Reloading… Dashboard

It was interesting, it was convenient and it was innovative. So why did Apple drop the Dashboard from OS X? Let’s take a look at the Mac feature that never caught on.

It was a great idea. The OS X Dashboard feature gave quick and easy access to a series of mini-apps known as Widgets, offering instant functionality without having to load a software application. Activated from the Dock, Launchpad or Spotlight or by using a configurable hot key, the Dashboard took up the whole screen, a little like the Launchpad.

When Dashboard was first introduced with OS X: Tiger, there were four Widgets displayed by default. A Calculator widget let you carry out four-function calculations; a Clock widget displayed the time; a Calendar widget showed today’s date and the current month; and a Weather widget displayed the current weather. Clicking an icon in the lower-left-corner raised a Docklike bottom bar showing other available Widgets, which could be dragged onto the Dashboard and used alongside the default Widgets. You could move them around on the Dashboard, arranging them however you like without their snapping to a grid like Launchpad icons, and when the Widgets bar was displayed an ‘X’ icon appeared in the corner of each Widget; click on it to remove it from the Dashboard. You could add it again later by dragging it off the Widgets bar if you wished. Additional Widgets included a Dictionary, iTunes controller, Address Book, Stickies, a Stocks ticker and more.