New DX Categories needed B A D
Wednesday, March 14, 2007 by RomanDA | Discussion: Widget talk
1. DX Gadgets - this would be for gadgets only, so people without DX could load these and know they would work, and people with DX would know that everything in the WIDGET Gallery is a widget that can be imported.
2. DX Weather/Clock - yes yes yes, anyone that has ever been in the DX Widgets gallery know that there and have done a "search" for "weather" will return you 7 pages of 32 widgets, or MORE. This is just weather, not to mention clocks. The problem is, these are almost all (not all Vad_M/Martin/Richard) the SAME widget, just with different "skins". Its getting old. you post something that you have spent a great deal of time working on, and in 2 days, its on page 3, behind 200 more of the SAME weather widgets.
If you agree, or disagree, please let us know. I think these could easily be added and would make things so much better. If DX is going to EVER evolve beyond a weather/clock widget maker, it has to be able to SHOW what is out there that ISNT one of these.
PLEASE PLEASE HEAR US!!!
Reply #3 Wednesday, March 14, 2007 4:43 PM
Reply #4 Wednesday, March 14, 2007 4:48 PM
Reply #5 Wednesday, March 14, 2007 5:00 PM
I also wonder about the *new potential skinner of DX..When all they see produced are the weather & clcok widgets...what do you expect them to make?...Seeing gadgets prominently displayed may *open their minds to new possibility's.
And I agree with you BigDogFeet
It's My Secret
Reply #10 Wednesday, March 14, 2007 6:47 PM
Ya know, weather gadgets/widgets are nice, but it seems that since the advent of DX3 that this is the predominant thing that people make. I myself don't use them because I have a window in my room...
No offense intended here (because the weather objects are very very nice), but what is deperately needed are fresh ideas and less of the same.
Reply #11 Wednesday, March 14, 2007 7:01 PM
that's my 2 cents.Reply #13 Wednesday, March 14, 2007 8:31 PM
Are you remember how we loved DX Galleries when Tiggs, Martin, Will Ross and other Great People uploaded their new creations here? How we waited for each new addition? Were these people?
What we can see now? Hundreds of weathers...
DesktopX is not Sysmetrix, Rainlendar or Winamp. This is a Power Software for developers but not a simple program which apply new skins to old widgets! And I think that Skinning and Widgets Development are a different things.
How much time we need to create complicated code? From one week to one month and more.
How much time we need to draw a several boxes and buttons and apply scripts here? 2 - 3 hours.
Is these both works are equal? And how these works may have the equal ratings? I become sad when I thinks about...
So it would be great if we will have Galleries for Gadgets, Widgets, Objects etc... with new creations and a special Gallery like Skins for Widgets to upload "remakes".
Reply #14 Wednesday, March 14, 2007 8:49 PM
I agree. We need to showcase the possibilites of DX. Let people know how much can be done with it. Inspire more dynamic creations. Show them all the cool ideas and get the creativity flowing!
Reply #15 Wednesday, March 14, 2007 8:51 PM
YES.. I miss them all. but VAD -- YOU are the one I wait for now to see not just a WIDGET or GADGET but an amazing PROGRAM, when it gets over 1000 lines of code its no longer a WIDGET. Your stuff is the things i dream of being able to do. As for the others, I think most of them have gotten tired of their work being lost in a sea of Skinned weather widgets.
The problem would be that people might be confused about what is where.
DX Widgets - This is still the place to find NEW Widgets not widgets that have been MADE BEFORE with new images.
DX Objects - why do we need this? Objects are just like widgets? you can just import them. -- Most of these end up being "Zoomers" or something that is an ICON, not an object. But in DX an OBJECT is ANYTHING.... That makes it so much harder to know what should be in there.
DX Gadgets - this is a MUST it shows everyone that DX makes GADGETS too!!
DX Weather/Clock - These 2 are the most popular styles of DX Widgets
DX Themes - There are so many issues with Themes, most people have no idea how to make these work for THEM. I have tried to make several Widgets that allow customization without anyone having to know how to use DX, VAD_M's work is the perfect example of this, Look at the LAUNCH BAR it allows ANYONE to use it without ever opening up DX in "BUILDER" mode. Somehow we need to get THEMES to this level so that everyone can use them!!
Im not an expert on how to set this stuff up, but something needs done before we lose more DX "Programmers" and then we will only have 1 widget with 200,000,000 SKINS.
Is there ANY input from the Stardock Guys???
BRAD?? What do you think we need to do? Its your baby, we all want DX to be a popular PROGRAMMING platform, not a SKINNING one.
I would love to know what you think.
Thanks for all the input all, lets keep this issue at the forefront of things here, please. Lets not let this issue just go away.
Reply #16 Wednesday, March 14, 2007 9:24 PM
Reply #17 Wednesday, March 14, 2007 9:39 PM
Seems to be a strong common thread here.
Reply #18 Thursday, March 15, 2007 1:11 AM
Well it's mostly overall 2 or 3 people that flood the galleries with those weather widgets, tried to do something against that, but 'they' didn't even notice. So I am all for putting up more different galleries for DX, maybe something like "power widgets/gadgets " or something for enhanced, professional work like RomanDAs or Vads.
Sometimes I think SD itself has given up on the matter of the underestimation of DX...
I will release my skinnable System Info shortly and that's it for me in terms of weather/calendar/systeminfo. An attempt to change something, but I have no hope that it will...
Reply #19 Thursday, March 15, 2007 1:39 AM
I completely agree that themes need to be extremely customizable *outside* of DX Builder mode. It's alot to contemplate but anticipating all the customizing needs of the end-user and implimenting certain factors to make it possible will make DX themes much more accesible and appealing. There's always this 'lockout' feeling I get when using a theme on my desktop. You feel like you lose some control over your environment or you feel somewhat restricted. Not so with WindowsBlinds. Why? It's because everything is still there right where you left it- you've only changed the look. That's why I think WBs are much more popular. All you have to do is apply it and you're off. But DX can come with some really cool capabilites (e.g. mini-applications galore), and if we can combine the powerful capabilites of DX with the ease of use and simplicity of WB, I think DX themes can really shine.
Reply #20 Thursday, March 15, 2007 6:09 AM
Well said...The reason I customize is to gain more control
How much time we need to draw a several boxes and buttons and apply scripts here? 2 - 3 hours.
Lets make sure we are giving credit where it is due..
It's My Secret
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Reply #1 Wednesday, March 14, 2007 4:39 PM