[Reason077]

Ok, but having to go to the edge of the screen or use a modifier key makes it more painful than it should be. Before when Dashboard was just like an extra desktop to the left of your other desktops, you could just three-finger swipe from anywhere on the screen, any time. Same gesture as switching between desktops. It works that way on iOS too. So simple!

I understand why they dropped the original Dashboard, its widget platform was a technological dead-end. But now that widgets are back it would be awesome if they made the new widgets work like the old Dashboard again.

[user_of_the_wek]

As the widgets now basically _are_ your desktop, you can display them quite easily.

If you have any part of the desktop visible (e.g. to the left or right of the dock) you can click there so it hides all windows. I'm not sure if you need to enable this somewhere.

Also, there is a trackpad gesture to show the desktop: Keep your thumb stationary and use three fingers to swipe away, as if zooming out.

[Reason077]

I don't really want widgets cluttering my desktop, I want them in their own space (ie: their own desktop).

The use case for me for widgets is to display information I want to look at very briefly and then have go away again.

It ought to be pretty simple for Apple to add a "special" desktop for widgets to the left of the first desktop. This would match both the old Dashboard behaviour that I miss, and the way that widgets work on iOS.

(And the gesture you describe isn't "show desktop", it's "show all windows", though I'm sure it can be configured in macOS settings!)