Apple Confirms Dashboard is Going Away After 14 Years

[MacRumors]

Apple has removed Dashboard support from WebKit, not long after it was discovered that the feature has been completely dropped in macOS Catalina, according to a changelog spotted by Japanese blog Mac Otakara.

While this news is not entirely surprising, it eliminates any slim hope that Dashboard might have returned in a future beta of macOS Catalina. The feature has already been disabled by default since OS X Yosemite, but it can still be manually enabled within Mission Control in System Preferences as of macOS Mojave.

Dashboard, first introduced in OS X Tiger in 2005, was effectively a secondary desktop on the Mac that housed a variety of customizable widgets, ranging from sticky notes and the weather forecast to a clock and a calculator. These widgets have relied on Safari's open source WebKit engine for rendering.

Dashboard appears to remain functional in macOS Mojave for now, although it is clearly a legacy feature and some widgets do not work. After over 14 years, the feature is about to ride off into the sunset for good.

Article Link: Apple Confirms Dashboard is Going Away After 14 Years

 

[2010mini]

Honestly I forgot it was even still there.

 

[JessWinter]

If this article wasn't made, I probably wouldn't have noticed lol

 

[klunernet]

Honestly I forgot it was even still there.

I had disabled it, since it tended to consume resources. Not a problem on my current Mac, but with the bliss of time machine recovery, it never was enabled after that.

 

[MacFather]

Deleted.

 

[chrisbicker]

Now just waiting to get rid go Launchpad

 

[JimmyBanks6]

My wife still uses it for the sticky notes, I’ll get her to transfer those to the notes app.

 

[AngerDanger]

Steve demoing Dashboard for the first time in 2005.

It's kind of odd to think that it was a precursor to Steve's iPhone vision. Originally, he intended for the iPhone to run web-apps rather than have an App Store, and Dashboard was a collection of glossy, skeuomorphic, web-apps with rounded rectangular icons and charming-but-cheesy animations.

Two years before we had this:

We had this:

 

[macpro2000]

It’s a useful resource. I still use it all the time.

 

[cashxx]

Very sad! I use it multiple times a day to quickly check on stocks, weathers, packages at a click of a side button on my mouse to have it slide in as an overlay and back out in seconds. Will be something that may make me hold back updating along with the quick editing features of QuickTime 7.

 

[Jody Hewell]

For you Dashboard lovers out there, you can convert your current widgets to applications using the now unsupported Amnesty Singles utility. Just google it....

 

[agffth]

I never found a use for it. I still don't know what it's purpose was.

 

[statik13]

That's no good! I added a hot key so I can use the feature daily. It makes it so simple to access Calculator, Stickies, and Conversions. I even have it hooked up so I can control my Hue lights.

Hope they replace with something even better instead of dropping completely.

 

[HiVolt]

Biggest problem with Dashboard, is that you couldn't "sticky" a widget or widgets on your desktop.

 

[.Joel]

Bye old friend. I've used it nearly every day since Tiger, and when I read it was disappearing it was a little sad as I still remember the excitement back then during the Tiger keynote. I've moved a few things in to the notifications bar, but I'll miss Dashboard in its overlay mode. It would of been nice if they left it in the OS disabled by default for those of us that still used it daily

Any suggestions for a Notifications area replacement for the Unit Converter?

 

[JimmyBanks6]

I never found a use for it. I still don't know what it's purpose was.

Information at a glance without needing to load an app, obviously.

I suspect you are also confused by what a notification centres purpose is.

 

[DaveN]

I used to use it but haven't for a long time. Still, I'm sentimental and hate to see it go for those who do use it and for sentimental reasons.

 

[quietstormSD]

I did use it for quick access to stick notes for access to simple notes that I need repeatedly using function+f12

 

[NufSaid]

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

 

[Sharewaredemon]

Now just waiting to get rid go Launchpad

I never use it, but that doesn't mean a lot of people rely on it for finding their apps.
I've seen people organize it like their iPhone home screens.
When they first announced it I had such a nostalgia kick from Launcher in the classic Mac OS days - http://www.cbtcafe.com/mactutorials/launcher/launcher.html

 

[Staceysuzannejones]

Very sad! I use it multiple times a day to quickly check on stocks, weathers, packages at a click of a side button on my mouse to have it slide in as an overlay and back out in seconds. Will be something that may make me hold back updating along with the quick editing features of QuickTime 7.

Likewise, I access it multiple times a day for quick thesaurus and dictionary usage while I’m writing, calculator access, weather updates etc. and will definitely be delaying updating. Sad day.

 

[gwerhart0800]

I use it daily as a world clock (9 clock widgets for all the locations that I have team members in). It helps when trying to find an optimal time to schedule meetings when everyone is spread all across the globe. I am open to suggestions on apps to replace this functionality.

 

[furyperil]

What is AngerDanger doing in the dock?! Don't tell me he is being retired too!!!

 

[mam8dg]

Still use it everyday, but I understand it is a dated feature.

 

[Rorosbutt]

Looks like some dev will be gettin my money for making an alternative for this!