The dashboard is configured by an XML file. There are built-in dashboards, and these use the XML configuration. Have a look at the example file to see an example, or see the default layout
The main element is layout: everything is contained within these tags.
<layout>
<translate name="bob" x="200" y="200">
<component type="text" x="0" y="0" size="32" cache="False">Bob</component>
<translate x="180">
<component type="compass" size="300" fg="255,255,255" text="0,255,255" textsize="32"/>
</translate>
</translate>
</layout>Please see the extensive collection of examples - here