I know a lot of Tiger users love Dashboard widgets, perhaps if you are one of them you can explain how these little clumps of HTML and Java are of any real use to you. While they certainly look nice I can see no practical use for them as they are merely hacks of larger, more powerful applications. Dashboard seems to be nothing more than extremely watered down version of Sherlock, but perhaps I'm missing the point.
And why does Apple make such a big deal over these application fragments? Instead of showcasing just another way to lookup local weather conditions why not showoff how MacOS X only applications like Quicksilver are changing the way people use computers and interact with web applications in a way Windows XP can only dream of.
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I'm with you -- I never hit that wacky F12 button. They're pretty and it's very "cool" and "Mac-y" but I just don't find them particularly useful. But perhaps I'm just a curmudgeon.
I see where your coming from, and I felt the same myself until I came across some widgets that I actually find useful.
Tinyurl, TV listings, Train timetable, and flight tracking are all one click from my desktop. Quite handy.
As of yet I can understand your pessimistic view. but if I think a moment, I can imagine some really practical things, that would be nice, beeing just a key-stroke away:
- your site stats: many bloggers and above all web professionals could check their or their customers stats or server availability (I know some hardcore geeks, who have their shell and "trail -f customer.log" open the whole day!)
- comments-feed: check your comments or your customers forum for "asshats" (thats what _you_ call em ;) )
that's just a minute of thinking (of a we professional). the point is: it is not about the originality or sophistication of the underlying app, it is about the content you put in it (as always). And it fits well into the Apple-scheme of building simple (as in simple to use _and_ in simple to develop) applications that can do just one thing, but very good (think ipod).
I am really looking forward to people (it doesn't take more than a web hobbyist) developping cool, to the point and good looking widgets I will use every day.
I use 'em all the time, to my surprise. The main stuff I use daily is the calculator, weather, and the units converter. The idea for me is that it keeps stuff that I access often available at any point, but they don't get in the way of the stuff I'm currently working on.
Sure, Quicksilver handles some of this stuff (I used to use the calculator plugin all the time) but some stuff hasn't been ported to the 10.4 version, and other stuff (like units conversion) hasn't been ported at all.
The other issue with Quicksilver is that it often needs to display results in a web page (i.e. weather, dictionary or translation lookups). This isn't a huge issue, but it tends to mean some extra effort closing or switching tabs back to what I was working on.
One widget I've been hoping for (don't have the time to get to "learn how to program" on my someday/maybe list) but it hasn't materialized yet is a send mail widget. Instead of having any email program open constantly, which for many people is a complete distraction, pressing F12 and typing in an auto-complete email address, a quick msg and pressing send is easier than loading up the program and closing it down all the time and doesn't present the temptation to check random email lists.
Other than that...TV listings...screenshot (using this all the time now)...package tracker...among others. It's not that you can't do these things with other programs. It's about having these things at your finger tips so that the process of carrying out one action doesn't get bogged down and doesn't open up any opportunity for distraction. A tool for each job...without 20 tools open at all times.
I think the real problem with Widgets is you have to go into the Dashboard and almost "out" of the regular OS to get to them. You can get around this with a program, but I wonder why they didn't do it that way to begin with. I think I would like it better if they were more, eh, integrated.
There are some useful widgets and some more I would like to see (like a Movable Type one), but obviously a lot of them are just for "fun."
I think Apple make a lot of buzz with Dashboard because is extremely eye-candy. Sure, Spotlight is by far more useful and important but has not wow effect in everyday-PC-user.
What would you show to a PC fellow? The Unix Core?
I love the Wikipedia widget for it's immediate availability, and it allows me to browse the entire Wikipedia without leaving the Dashboard.
I love the calculator.
I make use of the clocks for keeping track of US time zones (I'm in Denmark)
I use the dictionary and thesaurus often, and from time to time need to convert dollar and euro values to Danish Kroner.
And to top it off, the post-its are pretty damn nice...
Two best things so far are the post-it note widget which lets me quickly note a bit of information without say, storing it in a new textfile, and the DashBlog widget which I hacked to fully work with my MT blog. Very low effort way of posting to my blog.
I'm not on Tiger yet, but from everything I've seen, I have to agree with Maura. It does seem that the configuration is going to help with clutter (for me this is probably a good thing as I am the worst about hiding apps and forgetting they're running, putting so much stuff on my desktop that files actually start to stack on each other, and having to scoot app windows and stickies all around to look at other things), but it does seem counter-intuitive.
I will say that I think that WikityWidget (http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/reference/wikitywidget.html) looks *damn* cool. I've actually been considering installing a full wiki right on my system to do exactly the same thing it is intended for. It is definitely one a hack of a more powerful application, as you say, but I think that's a good thing. The other application may have more features, or be more powerful, but if I don't need that stuff... it actually feels "too heavy;" too many distractions. Just too much crap, ya know?
Hmm... I guess that's kind of selling point right there. Widgets are kind of an antidote to feature glut.
