Mac OS X 10.4.2 to enhance Dashboard functionality
The next maintenance release to Apple's Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" operating system will include several enhancements that will make Dashboard widget management simpler and safer, AppleInsider has learned.
Widget Deletion
According to recent rumors, the forthcoming Mac OS X 10.4.2 Update will let users delete widgets from the Dashboard dock by hovering over the widget's name and selecting a small deletion icon.
Upon selecting the icon -- a red circular image with a dash through it -- a confirmation dialog will appear, asking the user to confirm that they want to move that widget to the trash.
A New Widget Installer
The updated version of Dashboard will also do its part to end ongoing security concerns associated with widgets. Rumor has it that in Mac OS X 10.4.2, widgets downloaded from the internet will not be installed automatically on the user's system.
Instead, when a user downloads and double-clicks on a widget in Mac OS X 10.4.2, a new Widget Installer will launch. Users will reportedly be able to "Test Drive" the widget in a self-contained area of the installer before agreeing to install it on their system.
Over Six-Dozen Fixes
The improvements to Dashboard are rumored to be just some of the over six-dozen bug fixes and/or enhancements planned for inclusion in Mac OS X 10.4.2.
According to reports already present on several internet websites, Apple has recently seeded its developers with Mac OS X 10.4.2 build 8C27. This most recent build is expected to be one of the final pre-releases of the Tiger update before it is prepped for an official release.
Improved iChat and AddressBook
Some of the other enhancements rumored for inclusion in Mac OS X 10.4.2 are improved AddressBook performance and multiple machine iChat logins from the same account.
The Tiger update, the second in recent weeks, is believed to be due imminently.
Widget Deletion
According to recent rumors, the forthcoming Mac OS X 10.4.2 Update will let users delete widgets from the Dashboard dock by hovering over the widget's name and selecting a small deletion icon.
Upon selecting the icon -- a red circular image with a dash through it -- a confirmation dialog will appear, asking the user to confirm that they want to move that widget to the trash.
A New Widget Installer
The updated version of Dashboard will also do its part to end ongoing security concerns associated with widgets. Rumor has it that in Mac OS X 10.4.2, widgets downloaded from the internet will not be installed automatically on the user's system.
Instead, when a user downloads and double-clicks on a widget in Mac OS X 10.4.2, a new Widget Installer will launch. Users will reportedly be able to "Test Drive" the widget in a self-contained area of the installer before agreeing to install it on their system.
Over Six-Dozen Fixes
The improvements to Dashboard are rumored to be just some of the over six-dozen bug fixes and/or enhancements planned for inclusion in Mac OS X 10.4.2.
According to reports already present on several internet websites, Apple has recently seeded its developers with Mac OS X 10.4.2 build 8C27. This most recent build is expected to be one of the final pre-releases of the Tiger update before it is prepped for an official release.
Improved iChat and AddressBook
Some of the other enhancements rumored for inclusion in Mac OS X 10.4.2 are improved AddressBook performance and multiple machine iChat logins from the same account.
The Tiger update, the second in recent weeks, is believed to be due imminently.
Comments
Who the hell speaks like a Sumerian anymore!
LOL... thats great... Are u French (or canadian)? .... only the French language is retarded enough to say "sixty ten" to say 70 "four twenty" to say 80 and finally "four twenty ten" to say 90.
Thats probably the thing I hate the most about the French language. It is the most confusing thing ever, and I still have to take a pause to understand the numbers. And I've been speaking this language for at least 15 years! At least Belgians "only" say "four twenty". And the Swiss don't say any of these things at all.
Aaaaaaanyway... Powerdoc... did you write this article?
Originally posted by ZO
six-dozen?
Who the hell speaks like a Sumerian anymore!
LOL... thats great... Are u French (or canadian)? .... only the French language is retarded enough to say "sixty ten" to say 70 "four twenty" to say 80 and finally "four twenty ten" to say 90.
Thats probably the thing I hate the most about the French language. It is the most confusing thing ever, and I still have to take a pause to understand the numbers. And I've been speaking this language for at least 15 years! At least Belgians "only" say "four twenty". And the Swiss don't say any of these things at all.
Aaaaaaanyway... Powerdoc... did you write this article?
Actually they say almost exclusively quatre-vingt en Suisse, mais ils ne disent pas - au moins la majorité des Suisses - soixante-dix et quatre-vingt-dix.
Oh wait, sorry. I didn't realize this was the French & Ancient Languages thread. My bad.
I wouldn't have thought of that, but it's obvious in hindsight. Sounds like Apple!
Originally posted by ZO
six-dozen?
Who the hell speaks like a Sumerian anymore!
So, this upgrade will fix at least Three-Score and twelve bugs?? Awesome!
Hopefully it'll be released within a fortnight!
Originally posted by ZO
six-dozen?
Who the hell speaks like a Sumerian anymore!
LOL... thats great... Are u French (or canadian)? .... only the French language is retarded enough to say "sixty ten" to say 70 "four twenty" to say 80 and finally "four twenty ten" to say 90.
