Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software
Done with Dashboard: Back to Konfabulator
I just thought I'd add this little bit as a follow-up to my previous post about where I think Apple went wrong with widgets. I still think all the things I mentioned in that piece; however, after using Yahoo!'s free iteration of Konfabulator for close to a week now, I think I figured out where Apple really went wrong with widgets: Dashboard.Actually, the problem is that they locked the widgets to the Dashboard and gave you no option to actually "turn off" the Dashboard. Instead, Apple coded this bit of fluff into the OS (and they seem to have tied it in with the Dock in some odd way) adding unnecessary bloat to the System. Now that I've been playing with Konfabulator for a week, I'm no longer using Dashboard and Tiger's widgets at all. There are only two Konfabulator widgets that I have running continuously, and if I ever go to do some memory and processor-intensive task on my Powerbook, like video editing and after effects, I can simply close Konfabulator, with no worry of it causing any problems.
What two widgets do I have running? Read after the jump for more...
I have The Weather widget running in the lower right hand corner of my screen, and I have it set to Desktop level, so I can always see it, but it never gets in the way of other windows or files when I have to move stuff around on my little 12-inch screen. The other widget I have open: Picture Frame. I have it also set to Desktop level and sitting in the middle of my screen. I am using its new Flickr feature to randomly grab a picture from Flickr every 15 minutes. So whenever I feel bored or wonder if there's anything new and interesting that's shown up on Flickr, I simply use Expose to knock all my open windows out of the way and take a look at the new unexpected picture on the Desktop. So, one useful, informative widget and one frivolous fun widget and neither is tied into the OS. That's great. That's what I think widgets are worth. What do you think? Our friends over at Downloadsquad are asking that very question today, so head on over there and weigh in with your thoughts. Feel free to argue with me in the comments here. ;-)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Kesey said 11:07AM on 7-29-2005
Actually you can turn on/off dashboard from the terminal do the following:
To turn Dashboard off:
defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean YES
To turn Dashboard on:
defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -boolean NO
You have to restart the Dock after making either change for it to take effect:
killall Dock
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Dave said 11:07AM on 7-29-2005
The fact that Dashboard's widgets aren't constantly displayed on my desktop is precisely what I like about them. The two Konfab widgets you mentioned - weather and picture frame - were only two I ever found "useful" as well (and I use the term loosely). I mean, how many clocks/iTunes remotes do we need?
I'm not saying that Dashboard's widgets are so much more useful than Konfab's, not at all. Both offer entertaining and attractive widgets that I could easily live without. As soon as that one widget comes along that makes me say, "Wow, now that's fantastic," I'm sticking with Dashboard, simply becasue it isn't always in my way.
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C.K. Sample, III said 11:11AM on 7-29-2005
Ah but Dave: Konfabulator has the best of both worlds as you can keep them floating in front or put them in their own Dashboard-esque Konspose space.
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_don said 11:34AM on 7-29-2005
I have Konfabulator running on my WinPC so I can view the weather and stock quotes...which I also have on my Dashboard. I like Dashboard because it can hide (yeah, I know the 'K' one can hide too). I also like the multiple clocks I can have on the Dashboard. I deal with offices in multiple timezones, so it makes it easy to see what time it is elsewhere.
Oh yeah, and the stickies. Love the stickies for keeping track of little things.
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Sillium said 11:35AM on 7-29-2005
Funny, I was thinking exactly the same. Since Konfabulator being free I only have one Dashboard widget running, because I can't get it for Konfabulator. It's for sending SMS via a German freemailer (GMX). I did exactly the same with The Weather widget: It is sitting on my desktop with maximum transparency and as unobstrusive as I can get it.
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narco said 11:36AM on 7-29-2005
But can Konfab utilize hot corners? Right now, I love how dashboard flies up whenever I hover my mouse of the bottom right corner. It's always there when I need it, but doesn't get in the way when I need to save real estate for my design work. I disliked Expose for the same reason -- I didn't feel like pushing buttons, but the hot corners is what makes it amazing.
Fishes,
narco.
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Joe said 11:38AM on 7-29-2005
sorry this is off topic. it is the first time i have every seen it. and it rocks.
how long has this been around?
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djones said 11:42AM on 7-29-2005
I don't have a problem with the politics, and whatever someone chooses over another doesn't bother me a bit.
My personal reasons for not running Konfabulator over Dashboard are threefold, and two of them are recent, as the issues didn't exist :
1) The Azureus Konfabulator Widget(s) that people have developed aren't as good as the Dashboard offering.
2) Yahoo!'s EULA is too broad. I like to own my own widgets, and think other developers should be able to as well. Yahoo! could at any moment pull the rug out and start charging for Widgets, or demanding royalties for pay-Widgets made by third-party developers, or turn the whole thing into a subscription only.
