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The Apple-supplied ones are widgets, but they are all displaying a notification of something, whether it's notifying you of the weather, your next meeting, stock quotes, or reminders, all of which are relevant to today. That's why the tab is called "Today".

A tweet, a FB status update, or Philips Hue light buttons are widgets but they don't notify you of anything, much less relevant to today. It opens the door to lots of cool widgets...that have nothing to do with notifications or what's happening today, yet they'll all get dumped there, cluttering it up as a mish-mosh of third-party control buttons, IM text boxes, and other stuff that are unrelated to today's info.

I think you guys are having a hard time understanding that a lot of widgets are not only going to be irrelevant to today, but don't even notify you of anything so why do they go into the Notifications Center under Today?
Notifications are of something new happening and you being alerted to them, information about something like weather or sports or calendar that is related to today is not a notification it's just a piece of information about something relevant to today (not a notification of something new to alert you). There is a difference between the two.
 
I think Facebook will be releasing a widget a la iOS 6's Facebook NC. I also miss the graphical weather widget in NC
 
I think Facebook will be releasing a widget a la iOS 6's Facebook NC. I also miss the graphical weather widget in NC

From iOS 8 screen shots I've seen it looks like weather in NC now includes a visual icon next to the text.
 
A different take on the game

The OP is harping on widgets not being done the way HE thinks they should be done.

My view is this. We got widgets. After how many years we got them, I'd rather have a 'not how I would have done it' start than Apple not doing it cause 'hey iOS worked get for years without them so they can't be that vital'.
 
Bottom line is Apple is sticking them in the appropriate place. But it really is strange how late to the game it is. I had an Android phone and have a tablet. I hate the widgets cause they eat my entire screen space and most provide minimal information.
 
Putting them in another tab would possibly be ideal, but I'm not sure without using it first.

I'm currently using a Nexus5 and home screen widgets just don't appeal to me. For information that I want to be forced to see, the lock screen is where they should be. Otherwise, for glanceable information I'd prefer if it were available anywhere.

I don't really see the appeal of swiping around casually on your home screen. I see it as more of a portal to apps, and glanceable information should be accessible from within any of those.
 
The Apple-supplied ones are widgets, but they are all displaying a notification of something, whether it's notifying you of the weather, your next meeting, stock quotes, or reminders, all of which are relevant to today. That's why the tab is called "Today".

A tweet, a FB status update, or Philips Hue light buttons are widgets but they don't notify you of anything, much less relevant to today. It opens the door to lots of cool widgets...that have nothing to do with notifications or what's happening today, yet they'll all get dumped there, cluttering it up as a mish-mosh of third-party control buttons, IM text boxes, and other stuff that are unrelated to today's info.

I think you guys are having a hard time understanding that a lot of widgets are not only going to be irrelevant to today, but don't even notify you of anything so why do they go into the Notifications Center under Today?



So your problem here are semantics, if they change "Notification Center" for something like "Dashboard" and still the same tabs for "Today" and "Notifications" will you be happy?

And just let it go buddy, this is how threads get closed.
 
Anyone else think sticking widgets in the Notifications Center is a bad idea?

- You put the widgets after the notifications, and then you may or may not have to scroll the window to see your widgets, depending on how many notifications you got at that particular moment. So your widgets aren't exactly in the same place each time you access the Center. Not consistent at all.

- You put the widgets before the notifications, and your notifications might end up off screen, obscuring important notifications.

I think a better idea would be to use a "swipe right" from the first home screen as the widgets center. This is where Spotlight used to live. Separates the widgets from the notifications, but still keeps it easy access.

Widgets are not necessarily notifying you of anything (for example Philips Hue), so why do they get lumped in with notifications? Not very Apple like.

It's in the today view. There are no traditional notifications there. Instead, it notifies you of Todays events. The widgets in place are supposed to mimic that function. The widgets will be in the same place each time you visit the today view..
 
And just let it go buddy, this is how threads get closed.

Yeah, you're right.

MODS: Please close this so you can clear the way for what everyone wants - all the whine threads about why such-and-such app is broken or isn't working perfectly...when it's a Beta.
 
Who said the today view had to be about today? Having it where old spotlight was is a horrible idea. Do I want to leave the app I'm in to swipe all they way over there? No! Do I want to unlock my phone to see the widgets? No! Apple put them there becuase it makes sense. If you don't think your going to be using the light widget that often you can put it on the bottom of the list...

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I think Facebook will be releasing a widget a la iOS 6's Facebook NC. I also miss the graphical weather widget in NC
I'm sure the weather channels got you covered.
 
Dude nothing in today view is a notification to begin with. It's already widgets. Apple is giving you the option to add more.

