Dashboard??

[Keldud7]

Hi there. I just got a Powerbook G4, running 10.4.3. What is Dashboard and why would I, a student, need it?? Thanks!! )

 

[kanecorp]

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/dashboard/

"Check the time, watch the weather, track flights, view stock prices and find a local restaurant. Instantly. With a single click, the Dashboard zooms across your Desktop, giving you fast access to nifty widgets designed for fun as well as function."

 

[ex2bot]

I think some people find a use for it and some don't. I don't really use it. I've downloaded Widgets such as games, satellite maps, hula dancers, etc. They're interesting for awhile. But I don't find much practical use for it.

Same thing with the free tool called Konfabulator. If you like Dashboard, I'd suggest you also try Konfabulator. It's owned by Yahoo and, as I said, it's free. One advantage is that the Widgets stay on your desktop instead of being activated by a key press.

[Edit: I know there's a hack to leave Dashboard Widgets on your desktop. But it's a hack.]

Doug

 

[destructospin]

you can change your preferences so that Konfabulator widgets disappear and reappear with assigned keys
and
you can make Dashboard widgets remain on the desktop as well
i disabled Dashboard, it's pretty resource hungry

 

[Esquilinho]

i disabled Dashboard, it's pretty resource hungry

How do you do that, BTW?

 

[powermac]

As a student, certainly you may find a Dictionary/Theasaurus & Encyclopedia widgets helpful.

Wikipedia is a great open source widget Encyclopedia. Many useful Dictionary widgets can be found.

 

[Lt Major Burns]

How do you do that, BTW?

google for a little program called tinker tool. third tab along in tinkertool, you'll find "disable dashboard". log out, and log back in again to get rid of it.

 

[Veljo]

If you need to write reports and essays you'll love the Dictionary/Thesaurus. I use it all the time, as well as the calculator and weather widget. Daily basis for me.

 

[barhar]

'... why would I, a student, need it?', how is anyone actually expected answer such a question?; and thus, rhetorical in nature.
View the currently installed Widgets, do a Google (or equivalent) search for additional Widgets - such as at 'Dashboard Widgets', and review their descriptions, and / or launch and try them.

-----

'TinkerTool' link.

Once you launch 'TinkerTool', click on the 'General' toolbar icon button, then click on the 'Dashboard:' 'Deactivate Dashboard' check box to add a check mark. As per 'Lt Major Burns' a message in the lower left will state 'Changes take effect the next time you log in'.

 

[symphonix]

I use dashboard all the time, especially the unit & currency conversions, world time, addres book, calculator, eBay watcher, weather and TV guide (worldTV). Others I regularly use are Australian whitepages, yellowpages and postcode searches, CPU temperature monitor and language translation. I also like to keep a few references to hand, such as a table of the elements, Wikipedia, etc.

Once you find what you actually need and don't need (and believe me, theres a lot of Dashboard stuff that you simply don't need) then Dashboard is incredibly useful.

 

[perfessor101]

While there have been some poorly written Dashboard widgets that eat system resources, they are in the vast minority. Dashboard and the widgets generally use little or no CPU time unless they are active and most only use memory in the KiloByte range.

I have found Dashboard quite useful, but usefulness is a function of what widgets are available. The list of widgets grows daily and the range of functions they perform covers a wide gamut. So check the Dashboard out, you may really like it.

 

[fryke]

the wikipedia widget is the _one_ I'm actually using.

 

[Keldud7]

thanks everybody!