3) Let's not kid ourselves. Yahoo! did this to make money. They will use this to datamine, provide more adspace, or convert into part of their pay-subscription memberships.
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Eric said 11:42AM on 7-29-2005
Ah, but Dashboard can do this as well....
in Terminal:
$ defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES
then restart the Dock
You can then hit F12 to get into Dashboard, click-hold on an open widget, hit F12 agian to get back to the Desktop, and the widget will come with you. Drop it anywhere you like. :)
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john spain said 12:06PM on 7-29-2005
allright so lets see, you have 2 widgets
1. to check the weather (which I have a toolbar app for)
2. to alleviate boredom (which I use humanclock.com for)
I re-downloaded Konfab after they made it free and realized there isn't a damn thing there I can actually USE. Stuff to PLAY with, yeah. Everything useful is already done by menumeters or other apps. If I had to check more visual things (webcams, stocks) or really needed a teensy version of Itunes (which I don't), it'd be great. Also if my desktop wasn't littered with icons that only get cleaned up for maybe 4 or 5 days before it gets trashed again.
I also recant my statements about widgets being a primary reason for getting Tiger. I realize the error of my ways. Though I'm still not shelling out 70$ (student discount) for it.
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Bloggator said 12:13PM on 7-29-2005
What? You didn't have the Bubu the Pug ( http://www.tuaw.com/2005/07/14/widget-watch-bubu-the-pug/ ) widget on your desktop? ;-)
Jeff
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Matthew Moss said 12:19PM on 7-29-2005
To #8: I think you're right, Yahoo did this to make money, but not the way you think...If you've seen Yahoo Messenger on Windows, its the only messenger out of the big three that have NO ads in it..None!! Instead, its used more as a 'portal' to push you to other yahoo services and websites, where there are websites. I think konfabulator is just another way to push traffic to yahoo's webpages, where they do charge for advertising.
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kellydna said 12:24PM on 7-29-2005
With or without Konfabulator, I would LOVE to banish Dashboard from my Dock. I don't use it, and I don't like that you can't choose whether to have it running. I know I don't have to call it up if I don't want to see it, but if I never use the thing, I should have the option of quitting it (without having to type commands in Terminal), just like any other application. Dashboard is NOT a major selling point of Tiger, it's a gimmick.
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Sean Flanagan said 12:55PM on 7-29-2005
I just use WeatherPop (http://www.weatherpop.com/) instead of any widgets because, well, I can't stand using widgets for information I need right away. I find them disorganized at best. The only ones I ever use are Dictionary and Thesaurus, and that's rare since I can just go to Safari and type "define 'word'" in the Google search bar just as quickly.
WeatherPop stays up there in the menu bar next to International and Date&Time with a nice icon telling me what it looks like outside and the temperature. If I want more info, I just click on it and the menu tells me all I need to know, including a forecast.
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James Donevan said 1:42PM on 7-29-2005
This Konfabulator/Dashboard debate is old. The Yahoo acquisition hasn't changed the basic software, and it won't change anyone's preference. Either utility has its advantages and disadvantages. Surely the TUAW mods can come up with more informative/inventive topics than this tired nag. Time to stop flogging a dead horse. Come on folks, let's move on.
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Jay Contonio said 1:46PM on 7-29-2005
Widgets suck. I hope Leopard does away with dashboard. Make the dock more functional with cool info in there and I'll be happy.
Disable Dashboard!
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Billy K said 2:02PM on 7-29-2005
I agree - not being able to turn off the Dashboard is a BIG mistake. I bought my new iMac mainly because i needed more juice for garageband, but Dashboard just sucks up my RAM.
This helps:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/18261
Haven't tried this one, but seems to be the same thing:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/18204
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Jeffrey said 2:28PM on 7-29-2005
I agree that not being able to quit and restart Dashboard is a major issue. At least let people decide if they want them or not, come on Apple get with the program.
So, for those of you who don't want Dashboard or some of the other features of Tiger, try Disable Tiger Features:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/26899
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Kevin Ballard said 2:38PM on 7-29-2005
I don't understand people complaining about Dashboard. It doesn't do anything if you have no widgets open, so how could it be sucking up your RAM? And the problem with Konfabulator is, even if you have no widgets open, as long as Konfab is running it's constantly sucking RAM and CPU.
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Eno Compton said 3:22PM on 7-29-2005
Apple should in future releases of OS X give us a Dashboard on/off switch. I agree that not having the choice is a major disadvantage. But that aside, the biggest advantage over Konfabulator is that Dashboard doesn't clutter the screen. I don't see the appeal for more on the desktop, especially when there are menu bar and dock add-ons that can show much of the same set of information. Besides, how many of us actually need to constantly check our widgets anyways?
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