Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Lolito

macrumors 6502
Mar 20, 2013
397
34
here
Really? Dashboard? Not the Dock, or the Finder icon, or the systemwide menubar, or anything else?

Half my students have Macs and I've never seen them even touch Dashboard.

Not saying it should go away just because I don't use it, but it's practically abandonware at this point.

99% of my students get a macbook just so they have a computer with an apple logo when they go to the coffee shop.
 

ignatius345

macrumors 604
Aug 20, 2015
7,607
12,989
Sounds about right. I imagine the majority of Mac users aren't even aware it exists.
Yeah, because Apple's been hiding and burying it for quite a while now. It's potentially much more useful than that little strip of real estate for Notification Center widgets.
[doublepost=1471641072][/doublepost]
Notification Centre is such a poor replacement for Dashboard. I still live in hope that one day it will be resurrected and modernised, alas the chances of that seem very slim.
Hoping there will be a third-party replacement if/when Apple kills it. Notification Center is just garbage by comparison.
[doublepost=1471641369][/doublepost]
The tile game background is unchanged as of beta 2, still the default wallpaper from OS X Yosemite.
I had to think for a minute to figure out what "background" you all were talking about. I've always used Dashboard in the much more fluid HUD overlay mode instead of the weirdly disruptive "as a space" mode that jerks you away from whatever you were working on.

I have no idea why that option even exists, frankly, and I think it's one of the things that keeps people from using Dashboard -- that and the loss of the keyboard shortcut in favor of the utterly useless "Launchpad" and the fact that Apple never developed an ecosystem for paid widgets...
 

Eithanius

macrumors 68000
Nov 19, 2005
1,556
419
I have no idea why that option even exists, frankly, and I think it's one of the things that keeps people from using Dashboard -- that and the loss of the keyboard shortcut in favor of the utterly useless "Launchpad" and the fact that Apple never developed an ecosystem for paid widgets...

Anything that was introduced post-SL has always been useless...
 
  • Like
Reactions: colourfastt

fedux

macrumors newbie
Dec 6, 2013
21
20
Yeah, because Apple's been hiding and burying it for quite a while now. It's potentially much more useful than that little strip of real estate for Notification Center widgets.
[doublepost=1471641072][/doublepost]
Hoping there will be a third-party replacement if/when Apple kills it. Notification Center is just garbage by comparison.
[doublepost=1471641369][/doublepost]
I had to think for a minute to figure out what "background" you all were talking about. I've always used Dashboard in the much more fluid HUD overlay mode instead of the weirdly disruptive "as a space" mode that jerks you away from whatever you were working on.

I have no idea why that option even exists, frankly, and I think it's one of the things that keeps people from using Dashboard -- that and the loss of the keyboard shortcut in favor of the utterly useless "Launchpad" and the fact that Apple never developed an ecosystem for paid widgets...

I totally agree on every word you wrote! I use Dashboard continuously, I have the old and beautiful iStat nano, an URL shrinker, the contacts finder, and the converter. I really don't know how it could be better than this... Every time I need to take a fast note I simply launch Dashboard (bottom left corner, with active corners) and, at a glance, I have everything I need; and there's no need to even leave a fullscreen application, Dashboard simply runs over it.
Apple, don't you dare removing it! Delete notification widgets instead... They are useless, pointless and even a Windows gadgets copy...!!! Steve, come back!!!
 

sammy2066

macrumors 6502a
Oct 3, 2007
942
589
127.0.0.1
I still use Dashboard - so useful for currency conversions and notes. Perhaps the most useless OS X feature in recent memory has to be the Launchpad - it needs to go away, Stacks work just fine.
 

ThunderMasterMind

macrumors 6502a
Apr 29, 2016
543
521
The "old" Dashboard is still there for the time being. The new Dashboard, also known as "Notification Center" is just as useful (which isn't saying much) as the old Dashboard, and about as inconvenient to use. I expect the old Dashboard to disappear in the next few years.
Funny, I use Dashboard more than the NC. I never even notice the NC widgets, I only use it for notifications.
 

inequals

macrumors member
Jul 15, 2014
31
50
"United" Kingdom
I really love Dashboard and have done ever since it was a marquee feature of 10.4 Tiger. (Man, Tiger was really the first release of OS X that I loved, that I thought could hold its own against Windows). I have a few different things on there, but what I find particularly useful is the ability to have the sticky notes arranged in a spatial manner that my brain finds it easy to remember where each particular piece of information is stashed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Yoron and fedux

dogslobber

macrumors 601
Oct 19, 2014
4,670
7,809
Apple Campus, Cupertino CA
I really love Dashboard and have done ever since it was a marquee feature of 10.4 Tiger. (Man, Tiger was really the first release of OS X that I loved, that I thought could hold its own against Windows). I have a few different things on there, but what I find particularly useful is the ability to have the sticky notes arranged in a spatial manner that my brain finds it easy to remember where each particular piece of information is stashed.

