It didn't make sense to commingle them [Desk Accessories] with normal applications in 1984, and it doesn't now.
I guess this is one of the points I'm disputing. In fact, that was the WHOLE POINT of Desk Accessories in 1984, before MultiFinder existed.
If this is supposed to replace Watson, and you look up a recipe and want to print it, what does the print UI look like? Or print a translation? Or want an ever-present stock ticker in the corner of your screen? Or want that Konfabulator widget that puts a 10% transparent, unclickable "MST3K" silouette at the bottom of your screen.
I like the idea of UI development with JavaScript, HTML, etc., ala Konfabulator. I'd love to see it become a peer of Cocoa/Carbon apps for full-blown tools. I also like Watson/Sherlock. It just seems like when Apple's software designers get ahold of these great 3rd party apps now, they just eat them up and regurgitate them into a mess, destroying the original product in the process.
I love the idea of being able to code something as a web-standards bundle of files, and have it work as an application. That's just so easy, and so neat.
What I'd really love would be the integration of DVD Player and Quicktime Player into one application, called Player. (original, huh?) And make Pro included with Tiger, it just make more sense. That way, Panther holdouts can still get Pro. Or whatever.
This doesn't replace other apps--it's an alternate way to work with certain simple functions. (I don't even know if Sherlock is being replaced--if enough people like it, it should be kept. I for one am a big fan of Sherlock Movies, although I think some of that could be put into Safari instead.)
What it offers that a single tabbed app--or worse yet multiple separate conventional apps--does not:
1. Instant in, instant out.
2. They're all there with ONE command.
Not everyone has to like that, though. The old way of working with conventional "small apps" has advantages too, and they are here to stay. Dashboard will launch them, in fact, when needed for more advanced things (like address label printing, etc.)
I agree that the LOOK is inconsistent. That bothers me about Tiger overall--it's not bad, but there's a slow "creep" towards too much variety--and the best (worst) examples would be the Widget Bar and Mail's new toolbar. But the functionality is great, and my $129 check is still waiting
I guess this is one of the points I'm disputing. In fact, that was the WHOLE POINT of Desk Accessories in 1984, before MultiFinder existed.
Well, the point was that you could whip out the calculator without quitting the program you were in, then go back to the program. Which is exactly what Dashboard does now.
Quote:
If this is supposed to replace Watson, and you look up a recipe and want to print it, what does the print UI look like? Or print a translation? Or want an ever-present stock ticker in the corner of your screen? Or want that Konfabulator widget that puts a 10% transparent, unclickable "MST3K" silouette at the bottom of your screen.
You want 'em? Get 'em. Dashboard doesn't replace anything. In fact, a lot of the widgets (or gadgets, whatever) that they've shown off are simply adaptations of things that are available elsewhere. It doesn't replace Watson. It replaces desk accessories. If you need a persistent calculator, you know where to find it. If you just need to whip something up quick, you can use Dashboard.
It doesn't take away anything. It just adds a convenient option. If anything, the there/not there interface is an improvement on the desk accessory, which was a hack.
Quote:
I like the idea of UI development with JavaScript, HTML, etc., ala Konfabulator. I'd love to see it become a peer of Cocoa/Carbon apps for full-blown tools. I also like Watson/Sherlock. It just seems like when Apple's software designers get ahold of these great 3rd party apps now, they just eat them up and regurgitate them into a mess, destroying the original product in the process.
Apple hasn't gotten ahold of anything, or regurgitated anything, with Dashboard. It's all new, all theirs. The app you're thinking of is Konfabulator, which you're welcome to use. It's taking the web-coding-as-full-application route. Dashboard is taking the web-coding-as-desk-accessory route.
It should be fairly simple to replicate Dashboard apps as regular apps if you really want to. Unless I'm mistaken, a few clicks in Interface Builder and a drag-and-drop of a WebKit field and you're about 90% of the way there.
Dashboard identifies the need for stuff that you only need occasionally, and briefly, and pulls it out into its own layer. Its basis is not purely theoretical, it's practical. Since the best theories are developed around practical observations, any time a theory fails to explain the appeal of an implementation it is the theory, and not the implementation, that needs to be criticized.
