows to the right side of the desktop, or even sized them smaller than I normally would so that the widgets fit nicely next to it. I felt like I always had to see them, even if they weren’t important to the task at hand.

What I want[ed]

Initially, I thought the solution was simply a missing feature: Optionally adding widgets to specific virtual desktop(s). This would let me keep them in a space I already reserve for Activity Monitor and other status apps. Accessible when I needed it, while keeping the other workspaces clean and uncluttered.

But alas, that’s not how desktop widgets were implemented. So, I carried on, accepting that I simply wouldn’t be satisfied.

Sigh.

If only macOS had a central place for both my notifications and widgets… one that slid out of sight when I needed to focus (😂).

Notification Center

One day… I (finally) realized the solution had been sitting there this whole time, hiding just off the edge of my screen.

While working, I absentmindedly opened Notification Center to clear out message alerts that had piled up over time. After dismissing them, I glanced down to the random assortment of widgets below… and it hit me: “Hey! Widgets…here…”.

I’d always known about the widgets in the Notification Center, and even clean up and re-organize the ones on my iPhone and iPad. But on the Mac? I had mostly just ignored them and hadn’t intentionally thought about curating them, or that they could perfectly replace my desktop widgets.

Embracing Notification Center Widgets

I opened up the edit panel and got to work refining my setup. I removed widgets I didn’t need, added ones that I found useful, and positioning them in a way I found pleasing. With macOS able to use widgets from an iPhone, the pool of useful options was better than ever.

For the finishing touch, I added a custom keyboard shortcut (CMD + \) to quickly toggle Notification Center.

Conclusion

It’s been several weeks since I made this switch and overall, it’s been great. I’ve tweaked my setup here and there as I experiment with different apps, and while I use it more on some days than others, it’s proven to be a fantastic solution. The keyboard shortcut makes all the difference. Being able to press two keys, glance at the info, and then dismiss it has been amazing.

I’m glad that macOS allows desktop widgets for those that enjoy them. But for my workflow, this is a better fit.