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[The Take Out Bandit]

Just installed Tiger and what the hell is the point of Dashboard? It's like some retardulous memory hogging pseudo Firefox extension. :/

Disabled, like Richard Pryor thanks to a widget. >:|

 

[Hitokage]

It's so you can have a number of small applets, like a calculator, on hand instead of having to launch each respective application.

...for those who don't set keyboard shortcuts, anyway...

 

[qirex]

The good news is that when it's not active it doesn't eat up any appreciable amount of resources. Just close all the widgets and remove it from the dock.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

dashbaord is fantastic (a bit of a novelty but it hasn't worn off yet) - i always have calculator / tv guide / sing that itune lyrics widget running - get some more ram

i also discovered recently that if you hover over a word in osx while holding ctrl/apple/d it will give ou the dictionary definition. quite handy

 

[Tortfeasor]

i also discovered recently that if you hover over a word in osx while holding ctrl/apple/d it will give ou the dictionary definition. quite handy

Great tip!!! Thanks Julls!!

 

[Polari]

dashbaord is fantastic (a bit of a novelty but it hasn't worn off yet) - i always have calculator / tv guide / sing that itune lyrics widget running - get some more ram

i also discovered recently that if you hover over a word in osx while holding ctrl/apple/d it will give ou the dictionary definition. quite handy

Never knew that, thanks!

 

[Vark]

omg thats awsome

I <3 Apple

any other cool shortcuts?

 

[Jewbacca]

MY HOPES ARE SO HIGH THAT YOUR KISS MIGHT KILL MEEEEEE11/1/


err...

 

[mrkgoo]

dashbaord is fantastic (a bit of a novelty but it hasn't worn off yet) - i always have calculator / tv guide / sing that itune lyrics widget running - get some more ram

i also discovered recently that if you hover over a word in osx while holding ctrl/apple/d it will give ou the dictionary definition. quite handy

Haha, that's cool. I went and immediately tried it on the nearest word...that being 'handy' from your post.

Convenient and close at hand, indeed.

Oh, and on topic, I thought Dashboard would be a waste awell, when I got Tiger, but to my own surprise, I found it quite handy. Hey, there's that word again! Anyway, it's not about keyboard shortcuts, but about having a whole bunch of things handy on the same key - not having to remember a bungh of shortcuts, but just the universal one.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

i always have calculator / tv guide / sing that itune lyrics widget running - get some more ram

I've got a gig of RAM thanks.

I'd be more interested in this stupid widget if it weren't the most banal thing on the planet, just launching asinine / redundant shit from square one. OOH LOOOK! A CLOCK! ZOMG!

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT IN THE UPPER RIGHT HAND CORNER OF MY SCREEN?!

This is a face punching offense, and my fist seeks Steve Jobs. It's crap like this that earns Apple all sorts of ridicule.

Other than that, it's whatever cat came before it - with a few U.I. improvements.

Pr0n, Photoshop / Painter, and Torrents.

 

[fugimax]

Dashboard is what you make of it.

If you load it up with shit, ya, it's going to suck. The default widgets are to give people and idea of the range of things that are available and all have some use the OS itself isn't already supplying (i.e., the "clock" isn't just an echo of the time in your menubar, it can be the time of ANY time zone...which is extremelt useful for some people).

There are some extremely cool uses for dashboard and, if you have enough RAM, its presence is welcome.

The widgets I use provide me with quick access to the following:

Weather Forecast
Radar
Sticky Notes
Yellowpages
Gas Prices
Who's accessing my webserver (via a shell-command widget)

Being that I use each at least once a day, it is well worth my spare resources (I have 2GB RAM). If these aren't useful, or you run with a lower amount of RAM, you may want to use fewer widgets, or disable Dashboard all together.

Oh, and widgets are "software" just like any other app your run. If your Dashboard is unstable or slow, make sure it's not the fault of a particular widget managing resources incorrectly.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

I dunno. This is probably like my aversion to dumb instant messaging clients.

IRC - it's worked for ages. I don't need IM.

Same for Dashboard. I do most of what you mentioned with my browser, so it's redundant. :/

More importantly, how in the hell do I get Safari to open any and all links in a new tab by default without any keyboard-jitsu. Always and forever.

So if you were to post a link here, it would pop up in a tab instead of a new fucking window. >:|

 

[cvxfreak]

I love the Dashboard. I can keep track of what time it is in Japan where that clock is set to, and use the calculator to tabulate sales numbers or other numbers while still able to see the webpage with the numbers (this is if I don't have a real calculator on hand). Overall, a nifty tool. I'm on 512MB RAM and my Mac mini and PowerBook don't slow down at all.

 

[Polari]

More importantly, how in the hell do I get Safari to open any and all links in a new tab by default without any keyboard-jitsu. Always and forever.

So if you were to post a link here, it would pop up in a tab instead of a new fucking window. >:|

If you find a solution to this please let me know.

 

[Macam]

With regards to always opening links in new tabs, I think the only way to do it is to select the "Select new tabs as they are created" option under Preferences > Tabs; but that always shifts attention to the new tab which may not be desirable. However, I use Saft which has a "Always open browser window in tab" option, which allows me to open links within Safari, as well as in within other applications, in a new tab without forcing attention to it.

 

[Sullichin]

Is the TV tracker widget broken for anyone else? It used to work for me, it stopped working a couple of weeks ago and it hasn't since.

Dashboard is a great addition to the OS. Not as great as spotlight, but still really cool.

 

[Lhadatt]

Applekey + click opens a link in a new tab in Safari. Sorry, don't know any other way without the keyboard. Saft might be good to look at though.

I like my Hula Jesus widget. It provides much amusement.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

I've got a gig of RAM thanks.

I'd be more interested in this stupid widget if it weren't the most banal thing on the planet, just launching asinine / redundant shit from square one. OOH LOOOK! A CLOCK! ZOMG!

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT IN THE UPPER RIGHT HAND CORNER OF MY SCREEN?!

haha, yeah the clock was gone within seconds of me using dashboard for the first time.. pretty lame! the itunes one seems a bit pointless too..

don't know any other keyboard shortcuts unfortunately - i kind of stumbled on that one by accident

 

[mrkapawutzis]

If you have a mouse with a click wheel, just click it over a link and it should open in a new tab while still keeping you in the one that you're browsing, at least it does with my Kensington mouse.

 

[ckohler]

Dashboard has become an important part of my daily computing. Need a calculator? Bam! Need a calendar? Bam! Need to check my Netflix queue? Bam! Need to convert meters to feet? Bam! Fast, easy.

I fail to see the problem.

 

[Jill Sandwich]

I use 3 instances of the clock to check the time in Copenhagen, Philly and Tucson for quick reference what time it is where my freinds/family are. If you bought a multi-button mouse, middle clicking opens links in new tabs

 

[Vark]

I have a widget thats a streaming webcam of the Pandas at the San Diego Zoo.

Pandas 24/7

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

VARK WINS!

Crap, I have my middle click set to activate Expose. :X

Hmmmm. . . I'll look into Saft. Thanks.

 

[Kuramu]

i use dashboard everyday. Mostly for the egg timer... i haven't overcooked my pasta since. I used to use the TV tracker, but it doesn't seem to be working now