Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Confirms Dashboard is Going Away After 14 Years
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Let Spotlight find them. It's super fast (Cmd-Space, type first two letters).
Not really. I have LaunchPad organized in such a specific way, its easy to find everything and get everything at a glance. Spotlight is generally seconds slower and I end up having to sometimes type more than two letters to find the exact application.
I heard of it but never tried it. People say good things about it.
I never used Dashboard, tbh. I didn’t really know what the point of it was.
The annoying thing to me about removing the dashboard is that apple has never added all the same widgets to notifications centre. For example, I really wish that I could write notes in notifications centre.
That's how I see it too. I do use it pretty regularly, especially after assigning a spare mouse button to bring it up to the foreground. Usually just use it to check the weather or for the calculator. But sure, I could get by without it just fine if i put the apps I need on the desktop for easy access or what-not. It's really just something I use because it's a habit.
I really like the dashboard and its the "widgets panel" that everyone is crying to have on iOS and envy Android for, and its better implementation than the side notifications center.
But no one has used it in like 7 years, The most recent widget must have been written in 2011 or earlier. It was underused, I really can see how this could have been something better.
But no one has used it in like 7 years, The most recent widget must have been written in 2011 or earlier. It was underused, I really can see how this could have been something better.
It’s interesting to read these posts. It seems that many folks are happy with Dashboard and use it frequently. I’ve personally seen it as more of an overengineered annoyance that only ever appears by accident. Spotlight, on the other hand, is excellent.
I made a sarcastic terror alert widget back in the day, it never wavered from yellow, which was “elevated”. It was kind of annoying because it actually looked up the current terror alert level every time; I should have just made it a static image.
I made a sarcastic terror alert widget back in the day, it never wavered from yellow, which was “elevated”. It was kind of annoying because it actually looked up the current terror alert level every time; I should have just made it a static image.
I take it, you have a really long / full dock, or you prefer to go to the Applications folder / Spotlight.
Some dislike clutter, and pinching with three fingers on the trackpad to access apps is faster than going to a folder or Spotlight. Personally, my Launchpad is organized. Things unused are in folders (which can be created by dragging a Launchpad icon on top of another, akin to iOS). If I don't use the app almost daily, there's no reason for occupy a space in the dock (so I only keep 11 items in my dock, and it auto-hides, providing focus ... for that matter, I only have one item on my desktop, my current project folder, that's it ... at most two (if my NAS drive is mounted)).
Last edited:
STICKIES! I'm guessing there is an app somewhere I can download to replace this. I'm a daily user of the dashboard, and hate to see it go. But I'm all for constant progress, so let's go.
There's an inbuilt Stickies app separate from Dashboard.
And many others in the App Store.There's an inbuilt Stickies app separate from Dashboard.
Fun that Stickies is an app that's pretty much the same as it was on Classic MacOS.There's an inbuilt Stickies app separate from Dashboard.
I still pop open Dashboard for that weather widget out of habit. I guess now a 3rd party can come back since Apple finally let that feature go (what was it, Konfabulator?
)
Worth giving it a shot. Even the free version is super powerful. I used to use QuickSilver and loved it, but I switched to Alfred a few years ago and was even more impressed. They came out with Alfred 4 recently too. It's one of the very first things I install on my computers — and my family's too.
This was a good idea when they lived on the desktop.
This does live on anyway as notification center widgets.
This does live on anyway as notification center widgets.
Honestly, I'd rather see the dock disappear than Launchpad. Seeing apps on a grid is more visually pleasing and device neutral than a dock full of apps, with icons so small because it's so full.
Last edited:
Queue the responses.
"I don't use xxxx technology so get rid of it".
"I don't use xxxx technology so get rid of it"
.
Or LaunchBar. I haven't willingly launched an app in the Finder many years.
Weird how many people don't know Stickies exists as a standalone app, because it makes for a really useful clipboard.
You can drag in text, pictures, URL's, even PDF's; and if you minimise it into a little bar with Float on Top selected, it's always there to throw stuff into. I use it all the time.
Anyway. Just biggin' up Stickies there. If you like this post please feel free to attend my 14 week seminar on the utility of scotch tape.
You can drag in text, pictures, URL's, even PDF's; and if you minimise it into a little bar with Float on Top selected, it's always there to throw stuff into. I use it all the time.
Anyway. Just biggin' up Stickies there. If you like this post please feel free to attend my 14 week seminar on the utility of scotch tape.
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?
Unit conversion has been built into searchlight for many years.