OSNews > Thread > "hmm" by judgen

Jackfield: Dashboard Compatible Widget Engine for GNOME

Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 11th Oct 2006 21:34 UTC

"A desktop full of handy widgets to tell you about what's going on in the world and what's going on around your computer. This is Jackfield. Jackfield is an application for the Gnome desktop that plays host to widgets; small applications to do the things you need. It can run widgets from Apple's Dashboard, will eventually be able to run those from Yahoo's Widget Engine, Microsoft's Gadget Sidebar, and Opera Widgets, and you can write your own."

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hmm

by judgen on Wed 11th Oct 2006 22:33 UTC

Member since:
2006-07-12

gadgets, widgets and all the other crap. Is there actually any need for them? i dont want to offend, but it seems that people want them just for the eye candy and not for their usabillity, and that is fine with me as long as they dont force feed me the stuff down my throat. (and i base that on the appearance of the current microsoft and apple products.) Dont get me wrong i cant be usefull with theese kinds of products, but i dont see it as a feature in my case, in fact its more of an hassle and it uses up prechios desk space.

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RE: hmm

by Terracotta on Wed 11th Oct 2006 22:47 in reply to "hmm"

Member since:
2005-08-15

then don't use them, Plasma is going to support them as well, and well I think it's just funny to have a daily comic of garfield and dilbert on your desktop, most of them are rubbisch, but fun rubbisch. For usefull stuff there's the taskbar though.

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RE[2]: hmm

by ma_d on Wed 11th Oct 2006 22:59 in reply to "RE: hmm"

Member since:
2005-06-29

There are some mildly useful things, but I think they make more sense on your google homepage.

On Linux, so far, the most popular ones have been system monitors and attempts at the OS X dock (you can't do it with this sort of software though).

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RE: hmm

by g2devi on Wed 11th Oct 2006 23:07 in reply to "hmm"

Member since:
2005-07-09

Is there a *need* for them? No. Anything that could be done with widgets could also be done through coding specifically for GNOME or KDE.

Is it just eye candy? Not really. They look pretty ugly.

Are they usable? Some would definitely be. Think of Firefox extensions or firefox engines that allow you to search through wikipedia or amazon just as easily as google. The majority of extensions and engines are garbage, but the few that are not are pure gold. No problem, just take what you need and chuck the rest. The fact that writing extensions and engines is easier than the alternative is one key reason so many exist. If Jackfield succeeds in it's goal of running all widget/gadget engines, you can be sure that there will be at least some gold in the cruft.

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RE: hmm

by Tuishimi on Wed 11th Oct 2006 23:17 in reply to "hmm"

Member since:
2005-07-06

I use the weather widgets and dictionary widgets. I also use the MAMP startup/shutdown widget, calendar and calculator - oh, and the SMS widget. They are always a keystroke away, but most importantly, out of my way when I DON'T need them.

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RE: hmm

by Adurbe on Thu 12th Oct 2006 14:31 in reply to "hmm"

Member since:
2005-07-06

I find certain widgets very useful indeed

u currently have running

Blogger widget - to jot down things for my blog throughout thr day
IPwidger - displays the ip of each interfave plux my external IP (which changes alot)
Calculator - cuz i cant count
Dictionary . cuz i cant understand big words :-p

I find this easier and faster than them being individual apps thatt i have to apple-tab between

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 1