I dunno about the way you have to move into another dimension of OS X to interact with a widget — this seems to kill the allure and goal of widgets, that is, information that doesn't need to be actively "pulled" and that is simply "there."
Think of the ambient devices ..... would they be as cool if you had to walk over to each one, flip a switch, and turn them on if you wanted information? Nope. So I'm not sure why Apple makes you F12 to gain access to widgets, it kills the usefulness in my opinion.
The key phrase for me is "at a glance." There are a dozen things that I want to look at during the day that could easily be represented by one chart, one number or one sentence. With Dashboard, I can hit a button and have those things in front of me, instantly. I used to think that these would be best if persistent on the desktop, but having it in a seperate space is great because it doesn't involve shuffling windows out of the way.
I use the default Weather, Dictionary and Calculator Widgets several times a day. The third party widgets I find really invaluable are:
1) Panic's Transmit Widget, which uploads files to a chosen directory via drag and drop.
2) Code Line's TypeCast Widget, which gives you a nice preview of the fonts on your system. You can type a phrase or paragraph and see what it'll look like in your chosen font.
3) Inventive's iClip Widget, which lets you store indefinitely anything you copy to the clipboard, and then paste the items wherever you want.
4) The Fast Amazon Widget, since I use Amazon a lot. It shows a preview of the items you search for, and clicking on them takes you to Amazon in your browser.
Also, there's a pretty addictive little Minesweeper Widget.
The thing is, none of these Widgets do anything I couldn't already do; they're just shortcuts. I could check the weather online, or with a stand-alone program, but it's nice to be able to just hit F12 and see it instantly. (Also, if you hold F12, the Dashboard only appears for as long as you continue holding.) I could just use the dictionary app, or dictionary.com, but again it's nice to have it instantly available. And that iClip widget is pretty nice if you do a lot of copy-pasting.
Some Widgets are pointless while others really speed up your productivity, it all depends on what kind of widgets you use. And iClip is a neat little thing.
I had a post of this recently, myself. The bottom line is that there just aren't that many useful widgets out there -- yet. The Dashboard layer Apple has put in place is neither inherently good nor bad -- it's all about the widgets, man. And I think people simply haven't figured out what sorts of things make useful widgets. To me, the most useful widgets are visualizations of data -- often Internet dada. Examples are weather, TheBigNoob's upcoming Shortstat widget, SysStat (tells me how my computer is running), etc. These are the most useful to me. Widgets that try to replace an app within a tiny javascript/HTML fragment usually turn out to be useless.
In short -- I think Dashboard will yield some cool widgets at some point. But, right now, there are very few and far between.
I agree with most of the other people out there, it's all about the data that the widget displays.
For me I often want to know about the weather so that one is good, also the tv listings and the calculator are pretty useful.
The one that i've found pretty indispensible though is the currency converter widget. Living in Australia and either buying things over the internet or seeing prices quoted in US is annoying, so this allows me to quickly check things.
But other than that, there isn't much else i need to access quickly....
"And why does Apple make such a big deal over these application fragments? "
Because Steve wants all those script jockeys to feel like they are part of the fold... and... it's easy to sell shit when it looks pretty. Think of cell phone skins at $15.00 a pop. Pink, neon green, wood grain, brushed aluminum... eye candy for the masses.
One widget I've been hoping for [...] is a send mail widget. Instead of having any email program open constantly, which for many people is a complete distraction, pressing F12 and typing in an auto-complete email address, a quick msg and pressing send is easier than loading up the program and closing it down all the time and doesn't present the temptation to check random email lists.
Uh, Quicksilver does this right now. You may have to tweak your settings, but you can pull up Quicksilver, hit period (.) to start typing, type your email to whoever, tab to the next field, choose "Send direct to" and then choose an address from your address book or type on in. Works for Backpack, too.
Only widgets I've found useful for more than a day are the weather forcast and the battery monitor (damn 12" screen is just too small).
7 Day Forecast Widget and Stock Tracker widget get used every day... easier to use these than find and install best of breed freebie apps... Widgets are a step in the right direction.
A super secure widget that allowed you to be in your bank account or stock trading app like Ameritrade or e-trade would be great too...
jim@targetfirst.com
www.targetfirst.com
Waiting to make the Switch to OS X myself.
With that said, my perception is Dashboard has some of the functionality and appeal of Firefox extensions. What both Firefox extensions and Dashboard remind me of, is Central by Macromedia (Macrodobe). I haven't tried Central since an early beta, so I just downloaded it again. One feature of Central that I'm not sure the Dashboard has is: data downloaded from the net is cached for offline usage.
Developers, developers, developers. That, I think is a major feature with those three. XUL and Javascript for Fx extensions, custom HTML, javascript and Cocoa for Widgets, and Flash/Actionscript for Central. Just as the web lowered barriers for publishing, these technologies lower the barrier for programming. In the case of Central and Firefox, the mini apps are cross platform, too. More or less.
I believe the goal in regards to Apple, Macromedia and Mozilla is to have "The Killer Mini App" on their respective platform and promote their technology to the media. For example, Grease Monkey. So what if users have to pan for gold just to get The Killer (Widget, Extension)?
