DISQUS

bryceroney · 3 months ago

The only dashboard widget I use is a little mini-calendar.

Louis Gray · 3 months ago

I have 4 open, including one Web clip, but on the rare occasion I do check those out, it takes so long to update them from the last time I looked (which is probably self-fulfilling as things get slower when they are less-frequently accessed). But considering I have about 100 iPhone apps and use many throughout the day, it's a stark difference.

EricaJoy · 3 months ago

IMO, there is a place for widgets but it is very small. Widgets have to be informational or otherwise useful without much effort and they have to cram that stuff into a small place.

In Apple's case, they killed widgets before they even had a chance. When you tuck away things that people need/want to use constantly (email widget, calendar widget, tasks, stickies, etc, etc) into a Dash that can only be interacted with independently of the rest of the OS, you can pretty much guarantee those things will get little to no use.

Widgets getting little to no use to Apple probably seems like people aren't interested in widgets and Dashboard as a whole so they drop the project priority and here we are with nobody approving new stuff for it.

I gave up my crusade for a sidebar (think Google Desktop sidebar on Windows http://www.google.com/enterprise/desktop/images...) long ago but really, I think that's the only way you're going to see people interacting with widgets in any way that is meaningful.

Phil Glockner · 3 months ago

On my creaky old mac mini, it's much happier if I hack OSX to prevent the dashboard from even loading. Too big of a memory hog.

Tris Hussey · 3 months ago

Myself I just use Onyx it iTweaX to disable the Dashboard entirely. Even when it's on, it doesn't seem that useful since when active it blocks all other apps, etc. Widgets are great when you can interact with them with other apps.

Save the RAM, shut off Dashboard.

Just IMHO. ;-)

Webomatica · 2 months ago

Very good point. Your post reminded me how little I use Dashboard these days... just an occasional peek to look at stocks, but that's about it.

Case in point: I've taken to using calculator on the iPhone even while sitting right in front of the Mac. It somehow seems quicker to just whip out the iPhone than get the calculator working on Dashboard...

Phillip M Jones · 2 months ago

Sure hate that. I'm trying to get an updated version of the Yahoo!Finance widget for Dashboard as the current version refuses to show any activity for Dow Jones Industrial Average and NASDAQ Composite Index. How does one update it to a new version.

Also Yahoo! is not updating there widgets ther is no where to talk to the originator of Yahoo! Stock Ticker for Yahoo widget engine. Nor for Yahoo! Finance which the latest have defects

Geem Khat · 2 weeks ago

solution: simulate the iphone in the dashboard!