ChatRef.com has a Chat Reference Widget available for Mac OS X.

The Chat Reference Dashboard Widget allows you to look up chat acronyms, abbreviations, and emoticons directly from the Mac OS X Dashboard. Simply type the term or emoticon you want to look up in the search box and press Return. The information for the extension will immediately load in your default Web browser.

Dowloading the Widget

To download the ChatRef.com widget, click the download link below.

Installing the Widget

If you are using Safari, when you download the widget, you may see an alert that says "Chat Reference.wdgt is an application." Click "Download" to confirm the download process. The Chat Reference Widget is compressed using PC ZIP compression. If downloaded by Safari, the widget should decompress itself automatically. Click "Install" when you are asked to install it and click "Keep" once the widget shows up in the Dashboard application.

If you are using Firefox or another Web browser, you may need to decompress the .zip file using a program like Stuffit Expander. Once the file has been decompressed, double click the "Chat Reference.wdgt" file to add it to the Dashboard. Click "Keep" when the widget shows up in the Dashboard application to make it active.

Using the Widget

Once the Chat Reference Widget has been installed, you can access the Mac OS X Dashboard by pressing the F12 key (or the Dashboard key on new Apple keyboards), or by clicking the Dashboard icon in the Dock.

If the Chat Reference Widget does not appear, click the "+" icon in the bottom left corner of the screen. This will bring up a list of widgets installed on your machine. Browse the list of widgets until you see a dark blue icon with a chat bubble and the text "Chat Reference." Click the icon to activate the widget. Once the Chat Reference Widget is active, you can hide the list of widgets by clicking the "x" in the bottom left corner of the screen.

To perform a search using the Chat Reference Widget, first click inside the search field of the widget. Then type a search term or emoticon and hit return. The appropriate ChatRef.com page will load in your default Web browser.

System Requirements

This widget requires Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger or later.

Questions?

If you have any questions regarding the installation or usage of the ChatRef.com Dashboard Widget, please contact ChatRef.com. Thank you.