EDITOR ’S eminence : This is the third in a ongoing series of feature - by - feature review of OS X 10.4 . Part one look at the pros and con game of Tiger ’s Spotlight lookup applied science while part two focused on iChat 3 .
I ’m a paid user of Konfabulator , so I ’ve already admitted to myself that I like the concept of lilliputian program widgets . ( I ’m currently using a hacked version of Konfabulator ’s Weather gismo to exhibit the current temperature data from my backyard atmospheric condition station on my screen background . ) So when Tiger arrived , I was concerned to see how I ’d get along to use Dashboard in my everyday spirit . The results so far are , I have to say , a bit mixed .
The standard widgets : Many of the Apple - designed widgets that ship with Tiger are a whole luck of fun . Some are even practical . The Dictionary convenience is just about pure , countenance me look up a Book quickly without launching and throw in the full Dictionary app . ( And permit me just say , how swell is it that Apple has finally put a complete lexicon and thesaurus into Mac OS X ? )
Why “ just about perfect ? ” I ’m disappointed that widgets are n’t smarter about their position on my screen . In my idea , the good place for the Dictionary gismo is mess about down at the bottom of my screen . But if I place it there and go in a word , the definition windowpane unfurls right off the bottom bound ( as shown below ) . It would be nice if the entire thingumajig scooted up when displaying a definition … and went back to its lurking position when that definition is no longer display . A underage quibble , but it drives me crazy enough to cite it .
I was never a habitual substance abuser of the Stickies lotion — it get in my way if I forget it open , and if I closed it I would forget I had left myself any notes . But I have at least one Stickies widget running at all times , full of brief “ affair to do ” notes to myself . ( you could see one in the above screenshot as well . ) In some ways , the Stickies gadget is the utter use of Dashboard ’s invisible - until - you - attain - F12 interface scheme . It ’s always there … but it ’s always out of my way until I need to bet at it . ( However , I ’ve stimulate to charge more petty complaints : it ’s a shame you ca n’t re - size the Stickies , or create multi - page Stickies . )
Although I love some of Apple ’s stock widgets , others are a bit more demonstration - friendly than they are actually useful . I do n’t line up the Calendar doodad — which pop the question absolutely no consolidation with iCal — to be particularly utilitarian .
Widget management : Dashboard adds a serious new wrinkle to the Mac port , but it ’s also add some quirks that need to be call . The most obvious one : there ’s no readily apparent way to quickly close a widget . If you select the little positive symbol in the lower left-hand corner of your screen , small “ x ” icons appear at the top unexpended corner of all your open widget , allowing you to fill up them . We comprehend widgeteers have also figured out that if you hold down the option Francis Scott Key and move your cursor over the widget , the “ x ” picture will look . A out of sight keyboard shortcut is not good enough .
Speaking of the the rotating plus / 10 symbol in the miserable unexpended corner of the screen … that it slides theentireuser interface upward when you come home on it just rubs me untimely . It ’s great eye candy , straight , but it also seems unnecessary and more than a little spot gratuitous . What ’s worse , the widget list that ’s reveal by the gratuitous oculus confect is really not potent enough to manage more than a handful of widgets . I ’ve already got three or four Sir Frederick Handley Page of widgets on my scheme . There ’s get to be a well way to organize them than Dashboard ’s current turn - the - pageboy approach .
And , of course , Dashboard ’s widget strip does n’t let you put in or delete Widgets easily . If you download a convenience using Safari , by default the browser app will unpack the widget and install it in your thingumajig leaflet . But as has been proven by several cunning Mac developers , having Safari auto - install widgets is not a good idea . Which is why every Tiger substance abuser should uncheck Safari ’s “ unresolved ‘ safe ’ files after download ” choice .
The job is , once you do this , there ’s no easy way to instal convenience . or else , you ’ve got to pilot to ~/Library / Widgets and copy your thingmajig there . desire to remove a widget ? Same wad . Yes , we ’re starting to see widget manager programs ( such as Downtown Software House’sWidget Manager ) hit the scene , and that ’s great … but Dashboard need some canonic gizmo - direction cock of its own . ( I ’d also like to see an comfortable facility for Widget - makers to update their doojigger , so I do n’t require to keep downloading new versions every week ! )
Widget arrangement : It ’s a shame that there ’s no documented fashion to move widgets off of the Dashboard layer . I want the ability to arbitrarily place gizmo anywhere , so I can have some that float like cloud above my window , while others persist stuck to the Desktop and still others remain hidden on the F12 Dashboard level .
Yes , there is a cagy utility , Mesa Dynamics’Amnesty , which seems to address these issue . And youcanmake Dashboard air bladder Widgets above the regular Mac port via ahidden developer preference . But I ’d like more work up - in control over where my widget live . For me , some widgets ( atmospheric condition , for instance ) work easily when they ’re visibleallthe sentence . Others ( like Stickies ) were born to dwell on the hidden Dashboard layer .
Third - political party contrivance : If Dashboard is to be a succeeder , there needs to be a thriving community of gismo - Lord . More importantly , there need to be appliance great and little : surprisingly polished gadget that appeal to a mass audience , and quirky gizmo that handle very special needs . The good news is , that community is likely form . Yes , a caboodle of the widgets onApple ’s widgets pageare silly . But there are also bunches of useful ones .
Among the widgets that I ’ve make out to bed are : Ben Kazez’siCal Events , which displays all your upcoming iCal events ; Ryan Inselmann’sScoreboard , which shows resilient baseball game score ( and is probably violating several Major League Baseball licensing restriction — don’t tell ! ) ; Man Of 1000 Ages’sRadarInMotion , which display an animate local weather radar function ; and Monkey Business Labs’Package Tracker , which cut through your UPS , FedEx , or DHL package to its destination . ( Three of my favorites — Scoreboard , Package Tracker , and iCal case — are render below , clockwise from the top left turning point . )
In conclusion : I ’ll be true : when I ab initio tried out Dashboard , I was worried I would ascertain it to be perfectly useless to my everyday life . ( I think the same matter about iChat , by the way of life . demo what I know . ) It turns out that Dashboard is insidious . You do n’t realize you ’re bank on it until it ’s too late , and you ’re hooked .
Dashboard ’s an first-class addition to the Mac OS , and its bearing in every shipping transcript of Tiger will draw countless cunning developers who will continue to stretch out Dashboard ’s usefulness over the next few years . But for it to be a true success , Apple want to give user more tractability over where thingumabob live and more dominance over instal , removing , and organizing them .