I have a question about the cross platform potential for widgets. Since this is running on WebCore, and using standard programming languages like javascript, HTML, and CSS, can widgets be run on other operating systems. For example, obviously the KDE browser is WebCore now and supports all the languages. So are they transferable, or does the flipping and other effects rely on Aqua? And if so could you eliminate the animations and get a basic functionality?
If you need a persistent calculator, you know where to find it. If you just need to whip something up quick, you can use Dashboard.
This triggered a thought... a button on a Dashboard widget that launches the full blown more powerful app. The Dashboard calculator looks to be just for quick arithmetic, but a button it that launches the full Calculator.app would be a nice segue. Provide a nice link between the quick and dirty and the more thorough. Like say, a quick click on a button on the Weather widget takes you to www.weather.com (or whatever website they're using to get information).
Some basic functionality of some widgets (not Cocoa ones) would indeed work in a browser on any platform.
But I'm sure lots of Mac-specific features will be utilitzed, too. And the overall Dashboard interface--with the widget management bar, the flipping to reveal controls, the Expose reveal (of course) and associated effects--is Mac-specific. It looks like some may tie into Spotlight too, and that's Mac-only.
Still, I'm sure many HTML/JS-based things could be made to work in Dashboard, Konfabulator, AND browsers, with a little tweaking.
This triggered a thought... a button on a Dashboard widget that launches the full blown more powerful app. The Dashboard calculator looks to be just for quick arithmetic, but a button it that launches the full Calculator.app would be a nice segue. Provide a nice link between the quick and dirty and the more thorough. Like say, a quick click on a button on the Weather widget takes you to www.weather.com (or whatever website they're using to get information).
The included widgets do just that kind of thing Links to the web, and links to other apps. Like editing an address card by launching Address Book. (They don't mention doing that with Calculator, but it's a good idea--especially with the new graphing stuff that the real Calculator will supposedly have.)
Check out the PDF on Apple's Dashboard page: it's mostly non-technical and has lots of details on the widgets--and detailed images.
I see the 'Translator' widget does it 'instantly'. Does that mean that Tiger has an in-built translation module? No need to go online? It can do all this locally? Can it translate whole documents too? This is very good indeed! ;-)
I see the 'Translator' widget does it 'instantly'. Does that mean that Tiger has an in-built translation module? No need to go online? It can do all this locally? Can it translate whole documents too? This is very good indeed! ;-)
Cheers Daniel
How about if you're online on a foreign site? I'd love to click a button to go to English, and click to go to normal. (Well that seems obvious to revert to original site look, but just a button to turn it on would do ).
Comments
It didn't make sense to commingle them [Desk Accessories] with normal applications in 1984, and it doesn't now.
I guess this is one of the points I'm disputing. In fact, that was the WHOLE POINT of Desk Accessories in 1984, before MultiFinder existed.
If this is supposed to replace Watson, and you look up a recipe and want to print it, what does the print UI look like? Or print a translation? Or want an ever-present stock ticker in the corner of your screen? Or want that Konfabulator widget that puts a 10% transparent, unclickable "MST3K" silouette at the bottom of your screen.
I like the idea of UI development with JavaScript, HTML, etc., ala Konfabulator. I'd love to see it become a peer of Cocoa/Carbon apps for full-blown tools. I also like Watson/Sherlock. It just seems like when Apple's software designers get ahold of these great 3rd party apps now, they just eat them up and regurgitate them into a mess, destroying the original product in the process.
Originally posted by Macaddict16
Rose from 37.25 to 32.62??? Thats some fuzzy math.
Macaddict16
Yeah, I was about to say.
What I'd really love would be the integration of DVD Player and Quicktime Player into one application, called Player. (original, huh?) And make Pro included with Tiger, it just make more sense. That way, Panther holdouts can still get Pro. Or whatever.
What it offers that a single tabbed app--or worse yet multiple separate conventional apps--does not:
1. Instant in, instant out.
2. They're all there with ONE command.
Not everyone has to like that, though. The old way of working with conventional "small apps" has advantages too, and they are here to stay. Dashboard will launch them, in fact, when needed for more advanced things (like address label printing, etc.)
I agree that the LOOK is inconsistent. That bothers me about Tiger overall--it's not bad, but there's a slow "creep" towards too much variety--and the best (worst) examples would be the Widget Bar and Mail's new toolbar. But the functionality is great, and my $129 check is still waiting
Originally posted by Booga
I guess this is one of the points I'm disputing. In fact, that was the WHOLE POINT of Desk Accessories in 1984, before MultiFinder existed.
