[OperaMan]

I've read all the comments about 10.4 sucking, and I'm starting to believe it. Dashboard is really annoying for the following reasons:
1. when my zips unpack, i get files that say name.wdgt and name.1.wdgt for some reason
2. when i open new widgets, they usually dont launch
3. if the widget launches, it doesnt find its way into my widget bar
4. my gas widget has no background

i've repaired permissions and all that good stuff, no success.

on top of all that, quicksilver trumps spotlight because of the simple fact that spotlight is a spelling and punctuation nazi. it wont find a file if i dont add apostrophes. if you havent noticed, i dont like doing that.

[nder]

Originally Posted by OperaMan

1. when my zips unpack, i get files that say name.wdgt and name.1.wdgt for some reason

This happens if you unpack them twice. Copied of files are named like that. It might be the case that they are automatically extracted on download and you end up extracting them again yourself.

Originally Posted by OperaMan

2. when i open new widgets, they usually dont launch

They dont launch at all? Or they take a while to launch? Have you copied them to the Widgets folder inside ~/Library or /Library?

Originally Posted by OperaMan

3. if the widget launches, it doesnt find its way into my widget bar

Again, for a widget to be recognized by dashboard, you need to copy it to the Widgets folder in your Library or the OSes Library directory. Or you can tell Safari to automatically open safe files (inside General Preferences) and it will automatically install the widget for you.

Originally Posted by OperaMan

4. my gas widget has no background

Report the issue to the gas widget developer or Google for a known bug.

Originally Posted by OperaMan

on top of all that, quicksilver trumps spotlight

Then continue using quicksilver. Spotlight is still version 1. I'm sure it will improve over time. Submit feedback to Apple. That will be constructive and will help improve the next version of Spotlight.

[OperaMan]

Maybe firefox is causing some of the problems, but not the one with the strange names. When I open the archives they create a folder with 2 copies of the widget in them. Most of the time, neither one will launch, but sometimes one will and one won't. That's really confusing me.

[Hi I'm Ben]

Originally Posted by OperaMan

on top of all that, quicksilver trumps spotlight because of the simple fact that spotlight is a spelling and punctuation nazi. it wont find a file if i dont add apostrophes. if you havent noticed, i dont like doing that.

Quicksilver and Spotlight are for two completely different uses. I Launch programs with QS, I find files with Spotlight. If you don't understand the operating differences between the two then you're just ignorant.

[Weyland-Yutani]

I rarely use Dashboard. Some of the widgets are neat but they take too long to initialize to be useful. Just too much waiting

cheers

W-Y

[nder]

Originally Posted by OperaMan

Maybe firefox is causing some of the problems, but not the one with the strange names. When I open the archives they create a folder with 2 copies of the widget in them. Most of the time, neither one will launch, but sometimes one will and one won't. That's really confusing me.

Does this happend with ALL widgets? Or with a particular one?

[chris v]

Originally Posted by OperaMan

on top of all that, quicksilver trumps spotlight because of the simple fact that spotlight is a spelling and punctuation nazi. it wont find a file if i dont add apostrophes. if you havent noticed, i dont like doing that.

If you don't want to type apostrophes when searching, perhaps you shouldn't type them when naming files, either.

[chris v]

Originally Posted by Weyland-Yutani

I rarely use Dashboard. Some of the widgets are neat but they take too long to initialize to be useful. Just too much waiting

cheers

W-Y

I have actually found the Transmit widget a useful timesaver. Of course, you have to own a registered copy of the application, but it's very handy if you frequently upload to the same servers. iClip lite is handy, too.

[OperaMan]

wow ben, thanks for the quick insult. i love the metadata function of spotlight, which i know about by the way, but i find that ive always wanted something just to launch apps like the run command in windows. i think the metadata stuff is only useful for someone who stores a crap load of emails or documents, IE not me. i also wish it would be as predictive as quicksilver. i know its only at its first version, but i thought apple would be a bit more thorough.

[Randman]

Originally Posted by OperaMan

i find that ive always wanted something just to launch apps like the run command in windows.

You need F10 not Spotlight.

