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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Applications > [ANN] Konfabulator 1.5 released

[ANN] Konfabulator 1.5 released
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Mac Guru
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Jul 23, 2003, 10:17 AM
 
Konfabulator 1.5 is now out and supports MANY new features...

Version 1.5 - 7/23/03

AirPort Extreme is now supported.

Added default preferences for window level and window opacity to Widget Preferences.

Added logic to make Widgets handle screen changes gracefully.

Image resizing is much improved.

Added desktop and floating to possible main window levels. Widgets at these levels ignore mouse events and are stuck to the desktop (under the Finder icons) or float above all windows respectively.

Implemented Widget Preferences submenu in gear menu.

Added more shortcuts for managing widgets:

Holding down Control and Option while selecting a Widget name in the gear menu will Force Quit the Widget.

Holding down Shift while selecting a Widget name in the gear menu will display an alert showing where the Widget was loaded from.

Holding down Option while choosing About Konfabulator from the gear menu will bring all non-desktop Widgets to the front.

Holding down Control and Shift while a Widget is starting makes it forget any remembered screen position that it had.

Added Recent Widgets... menu item.

Modified parser so JavaScript can be commented out in the XML to protect entities like '<' and '>'. This works just as it does in HTML.

Added new JavaScript call runCommandInBg(). This takes a UNIX command and runs the command in the background.

Sped up loading large amounts of data via the JS runCommand() function.

Objects are no longer constrained by the size of the Widget window.

Added new JavaScript system variable: system.languages.

Added sliders for preferences and forms.

Added new preference of type selector which allows a file chooser to be specified.

Implemented improved XML error reporting.

Added editable TextArea objects.

Added onScreenChanged global action.

Added Text.slide() and Text.fade().

Added Close Widget and Reload buttons to debug window.

Added drag and drop support.

Added bgColor and bgOpacity attributes to Text and TextArea objects.

Added onMouseMoved trigger to Image and Text objects which fires anytime the mouse is moved over the object.

Added new JavaScript system variable: system.cpu

Added HotKey objects.

Added onKeyDown and onKeyUp JavaScript triggers.

Added system.event object.

Added five new Widgets:
CPU Portal - Monitors your CPU usage.
iChat Bezel - Fades a bezel in when a buddy changes status.
Waste Basket - keeps track of your trash usage, and lets you use it as a replacement trash can.
Werewolf Monitor - Tracks the phases of the moon.
Where Is It? - Lets you search multiple search sites with text input on the Widget.
Updated The Weather to support forecasts.
Updated Stock Ticker to support Indices and more than 10 symbols
Updated iTunes Remote to sport the new look of iTunes and added a slider
Added Drag and Drop support to Picture Frame
Added Monday as first day option to Calendar
And many, many other bug fixes and enhancements.

http://www.konfabulator.com/

Mac Guru
( Last edited by Mac Guru; Jul 23, 2003 at 10:52 AM. )
     
iNeusch
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Jul 23, 2003, 10:53 AM
 
I love the updated widgets

Hope we'll see some new ones soon with new features
     
Mac Guru  (op)
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Jul 23, 2003, 11:07 AM
 
Well I know for a FACT that Drag 'n Drop an text input will bring about TON'S of new widgets... they've been shooting ideas around that required these features for a couple months now so I expect some really cool stuff.

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schalliol
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Jul 23, 2003, 11:09 AM
 
The serial I bought works too.

Now I need a new newsreader that pulls in slashdot, MacNN, MacCentral, etc. I used Kontent, but I don't think it has been updated and some sites broke it.
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Skywalkers new Hand
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Jul 23, 2003, 01:10 PM
 
So is it still totally useless and a CPU hog?

"Wedge, pull out! You're not doing any good back there!"
     
schalliol
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Jul 23, 2003, 01:17 PM
 
Pretty much. No less useless, but more pretty
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foobars
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Jul 23, 2003, 01:22 PM
 
Originally posted by Skywalkers new Hand:
So is it still totally useless and a CPU hog?
So far it seems to use much much less CPU. There's a CPU monitor included now and it doesn't default to 25% =) Looks like with all my widgets open it idles at 2% (G3/500).

As for being useless...
     
SwarmyCurve
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Jul 23, 2003, 03:22 PM
 
Its getting better at least, the new widgets are pretty cool.

