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Apple Confirms Dashboard is Going Away After 14 Years

I adopted Dashboard with Leopard and have been using it daily in and out ever since, between that going away and no 32 bits support anymore it does not look like I'll be moving from 10.13 any time soon.

Btw. what's the recommended replacement for the stickies widget? I have my dashboard plastered with color coded groups of those. Notification center does not look like an alternative at all - might as well just use a text editor for any notes then.
 
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I use Dashboard multiple times a day. Check the temp, iStat, use the dictionary, and Delivery Status (my favorite). It's quick and useful, at least for me. Launchpad, on the other hand, has never seemed to have a point. Of course, I'm more worried about getting my 5,1 Mac Pro to work with Catalina. Not in a hurry to dump a 12-core machine with 64GB and an RX580. I mean, I'd love to upgrade, but $$$$$$$.
 
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Gorms said:
Hi guys, whilst it's very sad about Dashboard, you might all be very excited to learn about a hot new feature called Notification Centre which has been around a good while now and basically covers all the needs you've listed here. Apart from Stickies, but that's an included app that can live on your desktop anyways.
Click to expand...

Problem with this for me is the constant toggle between "today" and "notifications" — I wish there was a keyboard shortcut for doing this. I swipe from the side for notifications, and tap my dashboard key for dashboard. No clicking between various settings.
 
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th0masp said:
Btw. what's the recommended replacement for the stickies widget? I have my dashboard plastered with color coded groups of those. Notification center does not look like an alternative at all - might as well just use a text editor for any notes then.
Click to expand...

Depending on your use case, I'd start with the Stickies app in Applications but Reminders or Notes might be possible replacements depending how you're using them as well.
 
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.Joel said:
Any suggestions for a Notifications area replacement for the Unit Converter?
Click to expand...

Spotlight can convert units (Cmmd + space)... so can Siri

(these are what i use.. maybe they’ll work for you too)

——
i used to use the calculator in Dashboard but i use Spotlight for that too.. (or Siri.. or calculator app on iphone)
 
JosephAW said:
All these eliminations of core services is necessary for the transition to ARM processors and a convergence of macOS and iOS. It won't be long until the dock is eliminated and eventually the finder in the next few itterations. Launchpad will probably replace the dock in the next macOS.
Click to expand...

Why I agree they are streamlining the OS and removing legacy features, I highly doubt that the dock and finder are going away. They are two staples of the OS and have been since the beginning. Additionally the dock exists on iOS. Finder is an essential tool and much a requirement to make the OS usable. They may rename it to something else, improve on it, or change the UI, but the core functionality is not going away.
 
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Why remove features if there is no pressing need to do so? Maintaining this functionality would have to cost Apple functionally nothing. All they would have to do is make sure it continues to function, adding no new features.

I never use the dashboard myself, but we have students who use it every day simply for the calculator. It's a great and easy way for them to access a calculator function and I know they will all miss it. For a long time now it's been clear that the people designing Apple's UI and deciding which features stay and which features go don't give a rat's tail-end for anyone else's needs or preferences. They think everyone should use their Mac exactly they way *they* do, and to hades with anything else.
 
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Throughout its entire life I could not find an Apple explanation that was simple but broadly correct. What Apple never did effectively the MacRumor article did in a paragraph:

“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.”

I knew what Dashboard was for but I wonder how many users never knew, so they never used it? Having very little printed documentation come with their products and having to search online every time you have a question, and perhaps not knowing the proper name of the function that you have a question about, is irritating.

Looking thru Apple support MIGHT get you an answer, or it might not. Same with posting in forums, including Macrumors. I don’t think going back to printed material is going to happen, but it would be nice to KNOW where to go on Apples site and not have to guess at search terms to get an answer.

And Apple should have their own video help-site and not rely on people or other companies posting YouTube how to’s.
 
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Sad day. The dashboard is very useful with SecuritySpy by BenSoftware being one of the many daily uses for me. Will be sad to see it go.
 
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Don't be sad about Dashboard, when Ive is done... it will ALL be gone. Siri and Cloud only.
 
I use it multiple times a day. A quick three-finger swipe left and I have probably 15 stickies, dictionary, world clock, calculator, weather and a handy conversion utility that I use for money conversions, length, temperature and all kinds of other conversions. I'll read through this thread now and see what the suggested replacement will be. I seriously can't imagine not having it.
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ghostface147 said:
Quick access to a monthly view of the calendar to see what days fall where. Oh well. Fn+F12 is how I accessed it. Much faster than actually opening the calendar program.
Click to expand...

I use a three-finger swipe left on my MacBook 12". Pops up so fast.
 
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th0masp said:
I adopted Dashboard with Leopard and have been using it daily in and out ever since, between that going away and no 32 bits support anymore it does not look like I'll be moving from 10.13 any time soon.

Btw. what's the recommended replacement for the stickies widget? I have my dashboard plastered with color coded groups of those. Notification center does not look like an alternative at all - might as well just use a text editor for any notes then.
Click to expand...

10.15 you mean :D

The Stickies App... which afaik still exists... it still does in Mojave. Funny story... it also behaves like OS9. Where you can "minimize" Apps to only the top part of their window (where you'll usually find the toolbar etc.)
 
About once or twice a year I accidentally hit some button combo that brings up Dashboard, and then I forget about it again for another year. At some point I think it stopped because they changed the default for it to be off.

Everything I had in Dashboard I now have in my Today widgets section of Notification Center. I have a custom gesture set for it in BTT to slide it over. All I really need is a calculator, a weather app, a calendar, reminders, Deliveries, and iStat Mini. It would be nice to have an option to show two columns when it slides over so you can see your notifications and widgets at the same time.
 
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Gorms said:
Hi guys, whilst it's very sad about Dashboard, you might all be very excited to learn about a hot new feature called Notification Centre which has been around a good while now and basically covers all the needs you've listed here. Apart from Stickies, but that's an included app that can live on your desktop anyways.
Click to expand...

If you found out Apple was discontinuing its computer business, and I told you there’s a hot new product called Windows PCs that covers all your needs, how would you feel?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.
 
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