[tavilach]

Originally Posted by OperaMan

wow ben, thanks for the quick insult. i love the metadata function of spotlight, which i know about by the way, but i find that ive always wanted something just to launch apps like the run command in windows. i think the metadata stuff is only useful for someone who stores a crap load of emails or documents, IE not me. i also wish it would be as predictive as quicksilver. i know its only at its first version, but i thought apple would be a bit more thorough.

Dude...

You spend a few minutes with Dashboard, and immediately hop on MacNN to tell everyone how much you think it sucks. You list all of your petty complaints, without even investigating them first, and you act as though the members of this forum are supposed to magically fill the hole that Dasboard has so stupidly abandoned.

Did you honestly expect kind responses to a thread entitled "dashboard SUCKS"?

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by OperaMan

wow ben, thanks for the quick insult. i love the metadata function of spotlight, which i know about by the way, but i find that ive always wanted something just to launch apps like the run command in windows. i think the metadata stuff is only useful for someone who stores a crap load of emails or documents, IE not me. i also wish it would be as predictive as quicksilver. i know its only at its first version, but i thought apple would be a bit more thorough.

Spotlight is not an application launcher; Quicksilver is. Complaining that Spotlight doesn't have the features of an app launcher is like complaining that QuickTime Player doesn't make invoice-writing as easy as Excel. If you want an app launcher, what's wrong with Quicksilver?

[eddiecatflap]

10.4.2 can't come quick enough imo

[Randman]

Originally Posted by eddiecatflap

10.4.2 can't come quick enough imo

And that won't solve the OP's issue, now will it?

[Millennium]

Use proper grammar and spelling to the best of your ability, including apostrophes. These things exist for a reason. If you don't like apostrophes, then avoid using words which contain them.

[Randman]

Originally Posted by Millennium

Use proper grammar and spelling to the best of your ability, including apostrophes. These things exist for a reason. If you don't like apostrophes, then avoid using words which contain them.

Oh, to make this a sticky.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Randman

And that won't solve the OP's issue, now will it?

Supposedly it will make the Widget Attainment Procedure much less of a pain.

[OperaMan]

I'll type this message out with all the punction as if it makes a difference to your understanding. I've had 10.4 since the day it came out, but only recently have had problems with Dashboard. Some widgets refuse to launch, like SimpleTimer, others just have annoying behavior. I'm just disappointed that Apple couldn't make Spotlight a little more forgiving in its searching. That would help when searching metadata anyway since you might forget exactly what you type. And perhaps you made an error typing it originally, we're all human. I find that all of the features of 10.4 were overmarketed and have yet to find a use for Automator. What a funny little program. In the words of the Human Torch, "FLAME ON!"

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by OperaMan

I'm just disappointed that Apple couldn't make Spotlight a little more forgiving in its searching. That would help when searching metadata anyway since you might forget exactly what you type. And perhaps you made an error typing it originally, we're all human.

You want Spotlight to be a fuzzy search? Good grief, it already finds a shitload of irrelevant files and e-mails for most searches as it is now. Returning a shitload more for things I didn't even type would just be unusable.

[TETENAL]

I think something like a "Did you mean <spelled correctly>?" feature like Google has it or a slider for fuzziness and sorting search results by relevance are unreasonable feature requests for Spotlight 2.

[osxrules]

I don't keep stuff launched in dashboard because the apps were using more than 1GB of drive space. Plus they took too long to display. When I had loads open, it would sometimes take about 5 seconds to appear.

I still use it now and again because there are apps I don't have as normal apps like the UK TV guide. I find that dragging one into the window when I need it isn't that time consuming.

[TheSpaz]

Originally Posted by OperaMan

1. when my zips unpack, i get files that say name.wdgt and name.1.wdgt for some reason

I've noticed at work when I'm unstuffing a .zip file with STUFFIT EXPANDER 9 I get the .1 file as well... I think you're using Stuffit Expander to unzip your files... Tiger has a built in .zip engine that you should use... this will make just one file....

