Docking Yahoo Widgets
I use Yahoo! Widgets on my desktop on both my work and home computers. They’re not the most useful, but I like having quick access to weather and other things. On my laptop, it’s useful to see connection strength, battery life, etc. Yahoo Widgets has updated several times recently and a new feature is the Dock. It’s quite similar to the Apple OS X Dock, but not as useful, basically it’s an easy way to open or close a widget.
Since installing it, I’ve moved the Dock around my entire screen. First on the top (too far from everything else), then on the right side (where it got in the way of the scrollbar), then on the left (where it obscured my desktop icons slightly), to where it’s currently residing at the bottom center of my screen above my start menu and quick launch icons. I’m likely to move it again, or hide it completely (if that’s possible).
I wonder what the designers of Yahoo Widgets thought the Dock would be used for most. Mostly the widgets are of a frivolous nature, I can easily get by without them. Ironically, I do find myself using it from time to time. If I had to come up with my biggest gripe about it, it’s that it isn’t “springy” enough. It takes a lot of effort to get the mouse into just the right position for the dock to open. Then again, if it were too “springy” I’d probably complain about that too.
Hopefully the next thing in the works are some improved widgets. Something that has some real value aside from showing me my CPU utilization, volume controls, or a countdown to the Simpson’s movie or latest Harry Potter book launch. There is a lack of truly useful widgets. What is the value for web companies making inroads into the desktop in this way? Google overall seems to have a much better strategy when it comes to the desktop. Their search and widgets are rolled into a single application. Whereas on Yahoo!, they have separate applications for each. The Yahoo Desktop is a vastly better product for desktop searching, but it would be nice if it were all integrated.