This was never the case for traditional apps. How invested? An entire section of the Apple website was dedicated to Widgets where users could download the little apps. (At least it felt that way for many of us.)Īpple was invested in Widgets. It sounds trivial, but the divide between 'application developers' and website builders was vast back in the early 2000s.

Any front-end developer could build an application that ran on the OS X desktop. This was a big deal because the barrier to application development became incredibly low. Some historyĭashboard was unique because its little applications (Widgets) weren't heavy Cocoa apps written in Objective-C, but instead HTML, CSS, and Javascript all running in Webkit. Steve Jobs demoing Dashboard at WWDC 2005. This post is a look back on Dashboard's heyday but also how close Widgets came to being the obvious springboard to iPhone apps before the release of the App Store. The OS X Dashboard death knell has been tolling for some time, but it was once a premier space for front-end devs to show off. Apple Dashboard and how Widgets nearly ruled the world Midnight Cheese About Tags Archive RSS Apple Dashboard and how Widgets nearly ruled the world

Where are mac dashboard widgets stored