[TheSpaz]

Originally Posted by OperaMan

1. when my zips unpack, i get files that say name.wdgt and name.1.wdgt for some reason
2. when i open new widgets, they usually dont launch
3. if the widget launches, it doesnt find its way into my widget bar
4. my gas widget has no background

1. SEE ABOVE POST
2. Make sure Safari automatically opens downloaded files... you shouldn't be double clicking them from your desktop
3. When you open a widget that is NOT in your Library>Widgets folder... it is NOT installed on your System so therefore WILL NOT show up in your widgets bar.
4. Widgets are made by third party developers... so maybe the problem you're having is not Apple's fault at all and maybe the developer of the Gas widget made a mistake or something went wrong when you unzipped the file with Stuffit Expander... (use Tiger's built in zip engine).

I hope some of this helped... try not to get so angry... Dashboard isn't meant to be something really big... it's meant for quickly accessing small utilities and showing off the cool ripple effect to all your friends.

10.4.2 is supposed to introduce a widget manager... so wait a few more weeks or so until 10.4.2 comes out and you'll be able to install widgets just by double clicking them and you can even try them before you commit to keeping them. It's gonna be great.

[chezpaul]

Originally Posted by Weyland-Yutani

I rarely use Dashboard. Some of the widgets are neat but they take too long to initialize to be useful. Just too much waiting

cheers

W-Y

I totally second that. I get my info much faster through the net than by launching Dashboard...

[cc_foo]

Despite what (some) widget developers say, Dashboard widgets do use processing power in the background. I use a todo thing, 2 clocks, and a unit converter in Dashboard, and found that occasionally one widget or other would be using 45% of CPU power (as seen in top). And the computer slows down to molasses.

No doubt there are other reasons my PowerBook 1.25 768MB RAM would slow down… but I’ve since deactivated Dashboard via a program called “Disable Tiger Features”, and these slow downs are no more.

I like the concept of Dashboard, and am keen to use some of those new widgets. But not as it is. Hopefully 10.4.x updates will fix it.

I still use Spotlight. It’s version 1.0 too, but tolerable.

[OperaMan]

I have the widget manager widget, it's pretty nice. The complaint about Gas wasn't meant to flame Apple, I was just wondering if anyone else experienced the same thing. Also, SimpleTimer won't even open from the dashboard dock thing.

[eddiecatflap]

i think tiger just sucks , period

it's a pile of junk compared to panther

10.3.9 was the best os ever !

[Randman]

Originally Posted by eddiecatflap

i think tiger just sucks , period

it's a pile of junk compared to panther

10.3.9 was the best os ever !

Yeah, it's as good as your punctuation.

[eddiecatflap]

don't be a silly boy , i'm making a valid comment , your childish comments serve no purpose whatsoever

[Randman]

No, you are are making stupid comments without any basis or fact. You had trouble? Too bad. For the vast majority of users, Tiger has been rock solid. It's not without problems, but no OS has zero problems. If you weren't throwing a hissy fit, you could look back and see the troubles that 10.3.9 had for many people.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by eddiecatflap

don't be a silly boy , i'm making a valid comment , your childish comments serve no purpose whatsoever

You might be making a valid comment, if you bothered to state why you believe Tiger is 'a pile of junk compared to panther'. However, that is not what you did. Instead, you appear to have posted that Tiger sucks for the sole purpose of posting flamebait.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by OperaMan

I'll type this message out with all the punction as if it makes a difference to your understanding.

Do not forget, OperaMan, that this is not an English class. In an English class you might be able to expect all of your readers to have about as good a mastery of the English language as you do, and you might even be correct (though this is becoming rare nowadays, with an increasing number of ESL students in the public schools). However, on the Internet, you speaking to an international audience, and so even this feeble expectation completely fails. For some if not many of our users, English is a second or even third language. You cannot count on their literacy skills to be as strong as yours are. In fact, we have some readers who cannot read English at all; instead, they run their posts through a translator. The literacy skills of most automated translators are, to put it charitably, quite lacking. I have included the results of running your post through an English-to-Spanish translator and back again as an example of this. I chose Spanish as the intermediary language because I know for a fact that we have several users who rely on this kind of translation to convert posts to Spanish.