There is a slick search widget that can scan Google, MacUpdate, Amazon, Apple Support, Lycos, AltaVista, MSN, Overture, eBay, Yahoo, and the Widget Gallery.

The weather widget looks great and has several days available to view.

You can also specify a state for each widget, like for it to appear as a low level desktop item.
     
ambush
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Jul 23, 2003, 03:37 PM
 
Originally posted by SwarmyCurve:
There is a slick search widget that can scan Google, MacUpdate, Amazon, Apple Support, Lycos, AltaVista, MSN, Overture, eBay, Yahoo, and the Widget Gallery.
Heh. Some competition for Ambrosia's upcoming iSeek menu extra
     
xi_hyperon
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Jul 23, 2003, 06:13 PM
 
Oh goodie- MacNET has a newsfeeder. Now you can read their headlines of BS right on your desktop!
     
schalliol
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Jul 23, 2003, 06:18 PM
 
I wish that there was a new Kontent, it's really nice. Sort of a tabs based version of that one.
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natan
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Jul 23, 2003, 06:54 PM
 
Originally posted by ambush:
Heh. Some competition for Ambrosia's upcoming iSeek menu extra
But if this widget's text fields can't be focused by a keystroke, then it's not a true competitor.
     
natan
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Jul 23, 2003, 06:55 PM
 
Originally posted by schalliol:
The serial I bought works too.

Now I need a new newsreader that pulls in slashdot, MacNN, MacCentral, etc. I used Kontent, but I don't think it has been updated and some sites broke it.
I still think that NetNewsWire is by far the way to go.
     
nforcer
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Jul 23, 2003, 07:20 PM
 
Originally posted by SwarmyCurve:
There is a slick search widget that can scan Google, MacUpdate, Amazon, Apple Support, Lycos, AltaVista, MSN, Overture, eBay, Yahoo, and the Widget Gallery.
Originally posted by ambush:
Heh. Some competition for Ambrosia's upcoming iSeek menu extra
There have been small searching apps like this for a while now. I'm curious to see how iSeek will hold up, not against these other freeware searching apps and Konfabulator widgets, but against the next versions of web browsers. With integrated Google search in Safari, the latest Camino nightlies, and other browsers on the PC side, it is pretty trivial to add support for other search services, or make a user defined interface so users can add their own. And because the search services requires a browser, a browser is a natural place for such a feature, and reduces one step (changing from the search app -> browser) in the search process.
     
Mac Guru  (op)
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Jul 23, 2003, 07:28 PM
 
There is a slick search widget that can scan Google, MacUpdate, Amazon, Apple Support, Lycos, AltaVista, MSN, Overture, eBay, Yahoo, and the Widget Gallery.
Yeah check out this little movie that shows it in action...

Search Widget

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besson3c
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Jul 23, 2003, 07:41 PM
 
Originally posted by schalliol:
The serial I bought works too.

Now I need a new newsreader that pulls in slashdot, MacNN, MacCentral, etc. I used Kontent, but I don't think it has been updated and some sites broke it.
Check out NetNewsWire
     
eevyl
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Jul 23, 2003, 08:32 PM
 
Originally posted by natan:
But if this widget's text fields can't be focused by a keystroke, then it's not a true competitor.
It can, just hit comand-F1 when the widget is running, and it get focused. However is pretty limited and iSeek is much more configurable. On the other side, anyone can look at the code of the widget and improve it almost as far as one can imagine...
     
Adam Betts
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Jul 23, 2003, 11:24 PM
 
iChat Bezel is nice but the rest is still crap though.
     
SomeToast
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Jul 24, 2003, 12:24 AM
 
Originally posted by Skywalkers new Hand:
So is it still totally useless and a CPU hog?
I guess I come at this from a different angle.

Of the widgets available, I only use The Weather (and that in a drastically down-sized custom edited version) so I guess there's not too much of use for me there.

But from a coding standpoint, it's hugely useful for writing personal utilities. I can knock out projects quickly and it's giving me good excuse to exercise my long-dormant Javascript chops.
     
Immortal K-Mart Employee
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Jul 24, 2003, 12:31 AM
 
Originally posted by Mac Guru:
Yeah check out this little movie that shows it in action...

Search Widget

Mac Guru
The is exactly what I mean TOTALLY USELESS. Damn that thing is stupid.

