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Ternary

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 4, 2015
168
162
The other aspect of Dashboard is that it feels more "peaceful" compared to Notification Center. The fact that it's an overlay or it's own space makes its environment feel serene, allowing you to do what you want in it without the distractions or complications of the main desktop.

This is why I hope it stays.
 

peter2

macrumors 6502
May 15, 2007
262
400
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.

Notification center in iOS makes sense. The same concept does not make the same sense on the Mac. Nevertheless, I am not proposing you should not be allowed to have the (for me completely useless) notification center on the Mac, I am just saying the Dashboard makes perfect sense and, as it is neglected by Apple, they probably want to kill it - the usual Apple way: make it as broken and hidden as possible and then reason that not many users used it anyway ;-).
[doublepost=1476158058][/doublepost]
You're right, but the saddest thing is that there are still no good alternatives to them! So I always hope Apple would continue to develop and support them.

Another big, big loss was iWeb... I really miss that wonderful piece of SW, it was easy and powerful and everyone could start a webpage or a blog in a few hours.

Yeah, I am still using my iWeb that survived upgrades all the way from Snow Leopard to El Capitan. I truly don't understand why Apple ditched it. A great app.
 

TMRJIJ

macrumors 68040
Dec 12, 2011
3,530
6,713
South Carolina, United States
Yeah, I am still using my iWeb that survived upgrades all the way from Snow Leopard to El Capitan. I truly don't understand why Apple ditched it. A great app.
Good times... Try Blocs. It's a bit of a learning curve to start with but I find almost as easy as iWeb and up to date with current web design trends.
I miss iDVD too but it just kept on freezing on me kinda like iPhoto towards it's end of life. They should come out with an iBlu-Ray.
I really don't understand if you're playing the "devil's lawyer" part or if you're serious... Can you tell me what is the difference between using a slice of your screen instead ALL of it for running whatever tool you need?
With Dashboard you have, at a glance and on ALL your screen, your set of widgets, organized in whatever position you prefer. In notification center you have a small column you need to slide up or down even to pass from one widget to another one!
Maybe you prefer that but I'd rather think you've never tried Dashboard before.
Dashboard is a waste of space for me. It literally covers what I'm working on. If I needed to do quick calculations, I'd use Spotlight search or Hot corner to NC use the calculator widget.
 
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peter2

macrumors 6502
May 15, 2007
262
400
Good times... Try Blocs. It's a bit of a learning curve to start with but I find almost as easy as iWeb and up to date with current web design trends.
I miss iDVD too but it just kept on freezing on me kinda like iPhoto towards it's end of life. They should come out with an iBlu-Ray.

Thanks for the tip. What I was thinking to try is Everweb. With iDVD I agree. I miss many good apps. Like iSync (which did phone synchronization universally for many phone brands without the bloated iTunes), but I also miss lost functionality in apple apps - e.g. in Contacts you could compose an sms on your mac by clicking a phone number and then send it via your mobile phone (worked through the bluetooth profile that exists exactly for this purpose).

Dashboard is a waste of space for me. It literally covers what I'm working on. If I needed to do quick calculations, I'd use Spotlight search or Hot corner to NC use the calculator widget.

This depends on the use and also how you are used to work, I guess. I use dashboard for:

1. Calendar - did you know you can toggle 3 views of the calendar widget, where the most expanded view also shows appointments from your calendar for the given day? Of course, Apple ****ed this up a bit since it does not properly work with appointments from shared calendars.

2. Clock - I work in Latin america, my home is Europe, have friends in Japan. Easy to have 3-4 clocks with local times of those.

3. Stocks widget (I own some stocks, it's handy. The only complaint is they should finally feed the prices in real time, not with 30 minutes delay).

4. Contacts - easy to find phone numbers when I want to call someone from a landline at my work. It used to be the case that when you clicked on a phone number, it would be typed in huge font across the whole screen. That way I could actually read the number when dialing it on the landline phone which is some distance away from my computer. Unfortunately, in some version of the widget, Apple removed this magnification feature. (Probably its not simple enough and too bloated for Johny Ive ;-) ).

5. Weather - again I have few widgets with locations of my family / close friends so that I know how's their day if I want to.

6. Translation widget

5. Dictionary widget.

6. Wake on LAN widget - really handy

7. There used to be an Apple server widget to provide a nice overview of our xserve & co. - again, Apple had the urge to kill it.