It may be somewhat ironic that the Internet has made good language skills more important, rather than less, but this is the reality of the situation. Sadder still is how far English skills have fallen since the advent of the Internet, when they should be rising.

I'm just disappointed that Apple couldn't make Spotlight a little more forgiving in its searching. That would help when searching metadata anyway since you might forget exactly what you type. And perhaps you made an error typing it originally, we're all human.

In that case, you have only to fix the error and the computer will search based on what you want. Computers were not made to do thinking for us. Indeed, it could be said that computers were made to do everything but thinking for us.

And now, as promised, your original post:

I have read all the commentaries near 10.4 that aspired, and am beginning to believe it. The board of instruments is really annoying for the following reasons:

1. when my relampaga unpacks, with himself the archives that say name.wdgt and not do name.1.wdgt for some generally the new reason
2, when I open widgets, they launching
3. if widget sends, he finding of doesnt its way in my bar
4 of widget. my widget of the gas does not have any bottom that I have repaired the permissions and all the one that good matter, no success.

upon all the that, projector of trumps of mercury due to the simple fact that the projector is a Nazi of the spelling and the score. it will not find a file if I do not add apostrophes. if you to have noticed havent, I it does not have I please to do that.

As an aside, I suggest that you count the number of apostrophes in this post. There are none, and yet I have not used any words which normally contain apostrophes. If you hate them so much, you can avoid using them and still be gramatically correct.

[Zimphire]

Originally Posted by eddiecatflap

i think tiger just sucks , period

it's a pile of junk compared to panther

10.3.9 was the best os ever !

Well you continue to use 10.3.9 ,and us that think Tiger is better can us it.

Deal?

Originally Posted by eddiecatflap

don't be a silly boy , i'm making a valid comment , your childish comments serve no purpose whatsoever

Saying "BLAH BLAH SUCKS! BLAH WAS THE BESTEST EVAAAAR!'

In not a valid comment. It was also childish.

[eddiecatflap]

yeah , you have a point

i apologise to the board and everyone

roll on 10.4.2

[umijin]

I'd have to say Dashboard is singularly unimpressive, after 3 weeks of use. It is slow, widgets use too much memory, and they are not up to par (performance and appearance wise) with those in Konfabulator.

The good news is that Dashboard can only get better...

-umijin

[Chuckit]

I'm not really disappointed with Dashboard, but that's only because I didn't expect it to be useful in the first place.

[Zimphire]

Originally Posted by umijin

I'd have to say Dashboard is singularly unimpressive, after 3 weeks of use. It is slow, widgets use too much memory,

What do you mean slow widgets? They run speedy on my almost 2 year old G4.

And when you are DONE with the widgets you don't use more than once a day. CLOSE EM. They don't take up any memory after that.

and they are not up to par (performance and appearance wise) with those in Konfabulator.

Oh please, Konfab was and still is buggy and has horrible memory leaks.

As far as performance and appearance. That is on widget coder.

[budster101]

If Dashboard isn't useful, then explain the popularity of Konfabulator puhleez. (Grammatical error done by a professional, do not try this at home.)

I've played with it for several weeks and find it very useful, especially the new widgets that come out every day and are free for download at apple.com, it's a great add on feature that Longhorn will attempt to copy, but when they do come out with it, Dashboard will have gone through several revisions.

You are using a cutting edge OS, and expect a few bugs, that will be fixed in short time. 10.4.2 will do much IMHO, but I've been with OS X since the start. 10.0 - 10.3.9 and it's been a nice ride with very few bumps.

Just noticed umijin's post (re: Konfabulator) Right on, except for the appearance, I think the appearance is right on par with those on "K".

[Mac & Cheese]

Originally Posted by Millennium

Use proper grammar and spelling to the best of your ability, including apostrophes. These things exist for a reason. If you don't like apostrophes, then avoid using words which contain them.

Um, not to pick a fight... but if you're gonna pick on someone's grammar, you should be pretty sure that yours is flawless.

In other words, avoid using sentences THAT contain grammatical errors.

