Filed under: Freeware
Dateline - add a linear calendar to your Mac's desktop
I love simple utilities, and Dateline certainly fits that bill. This small application puts a linear calendar on your screen that shows a dot on the current date, and will jump to a given date in iCal if you double-click it. That's pretty much the full extent of what Dateline does, but in this case simplicity equals elegance.
Considering its functionality, Dateline contains a reasonably complete set of preferences that control how it is displayed. You can choose the colors and opacity for each visual element, the size of the overall date line, the window level (as Gruber points out, setting this to Desktop icons seems to be the most reasonable setting), whether or not to show the month's name, and the option to hide the app's icon in the dock.
After trying it for only a couple minutes, Dateline immediately went into my list of applications that automatically open at login.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
steve said 3:14PM on 7-10-2009
this is great but can anyone figure out how to make it go vertical? maybe something kind of terminal wizardry. I love the look of it but having it vertical would fit in with my desk-shui better.
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nebmot said 4:49PM on 7-10-2009
I sent an email to the developer asking if he could make it vertical as well. Maybe if more people ask him its something he will put in the next release.
Luigi193 said 9:13PM on 7-10-2009
Its open source, so if there's anyone willing to do it...
I would, but I'm not that good with Cocoa Views and the sort. :(
Huxley Dunsany said 3:37PM on 7-10-2009
I too am in love with this app after seeing on Daring Fireball yesterday. However, no matter what I do (or what "level" I set it to), I can't get it to go to iCal when I click / double-click on a date.
Any tips?
Huxley
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grandmaschineseapple said 3:55PM on 7-10-2009
Going vertical would indeed be really nice.
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psj said 11:18AM on 7-11-2009
Actually iCalViewer does this and more, displays calendar items on the desktop. The app is not the most pretty, but it's good enough for most people I guess.
http://www.icalviewer.com/
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kones said 4:52PM on 7-12-2009
I don't like having something on my screen at all times like this, and if I do go that route, prefer it to be somewhat unobtrusive. I opted for iStat menues and have the date up top that pulls down with more info
Jim said 3:55PM on 7-10-2009
Funny.
Dateline was listed on Smashing Magazine on Sunday.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/05/25-open-source-mac-apps-that-will-boost-your-productivity/
HiveLogic mentioned it Thursday morning.
Gruber mentioned it Thursday afternoon.
And good ole TUAW gets to it on Friday.
Always fun to watch something go semi-viral.
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Microdot said 4:44PM on 7-10-2009
its nice... but if it integrated with ical (as in... marked days that have events in ical) it would be EXTREMELY useful.
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pandren said 5:06PM on 7-10-2009
Is it just me or.. I can't get the double-click to work. Doesn't jump to iCal...
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JuanD said 5:32PM on 7-10-2009
Me neither, no matter what I do it just dosen't launch ical.....
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Dorv said 5:38PM on 7-10-2009
I would like this program A LOT more if it didn't show up in the Command-Tab.
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Michael Galloy said 6:01PM on 7-10-2009
@Dorv Uncheck "Show icon in Dock at next launch" and re-launch. It should not be in the dock or Command-Tab.
Jerman said 6:02PM on 7-10-2009
Go into the preferences and tell it to not show in dock at next launch, and then relaunch.
Dorv said 8:53PM on 7-10-2009
SWEET!!! Will do so next time I get to my Macbook.
This might have just become the perfect app then!
nicleT said 9:20PM on 7-10-2009
@ Jerman : After that, how do you reverse this preference and how do you quit Dateline then without login out or killing the process with Activity Monitor?
Dorv said 10:19PM on 7-10-2009
Right click on any of the dates brings up a small Preferences/Quit menu.
nicleT said 10:58PM on 7-10-2009
Mmm, very clever! Thanks.
Ben said 6:00PM on 7-10-2009
The iCal double clicking works as advertised for me.
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devyn said 6:58PM on 7-10-2009
Perfect! I've been looking for exactly this for a while (and not really wanting to mess around with GeekTool). Awesome.
iCal launch works for me.
Though I can't really see a difference between "desktop" and "desktop icons", though maybe it's just how I'm set up.
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