[Bluebomber21XX]

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/forecasts/xml/

Check this out, the NWS has released their forecasts in XML now.

Can Meteorologist be updated to take advantage of these forecasts? They would appear to be more accurate than anything a 3rd party could provide, since most 3rd parties get thier info from the NWS anyway.

[ManOfSteal]

I would definitely make the crop of Sourceforge developers on this project aware of this...

[cpac]

I love meteo as much as the next user, and a nice XML source would definitely much improve things.

However, I wonder if it might not be a waste given the coming of Dashboard - wouldn't meteo be better if it were reborn as a dashboard thingy(tm), using this nice new XML stuff?

[wil]

Originally posted by cpac:
However, I wonder if it might not be a waste given the coming of Dashboard - wouldn't meteo be better if it were reborn as a dashboard thingy(tm), using this nice new XML stuff?

No. Dashboard is an active information system, as opposed to a passive information system. (my terminology, so don't shoot me if it doesn't match what the rest of the world uses).

Lemme splain:

Passive information- information that can be retrieve by simply sensing it
Active information - information that requires an extra step before retrieval by sense

If I understand Dashboard widgets, they function a little like Konfabulator in reverse. They appear at the touch of a button, or something like that.

[ManOfSteal]

Originally posted by cpac:
However, I wonder if it might not be a waste given the coming of Dashboard - wouldn't meteo be better if it were reborn as a dashboard thingy(tm), using this nice new XML stuff?

It would be better if given the option to view Meteo like so:

1.) Menu Option
2.) Dock
3.) Dashboard
4.) Pick & Choose Multiple Views

[cpac]

Originally posted by wil:
If I understand Dashboard widgets, they function a little like Konfabulator in reverse. They appear at the touch of a button, or something like that.

Sure, but meteo currently gives you very little info in a passive way - just the current temp and condition.

You have to open the menu, and possibly a sub-menu to see most relevant information, whereas with dashboard this could all be a simple key press or mouse corner...

[wil]

Originally posted by cpac:
Sure, but meteo currently gives you very little info in a passive way - just the current temp and condition.

true. very true.

i like the suggestion of rolling dashboard/dock/menuling options into Meteo!