The New iCal Widget
Tuesday, 30. October 2007, 15:19:31
In Leopard, many bits and pieces of the operating system have been modified. Some changes have been major like the addition of Time Machine, and others have been minor, like what I am going to talk about today. We all heard Steve Jobs mention the addition of the new widgets called “Movies” and “Web Clips,” but we have seldom heard of what other changes to the Dashboard were made. And in those other changes to Dashboard, I consider at least one of them to be a major change. And that was to the iCal widget.Probably one of the most used widgets in the default widget line-up, the iCal widget lets you see the date, time, and if you choose, a monthly calendar. However in Leopard a third pane has been added: the events pane. The events pane lets you see what events you have planned for the day. Not only that but it also allows you to click on the planned event(s) which will promptly open up iCal allowing you to see more details about the event.
So what makes this a major change? Well, if you’re someone who tediously uses iCal to keep organized (and you should!) this is a Godsend. You no longer have to wait for iCal to load and open. Simply hit the Dashboard button on your keyboard and you’ll get the information you seek instantaneously.
But not all of the widget is good. It lacks one critical feature that, I think, would make it far more useful: the ability to switch the date on the calender to view events on future or past dates. If I need to put down an event it would be so much easier (and quicker) to go to Dashboard and find the date in the iCal widget, then click on the empty events pane to open up iCal and have it go to that exact date.
With that one flaw aside the new iCal widget definitely makes it easier for you to keep organized.
Well that concludes this blog post. If you liked this post please consider subscribing to the RSS feed or, if you use the Opera web browser, using the widget button located in the address bar to make a widget out of this blog.
--DMXell
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