diff --git a/plugins/Dashboard/templates/dashboardWidget.js b/plugins/Dashboard/templates/dashboardWidget.js
index f10172a5d3677b6bed41dd2e012c3914ce9116d0..c053cf3e3e2bd3fb2774b0d3c7e22d39f8e251c5 100755
--- a/plugins/Dashboard/templates/dashboardWidget.js
+++ b/plugins/Dashboard/templates/dashboardWidget.js
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
         _create: function() {
 
             if(!this.options.uniqueId) {
-                console.error('widgets can\'t be created without an uniqueId');
+                piwikHelper.error('widgets can\'t be created without an uniqueId');
                 return;
             } else {
                 this.uniqueId = this.options.uniqueId;
diff --git a/themes/default/common.js b/themes/default/common.js
index 2225740f9bf3d16b6e71efec587996cb66042c37..14f75b23441e4a76555d10aa6190ece18c6c0a9d 100644
--- a/themes/default/common.js
+++ b/themes/default/common.js
@@ -12,6 +12,33 @@ var piwikHelper = {
         return $('<div/>').html(value).text();
     },
 
+    /*
+     * a nice cross-browser logging function
+     */
+    log: function() {
+        try {
+            console.log.apply(console, arguments); // Firefox, Chrome
+        } catch (e) {
+            try {
+                opera.postError.apply(opera, arguments);  // Opera
+            } catch (f) {
+                alert(Array.prototype.join.call(arguments, ' ')); // MSIE
+            }
+        }
+    },
+
+    error: function() {
+        try {
+            console.error.apply(console, arguments); // Firefox, Chrome
+        } catch (e) {
+            try {
+                opera.postError.apply(opera, arguments);  // Opera
+            } catch (f) {
+                alert(Array.prototype.join.call(arguments, ' ')); // MSIE
+            }
+        }
+    },
+
     htmlEntities: function(value)
     {
         var findReplace = [[/&/g, "&amp;"], [/</g, "&lt;"], [/>/g, "&gt;"], [/"/g, "&quot;"]];