Dumbest Question Of All Time

[XMARLTONX]

I assure you, this will make me seem borderline retarted, its right up there with "What is Apple's Logo?".

I looked around in the FAQs and couldnt find this, and its mentioned EVERYWHERE, but I still dont know.......

what a dashboard is.

From my observations it seems like a seperate desktop that you activate and put all kinds of cool goodies (or widgets as they seem to be called) on it. Kind of like a little desktop you can call up at will to use some widgets quickly, if you want to check weather, or what have you.

Is this correct? And if so.....where can I get some awesome widgets?

 

[rcltrh]

That's retarded with a d, an apple, (j/k) and yes you're correct in your interpretation of the dashboard It's also a memory hog if you have lots of widgets that do a lot of actual updating in the background. The apple site itself has a lot of widgets and adds new ones to its list as people create them. Just search for widgets on google and you'll find tons of them.

 

[XMARLTONX]

Cool man thanks, thats what I thougt it was. I was looking at screenshots of people's dashboards and I could definatly see how it would hog memory. Some people have a ZILLION things on it!

 

[walkerj]

When I had my PPC Mini with only 512MB of RAM I used to run with Dashboard disabled, since I do a lot of somewhat memory intensive things.

Since getting a Macbook with a gig of RAM, however, Dashboard has proven useful enough to keep it enabled, and I'll be upgrading to two gig at some time in the future anyway.

I seem to especially use Stickies quite a lot for one-off notes that eventually make it into iCal as notes to events and things I'm supposed to do. In that way it's kind of like a desktop that I call up and then when I'm done with it I cast it aside leaving the primary stuff to continue working with.

 

[coach_z]

this should help you out a bit: http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/dashboard/

also the best widgets will come from apple's website
-chris

 

[XMARLTONX]

this should help you out a bit: http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/dashboard/

also the best widgets will come from apple's website
-chris

Where in North Jersey Chris?

Kean University/Hopatcong here

 

[Carol247]

You might find this interesting. www.macmage.com offers a free "MenuButler" widget tht shows you all your available menu extras in Dashboard. Check it out and see what you think.

 

[yogi]

You have 2GB of RAM, which will do fine to run Dashboard with a bunch of widgets and no lagging or delay in loading.

It's not so much a seperate desktop than a layer that you can summon at all times.

Especially in combination with the upcoming Spaces (multiple desktops) in Leopard, Dashboard will be a valuable tool to hold widgets you need across the entire system.

 

[mac57]

Dashboard is of course an overlay to your desktop that can be summoned at will and dismissed at will. It is where widgets live and are displayed. Whether it hogs memory is up to you - how many widgets do you want?

I am surprised that more people haven't lept to its defence. This thread seems to be taking a dim view of Dashboard. Personally, I couldn't live without it (granted I have 2.5 GB of RAM on my Mac). Dashboard widgets are a HUGE, HUGE innovation. Apple got there way ahead of their friends farther north.

The ability to quickly check the latest real time weather map, keep an eye on my stock picks, and check out various and sundry other little bits of focused information, all with the click of just one key, is simply AMAZING! When I switched to a Mac, I have to admit that Dashboard struck me (at least initially) as one of the biggest innovations ever.

I couldn't imagine using Mac OS X without Dashboard. In some ways I am glad I didn't switch until Tiger came out. I am sure Panther and its predecessors were good, but Tiger and its widgets was close to revolutionary!

The defence rests.

 

[mac57]

Oh, BTW XMARLTONX, please don't worry - there is no such thing as a dumb question here - this is the Switcher's Hangout. You should feel free to ask ANY question that puzzles you. You will find that M-F's regular denizens will be pleased to help you out! Fire away!!

 

[Bloodborne]

I only have a few widgets, but the few that I do have are really useful. My favorites are the weather widget to check temperature before walking to class and Sing That iTune!, which will grab lyrics for the current song in iTunes and attach them to the music file (so you can see the lyrics on your iPod, etc).

 

[Sherman Homan]

Totally agree with mac57, ask away!
Retarded questions like "How do I open the CD tray?" have stumped some very bright people.

 

[mac57]

Heck, when I switched, I couldn't figure out how to install an application! I asked here in M-F and some kind soul showed me the way!

 

[Bloodborne]

I think my biggest problem when I first got my Mac was deleting things. For the longest time I was dragging everything to the trash in the dock. My Mac-using friend noticed this when I was over at his house and he told me all you have to do is have a file highlighted and press command+delete. It's saved me a lot of time and aggravation since.

 

[mac57]

Great, thanks Bloodborne! I have been either dragging to trash or right clicking and selecting delete. I have always wished the delete key worked. Now I know how - thanks!