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Do you actually use widgets?

A

andrewt1187

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 6, 2007
33
0
I'm not sure if this should go here or Apps...

But, do you actually use widgits? I'm new to OS X, but I never use any of them except iStat pro every now and again. Should I just unload all of them to save on the performance?
 
I use them all the time. Firstly, I'm obsessed with the weather (so a few of those), and I work with people in Europe (so I have 3 clocks running with the different time zones). I have some for my Gmail inboxes, and currently I'm running "Delivery Status" for my Fedex packages. My favorite however is TV Forecast that tells me when the next new episode of my favorite shows will be.
 
Yeah I use them. I have Calculator, Weather, Sticky, and iStat Pro on my Dashboard. I use them all daily. I use weather and Sticky the most. Also, I use the MLB Widget because I have to keep track of my division race :)

Go Tigers ;)
 
Yeah - I use the iCalEvents, Dashflix, Coconut Battery, Calc, weather, some pro sports widget that I really like but can't remember the name of, sticky dispenser, etc. Probably too many...
 
I have, on my Dashboard layer, the weather widget, two views of the Doppler radar (zoomed in, and country wide), the calculator, the dictionary, and a rubber ball for tossing around.

I love the simplicity of Dashboard, and love having these apps at my fingertips.
 
iStat, Dictionary, Weather, Calendar, Delivery Status, and Radar in Motion are all indispensable widgets to me....
 
I didn't use them for the longest time because dashboard never ran correctly on 512 ram....then after I got 2 gig more, I started using it like crazy. I use the Wikipedia widget most often, followed by stickies, the dictionary//thesaurus, weather, calc, and language translator. :)
 
Not really. The only widgets I ever use are stickies. There is nothing in my dashboard now.
 
To be honest, the only widget I use is the yellow pages widget. OTOH, I'm not sure that I know how to make the most out of Dashboard. I don't like having to go into dashboard mode just to use those apps (it takes a little while for it to load on my G4). Is there a way to configure Dashboard to leave it "on" and on the side like in Windows Vista?

Also, I've already pulled calculator off of the OS and pluged it into the dock. What's more, instead of using Dashboard I just go to whatever website that already serves the widget function, like Wikipedia. I have them bookmarked for access that's easier than having to go into "Dashboard Mode" and wait for it to load up. Is there a way I can make the Dashboard experience more efficient? I do love using Tiger and can hardly wait until Leopard. Thanks.
 
I never use them, most useless invention in the world to me...

I would probably use some like iStat thingo if you could stick them to the desktop background like i did in linux
 
There are about a half-dozen I use a lot. Before 10.4 was released, I didn't think much of the idea, but they're actually implemented really well and are convenient...I certainly wouldn't want them floating around on my desktop. They don't use any CPU time when they're not activated, so there's no point in deleting them for performance reasons.

--Eric
 
I love widgets. I use them all the time! Weather, calendar, calculator, dictionary. wikipedia. Less often but quite a bit: measurement converter and currency converter. Of course, I also have iStat pro. And a Ferengi Rules of Acquisition random generator for fun.

I wouldn't want them on the desktop, they would be too annoying. Nor in the dock as they would take up too much space. They're amazingly well implemented...just press the scrollball on the mouse and they appear, press it again and they disappear. Fast, easy to access and extremely useful. They're actually one of my favorite things about OSX.
 
i *love* me some dashboard.

i use on an almost-daily basis: Radar in Motion, Weather, Flappie :eek:, Stunt Mania Junior (a fun little driving game i play when i'm waiting for my PC to think :rolleyes:), and the Yellow Pages widget.

i like when my officemate asks me if it's going to rain, and i hurry up and push F12 ...and lo and behold, there's the radar...in motion. :D he's always impresesd by how quickly i know the answer.
 
NOPE

I don't use any, and actually have dashboard disabled on all three machines.


I've never found a widget that did anything I couldn't do with a couple of keystrokes ... and the memory hogging bothers me.
 
Use em to knock down my keystrokes. Handy indeed!

I love how Apple implemented the widget interface. Vista's gadgets seem very, "intrusive" and unpolished.
 
I use my normal selection all the time:
Stickies (general note taking)
Calculator, calendar and weather widgets...

...but most importantly, dead centre is the Ultimate Guitar widget - search for guitar tabs straight from the dashboard, nice! :)
 
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