8. Post it notes - with whatever I currently need to remember / be reminded about...

9. Unit conversion.

10. A clip of the webpage of our national Hydro-meteorological institute's weather forecast for my city.


The only thing notification center does for me is that it appears when I want to scroll a page horizontally and instead the bloody NC appears since I scrolled too close to the edge of the trackpad :D
 

ThunderMasterMind

macrumors 6502a
Apr 29, 2016
543
521
Notification center in iOS makes sense. The same concept does not make the same sense on the Mac. Nevertheless, I am not proposing you should not be allowed to have the (for me completely useless) notification center on the Mac, I am just saying the Dashboard makes perfect sense and, as it is neglected by Apple, they probably want to kill it - the usual Apple way: make it as broken and hidden as possible and then reason that not many users used it anyway ;-).
[doublepost=1476158058][/doublepost]

Yeah, I am still using my iWeb that survived upgrades all the way from Snow Leopard to El Capitan. I truly don't understand why Apple ditched it. A great app.
Do you not understand what Notification Center means? It's where you go to check your notifications. It was only for notifications, do not disturb toggle, and quick access to make a quick social media post in Mountain lion and Mavericks. It then changed to have BS widgets in Yosemite, really stabbing at Dashboard. I don't understand why Apple did this. I don't understand why Apple has done a lot of things in the past 3 years. I could make a big list of things, but I'll save that for another time.
 

peter2

macrumors 6502
May 15, 2007
262
400
Do you not understand what Notification Center means? It's where you go to check your notifications. It was only for notifications, do not disturb toggle, and quick access to make a quick social media post in Mountain lion and Mavericks. It then changed to have BS widgets in Yosemite, really stabbing at Dashboard. I don't understand why Apple did this. I don't understand why Apple has done a lot of things in the past 3 years. I could make a big list of things, but I'll save that for another time.

I understand what notification center SHOULD be (we have had GROWL for a long time ;-) ). I don't understand why on earth they try to squeeze widgets into it :D.

About not understanding half of what Apple does recently - I can totally relate. A long list. They completely lost the beautifully hidden (but present if you wanted) power in their products, that pleased the technically oriented souls...
 
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dogslobber

macrumors 601
Oct 19, 2014
4,670
7,809
Apple Campus, Cupertino CA
I understand what notification center SHOULD be (we have had GROWL for a long time ;-) ). I don't understand why on earth they try to squeeze widgets into it :D.

About not understanding half of what Apple does recently - I can totally relate. A long list. They completely lost the beautifully hidden (but present if you wanted) power in their products, that pleased the technically oriented souls...

Where Apple went wrong with the Dashboard is a power struggle which occurred way back when the iPhone OS was in its infancy. The Mac OS X reigned supreme then and their engineering groups dictated architectural decisions. Fast forward to iOS 10 and the roles are switched leading to an iOS feature like Notification Center being forced on the Mac. This is a battle that would never have occurred if Steve were here today. Let's be clear, the way this should have worked is Dashboard being implemented on the original iPhone OS which would have meant never having the Notification Center abomination forced on the Mac. Dashboard should be the pre-eminent placeholder in Sierra. But now it's just not getting the love it demands.
 
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ThunderMasterMind

macrumors 6502a
Apr 29, 2016
543
521
Where Apple went wrong with the Dashboard is a power struggle which occurred way back when the iPhone OS was in its infancy. The Mac OS X reigned supreme then and their engineering groups dictated architectural decisions. Fast forward to iOS 10 and the roles are switched leading to an iOS feature like Notification Center being forced on the Mac. This is a battle that would never have occurred if Steve were here today. Let's be clear, the way this should have worked is Dashboard being implemented on the original iPhone OS which would have meant never having the Notification Center abomination forced on the Mac. Dashboard should be the pre-eminent placeholder in Sierra. But now it's just not getting the love it demands.
The way you are saying this makes it sound like you want NC to disappear forever. It shouldn't go away, but it should only handle notifications and quick reply in relation to the notifications, but I guess it would make a lot of sense having a notifications panel on dashboard beside the widgets that can be hidden easily for a wider view. The problem is that Apple is focusing too much on other things than The Mac. Microsoft is on the right track, focusing on Windows, Windows Phone, and Xbox all at the same time. Their system they have going is great and nearly perfect in continuity. Meanwhile Apple is way too far ahead with mobile OS' leaving the Mac and OS X/ "macOS" behind. Tim Cook wants "harmony", but that's not happening if your system is so screwed up.
 