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Religions are like farts: yours is good, the others always stink.
     
kalonji
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Jul 24, 2003, 12:34 AM
 
ok
( Last edited by kalonji; Jul 24, 2003 at 10:31 PM. )
     
Immortal K-Mart Employee
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Jul 24, 2003, 12:38 AM
 
Originally posted by kalonji:
my question is what exactly is the purpose of a widget? are they just cool little tools/OS gizmos?
The point is to have as many of these useless widgets running at the same time all over your desktop to show how cool your computer is to your friends.

Just quit it when they leave.

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Mac Guru  (op)
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Jul 24, 2003, 12:39 AM
 
The only reason I have things like this are to make PC users go "oooooh MAN that's sweet!"

Makes them admit that deep down they think Mac's are cool.

Currently Konfabulator is just a gadget... it's a pretty way to do things that are really easy to do without Konfab but it's "geekier" to do them the Konfab way.

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Gee4orce
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Jul 24, 2003, 03:24 AM
 
Originally posted by schalliol:
Pretty much. No less useless, but more pretty
Well, CPU is 0.0% on my machine, apart from the odd spike every couple of seconds to, oh, maybe 5%...

Picture frame is neat. Love it.

The Airport monitor is actually useful and non-intrusive, now that I can set it to be a part of the desktop it doesn't obscure icons or get in the way at all.

The clock looks uber-cool, and being able to float it at the top level, yet still drag it around (with transparency) makes it much more useful.

I was never a fan of version 1, but this is much better.
     
JLL
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Jul 24, 2003, 05:28 AM
 
Originally posted by Immortal K-Mart Employee:
The is exactly what I mean TOTALLY USELESS. Damn that thing is stupid.
Totally useless? How? It does what it's supposed to do: search Google or other sites.
JLL

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eevyl
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Jul 24, 2003, 06:38 AM
 
It is really interesting to see how hard people try to bash a software for some random reasons overall.

CPU hog? It depends on the widgets you run. Of course there are widgets that suck CPU bad, but I can tell you a ton of Mac OS X applications that are CPU suckers, and I am not saying that Mac OS X is a CPU hog everywhere...

Useless? There are already hundreds of widgets for this thing, from funny things to really serious and powerfull. Some people do not see useless at all to install a "smooth stripes" theme to Mac OS X, right? Well, for me that is a bit useless if you tell me, but I can understand that for some people it makes a difference.

At the end, I just think the bash against Konfabulator is the same stupid war of "Cocoa versus Everything else". The widgets are written in JavaScript? Not Cocoa? USELESS CRAP!!! And a bit more of hate against competition. There are already lot of apps that do the same, why bother? USELESS CRAP!!!

While all this happen, I am a happy user and widget developer for Konfabulator
     
GENERAL_SMILEY
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Jul 24, 2003, 07:32 AM
 
Don't know why people are so negative about Konfabulator, I tried it out seemed fine to me, nothing I particularly wanted I'll admit - also tried a few different widgets, none seemed that heavy (CPU load).

Seems like a good environment to build some useful/not so useful functions.

Some ideas for wdigeteers:

- Airport Extreme bandwidth/signal strength indicator.

- Desktop exotic dancer / lapdancer
     
WJMoore
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Jul 24, 2003, 08:11 AM
 
Originally posted by GENERAL_SMILEY:
Don't know why people are so negative about Konfabulator...
I think it all comes down to price. My personal opinion is we would see vastly less criticism if it only cost US$10 or $15.

WM
     
Synotic
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Jul 24, 2003, 08:11 AM
 
Originally posted by eevyl:
At the end, I just think the bash against Konfabulator is the same stupid war of "Cocoa versus Everything else". The widgets are written in JavaScript? Not Cocoa? USELESS CRAP!!! And a bit more of hate against competition. There are already lot of apps that do the same, why bother? USELESS CRAP!!!

While all this happen, I am a happy user and widget developer for Konfabulator
? I don't think it's that at all... I doubt many experienced Cocoa developers are really going to use this. Konfabulator is made for the -average user- to make their own widgets. Can you imagine having to release objects and all that? It would be too much of a pain. Also, Konfabulator itself is Cocoa right, doesn't it just interpret the JavaScript and use Cocoa for the actual effects/commands? I know you said you had nothing against it, but I don't really think that that's the problem. People are just waiting for good useful widgets.
     
   
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