Well, the point was that you could whip out the calculator without quitting the program you were in, then go back to the program. Which is exactly what Dashboard does now.
If this is supposed to replace Watson, and you look up a recipe and want to print it, what does the print UI look like? Or print a translation? Or want an ever-present stock ticker in the corner of your screen? Or want that Konfabulator widget that puts a 10% transparent, unclickable "MST3K" silouette at the bottom of your screen.
You want 'em? Get 'em. Dashboard doesn't replace anything. In fact, a lot of the widgets (or gadgets, whatever) that they've shown off are simply adaptations of things that are available elsewhere. It doesn't replace Watson. It replaces desk accessories. If you need a persistent calculator, you know where to find it. If you just need to whip something up quick, you can use Dashboard.
It doesn't take away anything. It just adds a convenient option. If anything, the there/not there interface is an improvement on the desk accessory, which was a hack.
I like the idea of UI development with JavaScript, HTML, etc., ala Konfabulator. I'd love to see it become a peer of Cocoa/Carbon apps for full-blown tools. I also like Watson/Sherlock. It just seems like when Apple's software designers get ahold of these great 3rd party apps now, they just eat them up and regurgitate them into a mess, destroying the original product in the process.
Apple hasn't gotten ahold of anything, or regurgitated anything, with Dashboard. It's all new, all theirs. The app you're thinking of is Konfabulator, which you're welcome to use. It's taking the web-coding-as-full-application route. Dashboard is taking the web-coding-as-desk-accessory route.
It should be fairly simple to replicate Dashboard apps as regular apps if you really want to. Unless I'm mistaken, a few clicks in Interface Builder and a drag-and-drop of a WebKit field and you're about 90% of the way there.
Dashboard identifies the need for stuff that you only need occasionally, and briefly, and pulls it out into its own layer. Its basis is not purely theoretical, it's practical. Since the best theories are developed around practical observations, any time a theory fails to explain the appeal of an implementation it is the theory, and not the implementation, that needs to be criticized.
Originally posted by Amorph
If you need a persistent calculator, you know where to find it. If you just need to whip something up quick, you can use Dashboard.
This triggered a thought... a button on a Dashboard widget that launches the full blown more powerful app. The Dashboard calculator looks to be just for quick arithmetic, but a button it that launches the full Calculator.app would be a nice segue. Provide a nice link between the quick and dirty and the more thorough. Like say, a quick click on a button on the Weather widget takes you to www.weather.com (or whatever website they're using to get information).
But I'm sure lots of Mac-specific features will be utilitzed, too. And the overall Dashboard interface--with the widget management bar, the flipping to reveal controls, the Expose reveal (of course) and associated effects--is Mac-specific. It looks like some may tie into Spotlight too, and that's Mac-only.
Still, I'm sure many HTML/JS-based things could be made to work in Dashboard, Konfabulator, AND browsers, with a little tweaking.
Originally posted by Kickaha
This triggered a thought... a button on a Dashboard widget that launches the full blown more powerful app. The Dashboard calculator looks to be just for quick arithmetic, but a button it that launches the full Calculator.app would be a nice segue. Provide a nice link between the quick and dirty and the more thorough. Like say, a quick click on a button on the Weather widget takes you to www.weather.com (or whatever website they're using to get information).
The included widgets do just that kind of thing
Check out the PDF on Apple's Dashboard page: it's mostly non-technical and has lots of details on the widgets--and detailed images.
I see the 'Translator' widget does it 'instantly'. Does that mean that Tiger has an in-built translation module? No need to go online? It can do all this locally? Can it translate whole documents too? This is very good indeed! ;-)
Cheers Daniel
Originally posted by dahacouk
Tiger has in-built translation...
I see the 'Translator' widget does it 'instantly'. Does that mean that Tiger has an in-built translation module? No need to go online? It can do all this locally? Can it translate whole documents too? This is very good indeed! ;-)
Cheers Daniel
How about if you're online on a foreign site? I'd love to click a button to go to English, and click to go to normal. (Well that seems obvious to revert to original site look, but just a button to turn it on would do
Originally posted by Macaddict16
Rose from 37.25 to 32.62??? Thats some fuzzy math.
Macaddict16
You sound like your one of those latte liberals from Massachusetts!