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peter2

macrumors 6502
May 15, 2007
262
400
The way you are saying this makes it sound like you want NC to disappear forever. It shouldn't go away, but it should only handle notifications and quick reply in relation to the notifications, but I guess it would make a lot of sense having a notifications panel on dashboard beside the widgets that can be hidden easily for a wider view. The problem is that Apple is focusing too much on other things than The Mac. Microsoft is on the right track, focusing on Windows, Windows Phone, and Xbox all at the same time. Their system they have going is great and nearly perfect in continuity. Meanwhile Apple is way too far ahead with mobile OS' leaving the Mac and OS X/ "macOS" behind. Tim Cook wants "harmony", but that's not happening if your system is so screwed up.

Actually, I think to some extent iOS and OS X should use different features suited for one or the other (NC on iOS and DashBoard with a NC just for notifications on the Mac). Having said that, iOS should be phone-only. On the tablets, full OS X makes much more sense (and a touchscreen on the mac laptops). I don't like Microsoft solutions usually, but with those surface tablet-notobook solution they nailed it.

Yeah, Apple should not redirect the OS X team to iOS, they should hire separate team to do each. But also I think the change is that the people who originally made architectural decisions for OS X (and hardware also) have left Apple. For me, the last really good OS X is 10.6.8, and I also dislike the new Mac PRO and the discontinuation of xServe. Sigh...
 

Sylvain Barral

macrumors newbie
Oct 31, 2016
3
1
Since the installation of Sierra, I can't move a widget in the Dashboard until the Desktop (with Dash It and "Disk Drill" Method on Terminal). Have you got a solution please ?
 
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dolph0291

macrumors member
Feb 16, 2011
92
2
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.

I use it constantly. I have it set up as a separate Space and so it's only a swipe away. I work globally so I need to keep track of the time in several cities around the world, so in Dashboard I keep several clocks open, along with a currency converter. The calculator, clock and weather are pretty handy too. I find it indispensable and one of the things I miss most when I work on my Windows laptop.
 

steve62388

macrumors 68040
Apr 23, 2013
3,100
1,962
I use it constantly. I have it set up as a separate Space and so it's only a swipe away. I work globally so I need to keep track of the time in several cities around the world, so in Dashboard I keep several clocks open, along with a currency converter. The calculator, clock and weather are pretty handy too. I find it indispensable and one of the things I miss most when I work on my Windows laptop.

And that's why Dashboard is deprecated. This sort of use can be handled perfectly adequately through desktop Spaces via Mission Control.
 

fedux

macrumors newbie
Dec 6, 2013
21
20
Anyone here knows a way to speed up dashboard? In my MBP is running as smoothly as it has always done, in my iMac (new one) is very slow. Widget are clickable and usable only after some seconds...
 

Spartacus82

macrumors newbie
Mar 13, 2017
1
3
"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."

I have been to college for multiple fields and majors and I use over a dozen widgets several times a day whether for courses, work, or appointments...not having it, or having to research how to recover them has been an increasing incovenience. I thrive on my time and work being efficient, and from an engineer's perspective, widgets allow me to multitask without juggling multiple devices, windows or frivelous keystrokes. They have saved me an immeasurable amount of time, and I would like my computer, desktop, and dashboard to remain the way I customize it regardless of the Operating System I upgrade it to. I certainly wouldnt expect you to be accomodating of someone going in to your office at home and work and rearranging your furniture becasue they upgraded you to a bigger desk, made entirely of recycled soda cans, simply because you wanted your office computer to have a crisper more user friendly display, email consolidation apps, or smoother transition between programs. In other words, if I upgrade based on computing benefits and compatibility, dont rearrange my flippin desk...
 

dianeoforegon

macrumors 6502a
Apr 26, 2011
907
137
Oregon
Many of the widgets are now available under Notifications. (top right cornet by Spotlight search)
 
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dogslobber

macrumors 601
Oct 19, 2014
4,670
7,809
Apple Campus, Cupertino CA
Apple should deprecate Notification Center, spotlight and Siri icons and move them to dashboard. If Apple makes the dashboard the only way to access that functionality then people would start to use it more. They could even add a chess widget to dashboard and do away with the chess app.

This makes so much sense given it reduces clutter and user confusion. Sounds like a great core feature OS S X 10.13.
 
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