Dashboard Widgets

[z970]

While I was fooling around in the Dashboard, I came across the "More Widgets" button, which takes you to Apple's (surprisingly still active) Dashboard downloads page.

https://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/

Now, I don't know if I'm alone in this, but I had no idea the Dashboard functioned almost exactly like iOS in general before it existed. It's got a wide range of selection, including games and "Just For Fun" widgets. All of the ones I've come across work with Tiger, but many of the downloads are deprecated, so you will need to feed the download link to the WayBack Machine. Here are my favorites, so far.

https://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/games/codebreaker.html

https://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/games/marsexplorer_aubreyfalconer.html

https://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/games/openfiregoldwidget.html

https://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/games/pongclock.html

https://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/games/widgetmonkey.html (Download link broken, working one from WayBack Machine here: https://web.archive.org/web/2008030...dgetmonkeys.com/widgets/WidgetMonkey.wdgt.zip)

It would be a great idea to snag DashQuit, too. Frees up loose memory by quitting Dashboard. Really useful.

https://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/status/dashquit.html

Examining from a different point of view, the Dashboard is actually a lot like having your own integrated version of iOS, especially versions 1 through 3. You've got a Calendar widget, a Contacts widget, a Stocks widget, Maps, Weather, Clock, Calculator, Music, etc.

All in all, I think this, in my eyes at least, is just one more capability of the PowerPC Mac and that it's interesting that this was essentially iOS's predecessor. Worth a look if you have the time.

 

[gooser]

i also use dashboard with 10.4.

 

[Slix]

Unlike most, I used Dashboard regularly up until they added widgets to the Notifications/Today view on the Mac in Yosemite. I even learned how to create my own simple widgets (with HTML/CSS/JavaScript). I think the most useful ones for me were actually the web clip ones, where you'd create a widget using a chunk of a website and it refreshed when you opened Dashboard.

 

[z970]

Unlike most, I used Dashboard regularly up until they added widgets to the Notifications/Today view on the Mac in Yosemite. I even learned how to create my own simple widgets (with HTML/CSS/JavaScript). I think the most useful ones for me were actually the web clip ones, where you'd create a widget using a chunk of a website and it refreshed when you opened Dashboard.

That sounds interesting. What kind of widgets did you make? Were they easy to develop?

 

[Slix]

That sounds interesting. What kind of widgets did you make? Were they easy to develop?

Just one, a simple one with an image.

They aren't too hard at that level, but once you start getting into other javascript stuff it obviously gets more complicated. Apple does a good job explaining the basics though.

I just looked at the Dashboard currently on 10.13, and wow, 4 of them don't work anymore at all, and what happened to the old iTunes mini player that was built in? Was that an older iTunes bundled widget?

EDIT: Just copied the folder from Leopard's widgets to High Sierra. iTunes and Translation open just fine, and they work just fine on Leopard, but not on High Sierra. Weird.

 

[z970]

Just one, a simple one with an image.

They aren't too hard at that level, but once you start getting into other javascript stuff it obviously gets more complicated. Apple does a good job explaining the basics though.

I just looked at the Dashboard currently on 10.13, and wow, 4 of them don't work anymore at all, and what happened to the old iTunes mini player that was built in? Was that an older iTunes bundled widget?

EDIT: Just copied the folder from Leopard's widgets to High Sierra. iTunes and Translation open just fine, and they work just fine on Leopard, but not on High Sierra. Weird.

I have to say, for a first widget, that looks great. Very professional looking.

Well that doesn't surprise me at all. Next to nothing works anymore on High Sierra. For me, El Capitan is the last usable version.

I think the OS X Dev Team got stripped down to the very bone. It would make sense, considering Apple is essentially a phone company right now. After all, Timmy boy over here has a very hard time understanding why anyone would want to use anything other than an iPad. And that's not to mention his ultimate plan to wipe all memory of the traditional desktop computer off all minds of all people.

A lot of Apple's general product line practices and management ideals in the modern day are weird. Of course, that's not to say they don't have superior privacy policies and manufacturing philosophies than most competition. And at least they're respectful of your data, which is why I will probably stay with at least iOS until someone makes a pure Linux smartphone, with not a trace of Google in sight or code.

But that's just my take, anyway.