I prefer saying "four score."
Originally posted by chris v
So, this upgrade will fix at least Three-Score and twelve bugs?? Awesome!
Hopefully it'll be released within a fortnight!
wouldn't that be "a dozen and three score" just to up the pretentious factor?
Originally posted by ZO
Who the hell speaks like a Sumerian anymore!
I don't know, but I listened to The Bangles and I walk like an Egyptian. ;-)
only the French language is retarded enough to say "sixty ten" to say 70 "four twenty" to say 80 and finally "four twenty ten" to say 90.
Thats probably the thing I hate the most about the French language. It is the most confusing thing ever, and I still have to take a pause to understand the numbers. And I've been speaking this language for at least 15 years! At least Belgians "only" say "four twenty". And the Swiss don't say any of these things at all.
I vaguely remember reading that the French-speaking Belgians have "huitante" for eighty. (This was when I took French about 15 years ago, so the recollection is hazy.)
I hope one of the fixes is to allow widgets to stick to the desktop without having to resort to hacking the preference file.
1. the "i" button to edit preferences. the big problem here is that, since it ONLY appears when the widget is rolled over, and is very faint and VERY small, it can be missed a lot of the time, leaving people at a bit of a loss with regards to how to modify the widget preferences. my suggestion: add the "i" as another "black circle button" to the widget, and always have those buttons appear when EITHER the cursor rolls over the widget, OR if it is the frontmost widget... which brings me to my next critique...
2. frontmost widgets are virtually indistinguishable from background ones. this is especially annoying when you THINK you're entering, say, numbers into calculator, but you suddenly realize after you hit enter that you were actually entering numbers into the dictionary widget or something off to the side. the only way to quickly check is command-r to refresh the widget. hardly a great solution. my solution: "x" close and (from above suggestion) "i" buttons are always visible, but just screened back on the frontmost widget. similar to behavior like windows in the Finder.
3. screen crowding: this is especially bad since the ENTIRE dahsboard layer is dismissed if someone misses a click. this might be asking a lot, but we need some sort of auto-resizing feature of widgets that we see in both the dock and in expose, so that all widgets can be viewed at a glance. otherwise, you get a dogpile of widgets on screen, especially for those on 1024x768 screens on powerbooks/ibooks. if the widget icons are too small, the user could roll their cursor over the correct widget and have it enlarge to 100%, just like the dock does.
4. why exactly can't i move around and delete widgets from the dashboard dock the same way i can with the normal dock? also, why does the dashboard dock require scrolling, rather than dynamically resizing like the os x dock to fit all widgets at once? i feel like i'm managing my classic apple menu all over again. ACK!
Originally posted by cmatech
So will this update fix my issues with...
Oh wait, sorry. I didn't realize this was the French & Ancient Languages thread. My bad.
Originally posted by AppleInsider
A New Widget Installer
The updated version of Dashboard will also do its part to end ongoing security concerns associated with widgets. Rumor has it that in Mac OS X 10.4.2, widgets downloaded from the internet will not be installed automatically on the user's system.
Instead, when a user downloads and double-clicks on a widget in Mac OS X 10.4.2, a new Widget Installer will launch. Users will reportedly be able to "Test Drive" the widget in a self-contained area of the installer before agreeing to install it on their system.
It would be nice to see this test drive feature for all Apps. It can be especially useful to test something you get from the internet. The if you decide to not go ahead you don't have to delete all the files that app has made (in preferences etc.)
Originally posted by Placebo
I like the Widget Deletion, this was annoying me before.
this was definitely needed - Tiger just lacks some depth of thought in some places. This is one of them, Spotlight re-index is another.
Originally posted by MacCrazy
this was definitely needed - Tiger just lacks some depth of thought in some places. This is one of them, Spotlight re-index is another.
I think Spotlight on a whole could be more deep. Making Spotlight and Finder Search a single thing, anyone?
Originally posted by chris v
So, this upgrade will fix at least Three-Score and twelve bugs?? Awesome!
Hopefully it'll be released within a fortnight!
I use the word fortnight all the time. When I was living in Boston they sure liked to make fun of me saying it
Anyway onto the real topic - I think the best thing about this release will be the test area for the widgets. I mean who knows what these little apps could do. I hope this tester will alert you whenever it tries to access some system files or anything like that.
This depresses me.
Tiger was not a robust gold master release. I hoped the number of fixed bugs would be in the hundreds--Tiger surely needs it.
Hopefully 10.4.3 will FINALLY be the release Apple should of released.
Originally posted by BWhaler
72 bugs fixes?
This depresses me.
Tiger was not a robust gold master release. I hoped the number of fixed bugs would be in the hundreds--Tiger surely needs it.
Hopefully 10.4.3 will FINALLY be the release Apple should of released.
Well I'd rather get some bug fixes now and the rest later, versus waiting x amount of days/months for them to get it up into the 100's.