Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple's Dashboard Widget Download Site for OS X Broken

ravenvii said:
On the other hand, Microsoft put it directly on the desktop. No separate screen, no effort to access.

That, too, was a failure.

What implementation would be a success in your eyes?
Click to expand...

Windows 7 widgets work quite well - quick to access, no separate screen to view.

Android has decent widgets, accessible directly from your lock screen if needed.

Widgets are an optional feature, if you don't like them, you don't have to use them.
 
iMacFarlane said:
You ever mess around with the iPhone/iPad simulator in xCode? Some minor tweaks and integration into the UI, and the deal is done.

It's more a matter of using a touch interface without the ability to, er, touch, that'll keep this from happening, I think.
Click to expand...

...

That's a horrible idea.

Also, the simulator runs code generated for an x86 environment.
 
Still use Dashboard every day.

If it is killed, I hope someone creates something to replace it.

I've even got a Preference Pane to convert the F4 button to Dashboard from Mission Control or whatever it is on Lion/ML!
 
I can't really use the dashboard anymore on my Mac. Ever since I got it the dashboard would lock up the computer when I tried to open it.

So I'm not entirely heartbroken.

It kinda reminds me of Microsoft dropping the desktop gadgets in Windows 8.
 
Even if they plan to bring something else for 10.9 in place of widgets, they wouldn't just break the download site links. It must be temporary.
 
I just downloaded a bunch of widgets through the site. Whatever it was seems to have been resolved.

"If a situation is ever unclear, assume whatever it would take to drive you into a blind rage."
 
i use/utilize the thesaurus/synonym dictionary each and every day. it helps/assists me enrichen/elevate my daily/quotidian communication/correspondence.
 
I hope they don't kill it, I tend to use them almost everyday. I usually buy things from Amazon.co.uk and ebay.co.uk, so I use the currency converter to find out the price in euros.

Every once in a while, I also use the unit converter and although I feel confortable with English, sometimes I do find a word that I'm not familiar with, so I translate it.

iStat Pro, Stickies and Weather widget are also useful, even though I don't use all the time (but still somewhat regularly), but one that I started using a couple of days ago is the Calendar widget. Sometimes I want to quickly check the calendar and I feel stupid for never remembering to use the widget instead of opening the Calendar app until I read on this thread that someone did that.
 
I love the dashboard!

Junecloud makes great widgets that can synch to iOS devices, such as Delivery Status and Notefile. I hope Apple welcomes the Dashboard to iCloud and the Appstore, and revitalise it!

How can one live without world-clocks, notes, currency and unit converters and weather widgets just a swipe away?
 
Negritude said:
You're thinking of Konfabulator, which later became Yahoo! Widgets.

People accused Apple of copying that concept.

Here's sycophant John Gruber's take:

http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/dashboard_vs_konfabulator
Click to expand...

Which reminded me of Borland Sidekick for MSDOS back in 1983. Perhaps Apple originally copied that. I all but forgot about Sidekick, but I used it more frequently than Dashboard now. It was a big productivity booster.

The problem with Dashboard is that you can get all of its functionality by just running multiple applications simultaneously, which is easily done with today's large RAM sizes and fast multi-core processors.
 
talmy said:
The problem with Dashboard is that you can get all of its functionality by just running multiple applications simultaneously, which is easily done with today's large RAM sizes and fast multi-core processors.
Click to expand...

Wut? The whole reason for Dashboard is that you can get all the functionality of running multiple applications simultaneously without wasting much ram or cpu, which can be used for more important things. Just because you have large RAM sizes and fast multi-core processors doesn't mean you want to waste them tracking a package or monitoring your cpu/gpu temperature while you're converting massive video files.
 
lotones said:
Wut? The whole reason for Dashboard is that you can get all the functionality of running multiple applications simultaneously without wasting much ram or cpu, which can be used for more important things. Just because you have large RAM sizes and fast multi-core processors doesn't mean you want to waste them tracking a package or monitoring your cpu/gpu temperature while you're converting massive video files.
Click to expand...

For me the whole reason for Dashboard is convenience. Only rendering and transcoding video hits my CPU limits, but apps not actively in use consume very little CPU resources anyway, so I don't shut them down. And I've never been able to utilize the full 8GB of RAM on my main computers, even with dozens of apps.

I do use Dashboard and iStat Pro for system monitoring, but iStat Menus has more capability and would be just as easy to use. Tracking packages is now built-in to OS X, as is access to dictionary and thesaurus, and I use Spotlight for a quick calculator. Other widgets I use can easily be replaced with bookmarks in Safari. I don't think I'd weep for long if Dashboard went away in 10.9.
 
As an avid snowboarder in the PNW I find Dashboard to be tremendously useful during the wintertime thanks to the ECSatellite widget.

Dopplers and satellites to help keep track of the pow, yo.
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2013-06-04 at 11.39.41 AM.png
    Screen Shot 2013-06-04 at 11.39.41 AM.png
    824.6 KB · Views: 172
I use it everyday, too, to keep an eye on my machine's stats, mainly. Aalthough it can get suprisingly heavy on the CPU.
 
ArtOfWarfare said:
Yes, but it involves your entire screen being taken over by dashboard and having to load every widget that you currently have open in it. I like having a 20x20 icon in the corner that gives me a little bit of info and expands when I click on it to tell me more. I used to use the calendar widget, but now I use fantastical. I used to use the calculator widget and converter widget, but now I use other menu apps for those. The weather widget got replaced with my iPhone which has some nice weather apps on it.
Click to expand...

Comes down to preference, I guess. I don't mind a momentary overlay over my screen, even if I'm only looking at one part of what's on the Dashboard — after all, I only have one pair of eyes anyway.

I actually find it quicker to hit that one dedicated keyboard button (or gesture or mouse button), than to identify and click a very tiny menu bar target, especially as I'm trying to keep my hands on the keyboard if I can. As far as calculations, I do most of those through Alfred anyway :)

----------
Concorde Rules said:
I've even got a Preference Pane to convert the F4 button to Dashboard from Mission Control or whatever it is on Lion/ML!
Click to expand...
I use the same thing on my Air, which has the dumb "Launchpad" button. Launchpad is easily the most useless thing I've ever seen in OS X. Fortunately my Mini still has a slightly older keyboard with the Dashboard button.
 
Only thing I use on dashboard is iStat.

Apple need to find a way to revive dashboard... Otherwise it's dead, no one makes widgets anymore.
 
I find the dashboard useful

I use the dashboard to monitor all sorts of metrics (mostly website stats) and I created a sweet widget for that. You can read about it here if you like.
 
I would like to use my widgets based on their functionality too. So far I like all the widgets I have got but this could have been a good addition.
 
I'm surprised we haven't seen a load of Windows 8 like tiles created for Dashboard. I'm not saying this would be a good thing, it wouldn't be, but I'm just surprised that no one's created them - their must be a market for colourful 2d rectangular widgets that launch apps/webpages, and display your Facebook info, emails, etc. It would be very easy to do.
 
I use Dashboard, but the the easiest way to turn off Dashboard as a separate space is to go to System Preferences=>Mission Control and uncheck "Show Dashboard as a Space". You can turn off the keyboard shortcut on this page as well, if you wish.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back