Make a Quick Pandora OS X Widget

I’ll admit it, I’m a Pandora addict. My own personal DJ is, in my opinion, pretty awesome. I listen to it almost all day too: on the train (iPhone App), at work, at home. So I’ve been looking for a way to play Pandora on my OS X desktop but haven’t found anything I really like. Then recently I read about Safari’s Web Clips and a lightbulb went off: I could use a Pandora Web Clip!

It’s actually super easy to do, and I’d recommend it for pretty much any webpage you use passively on a regular basis but which takes up valuable browser tabs and hog memory.

Fig. 1

Examples include Pandora, obviously, but also Gmail, Facebook, Twitter etc. Of course you could always download applications for all that but in my opinion it’s nice to not have to go through the hassle of installing Apps and cluttering your Applications folder with stuff.

Well let’s get on with the action!

Direct your Safari browser to http://pandora.com and once the page loads, go to FILE > OPEN IN DASHBOARD [Fig. 1]. Now you’ll have the option to select a certain area of the page, which means you can select only the music player. Now just select the area you want, which for me is the Pandora player and none of the other stuff. Now once you’ve selected the area you’ll see a purple ADD button in the upper right corner of Safari [Fig. 2].

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

The Dashboard will open automatically and you will see the widget. Now wait for it to load and you’ll be able to play music through it. The default setting is to only play music in the Dashboard which isn’t necessarily helpful. Your next step is to click on the (i)nformation symbol in the lower right corner of the new widget [Fig. 3] and uncheck “Only play audio in Dashboard.” This will keep Pandora playing even when you are not in the dashboard and you can get rid of that extra tab you’ve always got up.

Congrats, you’ve done it!