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Friday, July 2, 2004 |
One reader of my previous entry (in the trackbacks) expressed concern that only Dashboard widget apps could execute native code. Well, we have an answer to that as well. You see, we're working with other browser vendors to extend the plugin API to add scriptability. See this link for more information. This means you can obviously execute native code from within any WebKit application's Web pages through the use of scriptable plugins.
I haven't read all the trackbacks, but I'm guessing I'm the reader to whom Dave refers. I actually knew about the extension to the plugin API. It seemed like it would do something similar to what Dave describes happening within Dashboard, and I don't know why I assumed it wouldn't. Now I'm just not clear on what distinguishes the two native interfaces. If Dave doesn't elaborate, I'm sure it will be cleared up in documentation whenever I get my hands on that.
P.S. Dave also clarified another mistaken assumption on my part in his iTunes and WebKit post. |
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There has been much sound and fury about Dashboard, signifying not all that much. Though it is certainly a more benign manifestation of the phenomenon that what happens to real news, I think this is just an example of the competitiveness and lack of research and reflection that permeates modern news cycles.
Anyway, now that some time has passed since Dashboard was revealed in the keynote on Monday, there are a number of thoughtful articles on Dashboard in general, as well as the whole Dashboard/Konfabulator controversy. For information on Dashboard itself, there is no better source than the man behind it all, David Hyatt. His recent Dashboard posts (I, II, and III) are chock full of detail on Dashboard itself and the WebKit enhancements that make it go.
For commentary on the controversy, John Gruber over at Daring Fireball has a comprehensive post that comments on Konfabulator vs. Dashboard and similar controversies that preceded it, the history of little apps., and plenty more.
Finally, David K. Every's post Dashboard, Usability and the state of Apple at iGeek (nee MacKiDo) repeats some of the standard Konfabulator rip-off themes but really takes Apple to task for thinking small and not broadening the Dashboard concept. Where I really concur with Every is where he questions the separation of programming models into applications and Dashboard widgets. For example, I was quite surprised to find in Hyatt's third post that Dashboard-style interaction with native code would not be available to Safari itself or other WebKit applications. I'm sure there is a reason—perhaps security related. I'd be interested to know what it is. |
Last update: 11/2/04; 6:17:39 PM .