Don't know why you're having a hard time understanding this.

Actually I disagree!
The purpose of anything in Notification Center is to notify you of something. Hence the name Notification Center.
 
Weather, stocks, calendar, etcetera are widgets. Not notifications. Notifications are announcements that are provided by a service. Widgets provide information when viewed. Nothing more. If you want an app to send you push notifications, then those will end up in the notification tab. I prefer all my widgets in the Today screen because I can access them from anywhere and from within any app without having to exit the app and going back to the home screen.
 
The OP is harping on widgets not being done the way HE thinks they should be done.

My view is this. We got widgets. After how many years we got them, I'd rather have a 'not how I would have done it' start than Apple not doing it cause 'hey iOS worked get for years without them so they can't be that vital'.

Apple's approach to iOS 8 widgets is for the widget to display information. They chose some specific functionality and this functionality makes it appropriate to put in the notification area. In comparison, Android widgets can do other things over and above displaying information. I don't have a problem with Apple's approach.

I think that some people feel disappointed in the new iOS widgets because they do want more functionality in widgets. Perhaps in the future, Apple will add functionality to widgets. For now, the iOS 8 widgets still give iOS users something they don't have before.

Bottom line is Apple is sticking them in the appropriate place. But it really is strange how late to the game it is. I had an Android phone and have a tablet. I hate the widgets cause they eat my entire screen space and most provide minimal information.

Widget are like apps in that there are a lot of them out there, but very few of them are useful to any particular person. I do find that many widgets are pretty useless for me at least. There are some that I really like and only use those.

I do judge Android widgets based on their functionality for the screen space they take up. I do have near full-screen widgets that display a lot of information. I particularly like widgets that are scrollable. They display some information on the widget and if I need to see more, I can scroll down or there may be controls to cycle through the information.

Most widgets are probably going to be providing you with information anyway.

I get the impression that the iOS widgets are mostly just going to provide information. The iOS notification centre now allows you to respond to messages directly without having to open the app. I would expect that the iOS widgets may have some similar functionality in addition to displaying information.

On my Android phone, I do have a number of widgets that control settings or are short cuts to certain functions of apps. I don't get the impression that the iOS 8 widgets are going to have the same functionality.
 
Who said the today view had to be about today?

Ummm...because it's called "Today"? I mean, seriously?

If it's going to be weather and reminders and calendars and widgets that do all sorts of things, they might as well just call it "Stuff".
 
Ummm...because it's called "Today"? I mean, seriously?

If it's going to be weather and reminders and calendars and widgets that do all sorts of things, they might as well just call it "Stuff".

Google Now? More like Google A Few Seconds Ago!
 
Ummm...because it's called "Today"? I mean, seriously?

If it's going to be weather and reminders and calendars and widgets that do all sorts of things, they might as well just call it "Stuff".

But most widgets will be about current information anyway.
 
I switch back and forth between Apple to Android about once a year (it's a job thing to stay proficient on both OS). Widgets are ok but chew battery life. The good ones take up a bunch of real estate on the display which is not a big deal if your phone has a large display. I used them quite a bit but eventually went back to all icons and a clean display. The best widgets are those that access multiple apps or accounts at the same time, like Flipboard.

I just made the switch back to Apple 5s from a Samsung S4. I'm really enjoying the clean and attractive look of the 5s. I don't miss widgets at all. Most are "gimmicky" anyway.

I do miss the ability to really customize my screens and icons with the different launchers android offers, but those are for people who have nothing else to do other than playing with their phone.
 
Ummm...because it's called "Today"? I mean, seriously?

If it's going to be weather and reminders and calendars and widgets that do all sorts of things, they might as well just call it "Stuff".
And if they just renamed it to Stuff that would resolve all of this then?
 
Bottom line is Apple is sticking them in the appropriate place. But it really is strange how late to the game it is. I had an Android phone and have a tablet. I hate the widgets cause they eat my entire screen space and most provide minimal information.

Apple is always 'late to the game' concerning feature-adds, but they usually nail it in terms of how it works and feels. Better late and right, than just there like Samsung does (half-baked).
 
And if they just renamed it to Stuff that would resolve all of this then?

Yep. Keep "Today" to show me everything relevant to today - weather, stocks, reminders, calendar events. Sure, you can put sports scores and other widgets there, as long as they're notifications relevant to today. Apple should decide that.

Make a tab called "Widgets" or whatever as the dumping ground for all the non-notification related widgets - FB post widgets, tweet widgets, Hue widget, remote control widgets, etc.

So there'd be three tabs - Today, and Notifications, and Widgets.

People are all on my case about this complaint, but honestly - what does a Hue light control widget have to do with "Today" notifications?
 
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