Quick Notes is just embarrassing, compared to Dashboard from 2011

[Joosst]

I thought I had encountered a bug, but apparently this is intended behavior:

I had set up a hot corner, thinking I could bring up a note that way.
It doesn't bring up a note. It brings up a little square that does nothing.
Confused, I slammed my cursor in the corner again, this time still not bringing up a note, but a larger button, that I now have to click, which finally brings up a note. That's three gestures.

I found out you can also click on that little square, which is confusing and still one gesture too many.

Then I thought, okay, done with my note, let's get it out of the way again.
So I thought I'd use the hot corner again.
That does nothing.
Because I am now IN the notes app? And it also opens up the main window of the notes app? Why?
I don't want to be in the notes app.
I want to quickly copy or paste something and get back to what I was doing.

So now I have to manually close the notes app using yet another gesture or key command.

Why is it so much worse than the good Dashboard post-its from 2011?
That was simple, elegant, quick and easy. You could easily look at, copy or paste a flight number or a hex-code, or whatever.
Like a super clipboard.

Quick Notes is not very quick.
It takes too many gestures, it feels too heavy opening an entire app, and invoking and revoking is inconsistent.

Oh, and while we're at it: Where did the Quick Calculator go? And the Quick Unit Converter?
With all this extreme power in these new devices, widgets have only become stupid and less interactable.

I thought Quick Note would be the start of a welcome return to quick functionality.
But I was wrong. This is still nowhere near as good as Dashboard was in 2011.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I move the cursor to the right corner and tap once and my note is open and ready to write. With one more tap on the trackpad, Notes app is closed. Seems pretty simple and fast to me.

Maybe you should reassign your hot corner.

 

[Joosst]

I move the cursor to the right corner and tap once and my note is open and ready to write. With one more tap on the trackpad, Notes app is closed. Seems pretty simple and fast to me.

Maybe you should reassign your hot corner.

That's indeed how it works. But you probably never used Dashboard? Or you would know what I mean. That was just superior in speed and simplicity.

 

[chabig]

The first half of your lengthy post was you learning how Quick Notes work. Now you're over that learning curve. You can also invoke a quick note with a keyboard shortcut.

 

[fisherking]

buy a used mac, from 2011. open dashboard, enjoy the experience. for the rest of us, it's 2021.

 

[Joosst]

buy a used mac, from 2011. open dashboard, enjoy the experience. for the rest of us, it's 2021.

Haha. I don’t dwell on the past for nostalgic reasons. It just sucks seeing basic functionality and usability being removed. Having notes, a calculator and other tools quickly available, was really convenient. What would you say comfortably replaced it in 2021?

 

[chabig]

What would you say comfortably replaced it in 2021?

Multitasking apps, and Mission Control spaces.

 

[Joosst]

Multitasking apps, and Mission Control spaces.

Really though? Quickly copying a password, quickly doing a calculation, quickly converting a currency? You need to open up complete apps to do any of those things now. First it seemed like Control Center would take over the role of Dashboard, with the calculator still present. But since Big Sur they even threw that out. I mean, widgets that don't allow interaction just suck. Right? How is it any better?

 

[fisherking]

you can set spotlight to do calculations, conversions. not difficult at all. and, no matter how you feel about it, seems highly unlikely apple will bring back the dashboard (but never say never).

honestly, if you can spend this much time posting about the issue, you can spend a half-second of time opening, for example, the calculator app...

 

[Joosst]

you can set spotlight to do calculations, conversions. not difficult at all. and, no matter how you feel about it, seems highly unlikely apple will bring back the dashboard (but never say never).

honestly, if you can spend this much time posting about the issue, you can spend a half-second of time opening, for example, the calculator app...

Yes yes. Very smart. But. Obviously I’m posting once. I’m working on my Mac every day. I just can’t understand people defending Apple’s every move. Removing the calculator from the Control Center is just stupid and annoying. Don’t you agree? There’s just no good reason for it. I know I can do calculations with spotlight. But that’s not the point.

 

[fisherking]

Yes yes. Very smart. But. Obviously I’m posting once. I’m working on my Mac every day. I just can’t understand people defending Apple’s every move. Removing the calculator from the Control Center is just stupid and annoying. Don’t you agree? There’s just no good reason for it. I know I can do calculations with spotlight. But that’s not the point.

no one's arguing with your right to feel this way, but it is what it is... so, we adapt, or... don't. what else can you do?

 

[Joosst]

no one's arguing with your right to feel this way, but it is what it is... so, we adapt, or... don't. what else can you do?

Well, I know being critical has caused Apple to backtrack on certain decisions in the past before. The new MacBooks are a direct result of people outing their dislike on forums like these. So. I don't exactly know 'what else I can do'. But I think sharing these kind of thoughts might get more people to agree. And that word might start to spread. People might even give Apple feedback on these decisions. And that might, maybe, change something.

 

[fisherking]

you'd have to get a phenomenal number of people to request it in the feedback page: macos feedback

then you have to cross your fingers, and hope. i doubt apple will bring back dashboard. still, anything is possible (as SD card users can confirm)...

 

[Godspeed8230]

I am with Joosst here.

I was really looking forward to this feature, yet it seems to be totally useless as it is right now.I have activated it in my hot corner but when I select it while using Safari in full screen window mode it will open on the desktop, completely hidden. it will not a) change the focus to the newly opened quick note nor will it b) activate split screen mode.

Am I missing something here? Does it work in full screen mode?

 

[Joosst]

you'd have to get a phenomenal number of people to request it in the feedback page: macos feedback

then you have to cross your fingers, and hope. i doubt apple will bring back dashboard. still, anything is possible (as SD card users can confirm)...

It’s not about bringing back Dashboard exactly as it was. But quickly typing a note just feels very clunky now. It’s not quick and intuitive at all. I’ll make sure to write a, ahum, quick note to Apple about it.

 

[fisherking]

It’s not about bringing back Dashboard exactly as it was. But quickly typing a note just feels very clunky now. It’s not quick and intuitive at all. I’ll make sure to write a, ahum, quick note to Apple about it.

sure, but your idea of what should be might be different from others (for example, people who want dashboard restored as it was). meanwhile, perhaps quick notes will evolve into something better... for now, we adapt.