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Dashboard Exposed

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,523
30,810
Apple introduced Dashboard today. Dashboard is an addition to Exposé which gives users quick access to mini-applications called Widgets.

Widgets are mini-applications written in JavaScript that are designed for fun as well as function. They keep you up to date with timely information from the Internet such as stock quotes or the latest view from your favorite Web cam. They can also provide quick, simple access to frequently-used applications such as a calculator, a playback controller for iTunes and a contact look-up for Address Book.
Click to expand...

Apple adds a bit of flare to the widgets by taking advantage of the Core Image technology in Tiger to take advantage of some real time effects.

Two examples from the current implementation of Dashboard include:

Ripple Movie (312k) - When current widgets are launched, they appear with a water-ripple effect on the desktop.

Flipping Sticky (159k) - To change the color or font preferences of a sticky note, you simply click on the rotate button and the sticky flips around to offer preferences controls on the back.
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2004/06/28/dashboard-exposed/
rdowns

rdowns

macrumors Penryn
Jul 11, 2003
27,397
12,521
Macrumors said:
Apple introduced Dashboard today. Dashboard is an addition to Exposé which gives users quick access to mini-applications called Widgets.



Apple adds a bit of flare to the widgets by taking advantage of the Core Image technology in Tiger to take advantage of some real time effects.

Two examples from the current implementation of Dashboard include:

Ripple Movie (312k) - When current widgets are launched, they appear with a water-ripple effect on the desktop.

Flipping Sticky (159k) - To change the color or font preferences of a sticky note, you simply click on the rotate button and the sticky flips around to offer preferences controls on the back.
Click to expand...

Tiger is going to be great on my imac G5.
 
Laslo Panaflex

Laslo Panaflex

macrumors 65816
May 1, 2003
1,291
0
Tokyo
Sweet, Gotta love the uneccessary Eye Candy.

Edit: Is any eye candy neccessary?

Just improve the speed of the OS, I really don't care for eye candy past the 10 minute WOW factor.
 
atari1356

atari1356

macrumors 68000
Feb 27, 2004
1,582
32
narco said:
Wish people would stop with the Konfab-comparisons.

// narco
Click to expand...

Why?

It's blatantly obvious that Apple got the idea from Konfabulator. Sure, it appears that Apple is doing some things in the eye candy department to improve upon it... but it's still just a fancy version of Konfabulator.
 
Doctor Q

Doctor Q

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 19, 2002
39,785
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Flipping Sticky - a little version of the "Looking Glass" feature we've been discussing here recently.
 
R

reaper

macrumors 6502
Apr 9, 2004
267
0
19th Hole
Maybe it's just me, but I don't think I'll really have any use for these "widgets" that float in some strange "layer" on top of my desktop. Hopefully, Apple will prove me wrong, but since I have no basis for comparison (I have never used konfabulator) I am skeptical for now.

The eye candy does indeed look nice, don't get me wrong (especially that ripple effect) I just hope that form is not getting ahead of function here. :eek:

- reaper
 
M

MacRETARD

macrumors newbie
Jan 3, 2003
26
0
narco said:
Wish people would stop with the Konfab-comparisons. Anyway, these look a lot nicer!

// narco
Click to expand...

Having never heard of konfabulator until yesterday I definately think its a rip-off.

Apple should do the right thing and write this guy a check for 50 or 100K or something. Its chump change to them but would at least provide some good will for the developer community.
 
paulypants

paulypants

macrumors 6502a
Jun 17, 2003
617
271
Buffalo, NY
atari1356 said:
Why?

It's blatantly obvious that Apple got the idea from Konfabulator. Sure, it appears that Apple is doing some things in the eye candy department to improve upon it... but it's still just a fancy version of Konfabulator.
Click to expand...

Konfabulator wasn't exactly the first of it's kind either...
 
R

reaper

macrumors 6502
Apr 9, 2004
267
0
19th Hole
Doctor Q said:
Flipping Sticky - a little version of the "Looking Glass" feature we've been discussing here recently.
Click to expand...

I think this is a feature that should definitely be looked into for future versions of the OS. If implemented correctly this will be HUGE!!! I guess they are off to a good start with the little stickies widget.

- reaper
 
MacFan25

MacFan25

macrumors 68000
Jan 5, 2003
1,624
0
USA
I think that the flipable stickies will really be a usuable feature for me. In Panther, when using stickies, changing the font isn't that easy...but Tiger looks to solve that problem.

I still want to see more of Tiger in action...I'm hoping they'll put up the keynote soon... ;)
 
BornAgainMac

BornAgainMac

macrumors 604
Feb 4, 2004
7,282
5,268
Florida Resident
I am looking forward to viewing the developer's conference in quicktime so that I can see this and other features demostrated. I can hardly wait to have Tiger and iLife '05 next year. Looks like a nice update but I really wanted those Safari and iChat updates today and separate from an O/S update.

Anyways, Dashboard looks really nice.
 
nsb3000

nsb3000

macrumors 6502
Jun 17, 2003
275
0
Boston, MA
More Power to Stickies!