As for the appeal to users, I believe it's in the organization of Widgets, et all. The programs are really miscellaneous accessories that a user may need quick access to, and not a full blown newsreader app or a buried bookmark to the latest stock price.
I didn't really get the whole Widget thing until it occurred to me that I could use it to get over something that had been niggling me for a while: basically I just wanted a little Widget to play a radio station I listened to without either opening an application or leaving a browser window open (which I kept accidentally navigating away from).
So I made one. And lo! It did exactly what I wanted.
The reason this one works (for me), is that it's aural - so although it is on the Dashboard, it's effects reach out beyond that layer - that makes a big difference to the way I interact with it.
I use Dashboard all the time, for checking the weather forecast, using the calculator, using the converter and using the dictionary. Sure there are "proper" apps and websites that do the same thing, but they're not one mouse move away (I use a hot corner). I also like that the use of these tools does not necessitate starting an application.
I've also switched to Safari, and nowadays use a widget to check if there are new items in Bloglines. I use a sysstat widget for a quick glance at what my internal _and_ external ip-number is (among other stats).
I keep forgetting what keys to press when I want to make certain types of screenshots, therefore I use a small widget that gives me a GUI for those actions instead.
Also, I use the calendar when I want an overview of the upcoming dates, for whatever reason.
Thomas nice to see you are still pinging around, FYI — Shift + Apple + 3.
Maybe after 10.4.2 is available I'll check Dashboard again. Right now little old iChat has a habit of taking 100% of the processor essentially freezing everything just like in the good old days of MacOS 9 and Windows 95.
You're right. The widget thing is mostly fluff and nonsense. Except for the Baseball Scoreboard widget; that's indispensible.
There are only two Microsoft products that I have ever bought: Xbox and the five button mouse with scroll wheel (I got Office from work). The mouse is awesome and perfect for OS X because I use the right side button for Dashboard and for me that's the quickest way for me to use a calculator and see my Hula Jesus bobble. I use the left side button for Expose's "Hide all" and it's just the way I'm comfortable.
I like the widgets like the weather, sports scores, Netflix tracker, Delicious Monster, Transmit. To be honest I only really use the calculator and the Dictionary, but the other ones I skim like a car dashboard.
I also like Quicksilver too. I use it for one button new emails and to skip tracks in iTunes, but do you really think Apple is gonna promote Blacktree (makers of Quicksilver) over Apple? I think they both have their place and maybe one day Apple will Watsonize Quicksilver and then promote it.
The Dasboard is genius for Apple though because it get's webmasters and novice programmers a chance to be involved with Apple. You build a widget and it's on Apple's site, that has to be cool. It's like Apple building Podcast support into iTunes. Apple loves building a community, albeit one they can control.
I'm thinking that Dashboard can come to resemble something more useful in a business setting like the traditional "dashboards" of CRM and Sales apps. It may sound cheesy but if Mac's can provide beautiful design and fulfill practical business needs, then XP will surely be given a run for its money.
I agree to a point. While I think it's nice to look at, I haven't found myself using it much. I am an 'old-hat' kinda guy, so I don't even use Exposé never mind Dashboard. The excellent QuickSilver takes care of most of my 'launching + checking'.
I think it's a shame Apple hasn't included an option to disable it for 'modest' systems, or for those who plain just don't like it. In saying that though, I have noticed a few interesting widgets out there (flores from stephan.com), ( FontViewer from lazlo.com.pl).
It's a fantastic piece of work to Apple's credit, but I personally don't find much value in it.
what i love is how apple stole konfabulator straight-up, made it worse by having to hit a button to access it and then trots around showing it off like its the second coming of j. christ. lets see: partnering with intel; stealing cool apps and then passing them off as your own...hmmm are we talking about microsoft here?
The Dashboard Vs Konfabulator debate is an oldie. Here is a great read on it at daring fireball. http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/dashboard_vs_konfabulator. Dashboard is one of those things that once you get used to and find some great widgets for you wonder how you did without. I personally use Wikipedia, Calculator, World Clock, Stickies, Weather and Calendar. There are also some very handy ones I keep hidden until I need them such as Phonebook, Dictionary and Versiontracker. Granted each person is different but I feel it is a worthy addition to an already proven OS. Just my half a cent.
-Maura
"I think the real problem with Widgets is you have to go into the Dashboard and almost "out" of the regular OS to get to them."
Actually you can take widgets out of the Dashboard environment by holding down shift and then F12. You have to do this when you drag out the widget from the bottom panel though. Just thought that might make things easier since you don't like having to use another app to do this.
Two words (or one word and a compound word): ShortStat Widget
I also use the weather widget most days, DashBlog, calculator and phone book.
Actually you can take widgets out of the Dashboard environment by holding down shift and then F12. - Tyson
Try doing that on an iBook/Powerbook.
I finally disabled Dashboard, it was just taking up resources and I wasn't making any use of it. You can do it quite easily with this application.