Do a back-up before trying it out if you're afraid of dire results.
It sounds interesting. I look forward to your letting us know what it's like.
Konfabulator itself has a very good reputation. I'd imagine that 3rd-party
widgets depend on their creators. You could do a search on versiontracker for
the developer and see what others have thought of previous programs. Do be
ware that 10 times as many negative "reports" a positive are the norm there..
Thanks very much, Paul.
I downloaded and installed Konfabulator 1.7.1 and then the "Entourage ToDo"
widget. I wanted to see an Entourage Tasks list without hiding, shrinking
or sending to the dock whatever else I was doing, especially when working on
something else in Entourage.
You get a lot of widgets with Konfabulator that can be useful and fun. They
also can be distracting and contribute to desktop clutter. It was
fascinating without any further action on my part to see my local weather
displayed as part of what came up in the weather widget. I liked the stock
ticker with Apple, Microsoft and other info changing with the markets. But
before I installed "Entourage ToDo," I trashed all of the widgets that came
with Konfabulator and just left an empty widgets subfolder in Documents
for installation of "Entourage ToDo".
Without requiring any action on the user's part, the widget displays an
opaque list (you set the degree of opacity) of the first few words of all
of your Entourage Tasks. That's cool if you've only planned a handful of
Tasks, not so cool if you created a long list of Tasks extending one or more
years into the future.
I opted to put my list at the top of the screen and it spilled over my dock
and into infinity. Clicking on a listing of a Task did not bring up that
Task. I could find no preference for bringing up a day's or week's tasks.
The authors' read-me includes a lot of plans for improving the feature and
adding other Entourage components beyond Tasks.
It's enticing, indeed. But I've now deleted all Konfabulator and "Entourage
ToDo" files the installers placed on my Mac. Even if Konfabulator were
donate-ware rather than its present $25, I prefer not to tax the CPU or
tempt myself with making the desktop busier.
Apple's plans for the Dashboard feature of Tiger (OS 10.4) opens up
possibilities. (For anybody unfamiliar with it, Apple says it "zooms on top
of your Desktop with a click of a function key and, like Exposé, disappears
just as quickly and easily. Use the Dashboard to access nifty new
mini-applications called Widgets." (As I understand it, widgets go back to
earlier Apple operating systems in the pre-OS X era, but the application of
a different technology than that used by Konfabulator will make them new to
OS X when 10.4 is released in 2005.
I now use a far-less-than-perfect workaround of shrinking and docking
Entourage Tasks (with the icons of other Entourage components on the side)
to half a screen and on the right side of my dock and shrinking whatever
else I'm working on to a half screen on the left.
But Paul (hint, hint), I would love a script or software that would enable
me to see a partially transparent display of my choice of the day's, week's
or month's Tasks and click on and open a full, individual Task without
having to close out, hide or shrink-to-fit a document, application or
anything else I'm working on. As long as I'm dreaming, I'd love to be able
to do the same with Contacts, Mail, Notes, and Calendar.
Respectfully, Norm