There's a major regression in Dashboard in that you don't get the ripple effect what adding new widgets to the Dashboard web page.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Yoron

ignatius345

macrumors 604
Aug 20, 2015
7,607
12,989
I have a pet theory that Dashboard was the thing that started the train of thought that led to iPhone and iOS.
I heard some idle speculation at one point that iOS apps might eventually find a home in the Dashboard. That would probably have been a weird fit in regard to touch vs. mouse interface -- but still it would've been great to see a full-fledged Dashboard app store [sigh].
 
  • Like
Reactions: Yoron

fedux

macrumors newbie
Dec 6, 2013
21
20
I heard some idle speculation at one point that iOS apps might eventually find a home in the Dashboard. That would probably have been a weird fit in regard to touch vs. mouse interface -- but still it would've been great to see a full-fledged Dashboard app store [sigh].
Indeed it would be a wonderful idea, the best integration with the system I can imagine. I always thought the same thing but as an evolution of Continuity. Imagine your dashboard becoming the real springboard of your iPhone, a sort of airplay mirroring as it is used in Carplay: it would be amazing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Yoron and arkitect

dogslobber

macrumors 601
Oct 19, 2014
4,670
7,809
Apple Campus, Cupertino CA
99% of my students get a macbook just so they have a computer with an apple logo when they go to the coffee shop.

Not sure what point you're making.
[doublepost=1472679181][/doublepost]
Damn kids these days have no respect for the Dashboard. Back in my day we used to pay $25 to run widgets in Konfabulator.

It doesn't make any sense why Apple would de-focus from such a prominent feature of the Mac as dashboard. It's in the Mac's DNA now so it would be criminal to leave it yo decay through bit rot.
 

OldCorpse

macrumors 68000
Dec 7, 2005
1,758
347
compost heap
Just goes to show how different people's use scenarios are. To me, Dashboard is perhaps the single feature I use most when I'm sitting in front of my iMac.

Consider this one fact that is just indispensable and incomparable: with ONE click, or ONE motion I can invoke Dashboard instantly. I don't have to LAUNCH anything. There are no bounces and no spinning balls like when I launch an application. Click one button on my mouse (as I have it configured) - or hit the corner of the screen - and BOOM, there is Dashboard in all its glory, pretty much instantaneously. NOTHING compares to that speed.

And look at the riches! I have a Calculator on Dashboard I can use instantly. If I tried to launch the OS X calculator from the dock, it would bounce before it appeared. Dashboard is instant: BOOM, my calculator. Same for all the little widgets I use constantly: Converter, DeliveryStatus (to check on my packages), iStatPro (to check on various computer related data such as hard drive space in various external drives, temperature, network activity, memory etc., etc.,), Weather, Calendar, Contacts, and as another user said Notes (in my case k-notes), which are arranged with various pieces of info, I have instant access to, Clock/Timer, and a whole bunch others.

I mean, I use these widgets ALL THE TIME. I constantly check this or that, and I love having it all displayed across the screen in familiar positions, all invoked SUPER FAST by one single click of the keyboard or mouse or flick of the mouse.

It's unbeatable for speed and convenience.

I hate to imagine what a massive drop in quality of experience it would be for Apple to get rid of Dashboard.

Can anyone point out for me what else is MORE convenient than Dashboard widgets instantly invoked? Certainly not any apps that are launched, which feel positively medieval. It's faster than launching any iOS apps on the iPhone/iPad/iTouch or what not. It's the fastest most convenient thing ever. HANDS DOWN.

DASHBOARD FOR THE WIN!!!!!!
 

peter2

macrumors 6502
May 15, 2007
262
400
Yeah, because Apple's been hiding and burying it for quite a while now. It's potentially much more useful than that little strip of real estate for Notification Center widgets.
[doublepost=1471641072][/doublepost]
Hoping there will be a third-party replacement if/when Apple kills it. Notification Center is just garbage by comparison.
[doublepost=1471641369][/doublepost]
I had to think for a minute to figure out what "background" you all were talking about. I've always used Dashboard in the much more fluid HUD overlay mode instead of the weirdly disruptive "as a space" mode that jerks you away from whatever you were working on.

I have no idea why that option even exists, frankly, and I think it's one of the things that keeps people from using Dashboard -- that and the loss of the keyboard shortcut in favor of the utterly useless "Launchpad" and the fact that Apple never developed an ecosystem for paid widgets...

I could not have said this better. Agree 100%. Notification center is useless (and a ripoff of Windows "functionality").
 
  • Like
Reactions: ignatius345

fedux

macrumors newbie
Dec 6, 2013
21
20
Ok? OS X has had widgets since 2005. Windows didn't have it until they copied Apple in Windows Vista.
I know this perfectly. What we were discussing was that the "new" notification widgets are similar to windows gadgets (so they are horrible and unuseful), and nobody likes them or find them more useful than Dashboard.
Dashboard is perfect.
 
  • Like
Reactions: peter2

ThunderMasterMind

macrumors 6502a
Apr 29, 2016
543
521
I know this perfectly. What we were discussing was that the "new" notification widgets are similar to windows gadgets (so they are horrible and unuseful), and nobody likes them or find them more useful than Dashboard.
Dashboard is perfect.
I'm aware dude, I was talking about why he said Windows Ripoff when we were talking about Notification Center, that iOS had a year before and OS X one month before windows 8 came out.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.