MacFan25 said:
I think that the flipable stickies will really be a usuable feature for me. In Panther, when using stickies, changing the font isn't that easy...but Tiger looks to solve that problem.
Click to expand...

Ya maybe I will use stickies again...such a great concept ( I remember when they introduced way back in OS 7.5) that gets so little use from me these days.
 
nsb3000

nsb3000

macrumors 6502
Jun 17, 2003
275
0
Boston, MA
Will Mac OS X ever feel fast?

Laslo Panaflex said:
Sweet, Gotta love the uneccessary Eye Candy.

Edit: Is any eye candy neccessary?

Just improve the speed of the OS, I really don't care for eye candy past the 10 minute WOW factor.
Click to expand...

The question is this. Which is increasing faster? Os X's non-turn-off-able-eye-candy, or your average macs ability to display to gracefully?
 
Chobit

Chobit

macrumors member
Jan 4, 2003
97
0
NY
In these videos the apple menu is not white on blue like in others, but the normal blue on white. Does anyone know why?
 
mdriftmeyer

mdriftmeyer

macrumors 68040
Feb 2, 2004
3,809
1,985
Pacific Northwest
You must be in a generous mood. It's a Javascript API. Big deal. I suppse we should all pay everyone for their web site ideas that blatantly keep getting ripped off as well.

The developer should feel pleased that his widget set was noticed by Apple and for $25 who the hell would pay it when OS X brand new is only $129?

It reminds me of The Jerk when the kid wins the prize and Steve Martin widdles down the best prizes for basically a pencil. Comparing $129 for OS X and all its substance to $25 Javascript widget eye candy.

I'd be learning Objective-C Cocoa in a hurry and Core Imaging to write new applications that I can really charge money for and justify the whining.

By the way these ideas aren't "new" inside Apple. They just finally decided to put them in and make them "cooler."

MacRETARD said:
Having never heard of konfabulator until yesterday I definately think its a rip-off.

Apple should do the right thing and write this guy a check for 50 or 100K or something. Its chump change to them but would at least provide some good will for the developer community.
Click to expand...
 
narco

narco

macrumors 65816
Dec 9, 2003
1,155
0
California.
atari1356 said:
Why?

It's blatantly obvious that Apple got the idea from Konfabulator. Sure, it appears that Apple is doing some things in the eye candy department to improve upon it... but it's still just a fancy version of Konfabulator.
Click to expand...

Seriously, a clock? Calendar? Calculator? Konfabulator created these things? Last time I checked, Apple put them on the desktop back in '84. Just because they made them more accessible and added some java-nonsense doesn't mean Apple ripped it off. In fact, it's the other way around.

// narco
 
nsb3000

nsb3000

macrumors 6502
Jun 17, 2003
275
0
Boston, MA
Now that Tiger is "out of the cage", so too speak, I look foreword to learning about all the cool features that are on the developer previews CDS that steve did not tell us about. These two movies are two great examples of this.

You gatta love the power of the Internet!
 
Fuchal

Fuchal

macrumors 68030
Sep 30, 2003
2,607
1,086
Core Image is gonna make everything so much cooler looking now from what we've seen of Motion. :)
 
Sayer

Sayer

macrumors 6502a
Jan 4, 2002
981
0
Austin, TX
Apple came up with the idea of mini app "widgets" almost at the beginning of the Mac itself, they were called "Desk Accessories" and were used back when you could only run one app at a time on the Macintosh.

So Apple merely reached back and took an old concept they held title to way before Konfabulator even existed as a concept in someone's mind and brought it into the 21st century.

Yes it is very similar to Konfabulator, but Arlo Rose didn't invent the entire concept - he merely made a current implementation using off-the-shelf technology (JavaScript, AppleScript, Core Graphics).

And don't forget this ONLY work on Mac OS X 10.4. Those 12 million Mac OS X users won't all suddenly switch to 10.4 *next year*.

Lastly Konfabulator is being ported to Windows so it's not like it is dead in the water *next year* when 10.4 finally ships.

The only real bummer is that Apple didn't simply buy Konfabulator and integrate into the OS, which would have made everyone angry that Apple "pulled a Microsoft" on some poor guy who was supporting the platform for years with products Apple should have made on their own.
 
B

bertinman

macrumors 6502
Jul 24, 2002
272
0
Davis, CA
um, these widgets are HUGE.

Just because expose helps make the desktop more usable doesn't mean that I want to have my address card be the size of half my screen.

Right now, I'm in the process of making my own little program to make a quick calc and task list on the desktop. The main points for both of these designs start with unobtrusive and fast loading and closing as a high priority. Hopefully Dashboard will have prefs to disable a lot of the eye candy crud.
 
~Shard~

~Shard~

macrumors P6
Jun 4, 2003
18,377
48
1123.6536.5321
A neat little feature, however there will have to be quite a few more of these announced for Tiger to make me switch from Panther. 150 new features they claim? I guess we'll see...

I wonder if Dashboard will be as much of a resource hog as Konfabulator is...
 
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