/The Grammar Nazi Nazi

Back on topic - I think that Dashboard is useful as-is and has a lot of potential to be even more useful with some fixes, optimizations, and new widgets.

[OogaBooga]

Originally Posted by OperaMan

...In the words of the Human Torch, "FLAME ON!"

Thanks for stealing that from me.

[Nostromo]

My only real beef with Dashboard is the inability to keep the widgets visible *all* the time, ala Konfabulator. There are some widgets I want to see all the time (CPU temp, CPU meters, iTunes controls, etc.) Yeah, I know about Amnesty, but $20 for something that should be an option in Dashboard in the first place...maybe a future revision?

[Nai no Kami]

Originally Posted by OperaMan

...spotlight is a spelling and punctuation nazi. it wont find a file if i dont add apostrophes. if you havent noticed, i dont like doing that.

ctully I hte the letter "A". This drives me md becuse spotlight won't find ny of my files (t lest those tht contin tht dmned letter). I will submit feedbck to pple nd report them for being such n ssholes.

<tango_voice>Si escribís como el orto, bancatelá.</tango_voice>

[SomeToast]

Originally Posted by Zimphire

Oh please, Konfab was and still is buggy and has horrible memory leaks.

I guess I'll chalk up my running of Konfabulator Widgets for weeks at a time with no crashing/leaking to good karma.

[ApeInTheShell]

The problem with the 'widget on the desktop approach' is that they get in the way of browser windows and other applications like iTunes. This is especially annoying on a laptop if you own one. Apple's implementation is quick and painless leaving no trace of these floating widget windows.
In addition, I disagree with load times and the ease of use in accessing information from the world wide web. I leave the computer on and have a broadband connection so it only takes a few seconds for things to update(there is always going to be a wait). If you are using a modem naturally there will be a lag for net widgets. Otherwise, you should have no problem with widgets like the calculator and others that do not access the www.
You could also open a browser window to look up your tracking numbers, flight info, translation, and so on but why bother when its a button away? Some people like seeing advertisements on websites. It's okay. I understand.
Lastly, several members of MacNN have told their stories of woe and regret using Tiger while others praise its snappiness. For now I haven't run into issues with Dashboard(Safari asks me if I want to download the widget), Spotlight (I don't have many files stored on the laptop), and Automator(I love how it works with images). My advice OperaMan is to cease and desist use of Dashboard. It just isn't helping that tan of yours.

[Chuckit]

My widgets usually take about 7 seconds to load (at home, with my zippy cable modem connection). For this reason, I open Dictionary rather than using the dictionary widget, because it's actually faster.

[macmad]

I don't understand the widgets idea. Its like the Mac has two modes, normal mode and widget mode. Installing/removing widgets is a pain in the behind too. IMO they're nothing more than eye candy. I just don't see the point when an application loads quicker, can live on the desktop, and releases its RAM when you quit it.

[zulfikarn]

RE: " Spotlight is still version 1"

For all of those you hoping for updates to improve spotlight and dashboard, remember apple's policy on these things:

They'll put out a version 2 (in the next paid version of the OS) which will address half of the complaints, then for no explicable reason, will move all their software engineers onto the next GeeWhizz© project, leaving old favourites to wither on the vine.

Such is the way of the Apple

[bleee]

I rarely use dashboard because I just forget to, also I've noticed that some widgets just crash for no reason. I've had new widgets that I've never used but placed on dashboard just crash.

[Weyland-Yutani]

Originally Posted by Chuckit

My widgets usually take about 7 seconds to load (at home, with my zippy cable modem connection). For this reason, I open Dictionary rather than using the dictionary widget, because it's actually faster.

Yep, this is quite unfortunate.

cheers

W-Y

[mAxximo]

Originally Posted by ApeInTheShell

If you are using a modem naturally there will be a lag for net widgets. Otherwise, you should have no problem with widgets like the calculator and others that do not access the www.

Let's not blame the net for Dashbore's suckiness. The iTunes controller doesn't need to access the web at all and it used to take ages to respond to any of my clicks nonetheless. Useless.

To think this is why it's taking so long for 10.4.2 to come out....!@#$%^&