WC Poll Time: DesktopX

I have Vista Business and am waiting to find a more compelling reason to install it.  I may wait for more memory and a better vid card before I install and then upgrade to Ultimate.

In regards to DX, I think that while the desktops can be used to make awesome kiosks but I need an interface that is clear and easy to use.  Most DX themes are not.  They may be cool, but I don't have time to learn an interface.

I use a lot of widgets though.  I now look at them especially in regards to embedding into my ObjectBar bars.  Size does matter. 

I like DesktopX as a concept. But somehow, I don't think that it has lived up to its potential. Widgets tend to be pretty limited in functionality and diversity. I used to be really excited about using DesktopX themes to replace the explorer shell in Windows, but they usually tend to be a bit sluggish, 'bulky' and not powerful enough to really be a desktop replacement. Having icon-like graphical elements that are shortcuts to folders or frequently-used programs isn't really enough... What we need are programs that extend the desktop to provide new functionality.

Surely, if DesktopX could be used as the programming interface to develop a powerful and full-featured program like Galactic Civilizations, then it could assuredly be used to create more powerful widgets and themes. Better documentation, tutorials, videos and sample projects would help get people to tinker with it.

Realistically, though, the future of DesktopX probably lies in extending the Windows (especially Vista) desktop to develop more powerful Sidebar gadgets and dynamic 'active desktop' content.

What I would really like to see is total extension of functionality: e.g., Sidebar gadgets that interact with Outlook to not only summarize today's appointments/to-do list, but also to quickly peruse the calendar for upcoming months, to quickly jot down a few notes on a post-it, to quickly reply to a new e-mail message without having to open Outlook entirely. Or what about a gadget that would allow me to look through my addressbook -- Sure, clicking on an entry could allow me to send an e-mail via Outlook, but what about extending functionality to allow me to send an SMS (through Google or AOL, for example) or look up directions to their place (through a mapping web site). Everyone likes to do weather widgets, but extensibility of function would be, for example, integration with the aforementioned Outlook/calendaring widget such that, when I browse my calendar, a weather icon will appear on each day on the calendar. Or what about a Trillian-like gadget that embeds the control window into the Sidebar? Or what about a mini-browser that has a small version of the web page on it. When you click on it, a mini browser opens up (still smaller than a normal window) that is interactive. So you could use this to quickly look up definitions or wikipedia articles or whatever. But move the mouse away, and it shrinks back into the Sidebar.

Another thing I'd like to see from Stardock is increasing intercompatibility an interreliance between various apps. For example, DesktopX, ObjectBar, ObjectDock and Virtual Desktops should be able to interact with one another... A gadget in the Windows Sidebar should be able to call-up an ObjectDock into view; or the ObjectDock should be able to embed a gadget that swings out with mouseover activation.

Anyway, no doubt a lot of these are easier said than done. But this is the direction DesktopX should go (in my opinion, anyway). Perhaps some of this is already possible; perhaps some of it is already on the drawing page.

I look forward to others' comments....

~ Alessandro (cavalierex)

Alessandro's points of interoperability sound great.

Personally I don't use themes all that much because I like a little more control over everything. From a usage perspective I understand the problems with existing widgets but, these limitations seem to exist across most widget programs. The potential is there for far more.

From a development perspective there is nothing quicker & easier to use in this arena. The real time development is a big plus in my books!

What is DX???

Ha-Ha-Ha! You are cool David!

It seems to me that one more question has forgot in this vote: many of us use DesktopX for development!

Sorry but I'm not agree with Alessandro. DesktopX is very power software for creation any desktop applications. Moreover I think that it has no analogues in the world! Just people use only a little part of DesktopX possibilities.    I know this exactly!

I personally have DX but rarely use it..Just too accustomed to using XP in its native state ( skinned of course)

I think as monitor sizes increase allowing for more real estate DX will become more prevelant.




  

For Zomba Dx it's awesome i use it to make theme/widget/object and i use what i make LOL
And for the fun i share them

Should be another option: Applications

I agree fully. What I was trying to say was that I think DesktopX has a lot more power behind it that we haven't harnessed yet. We need to push the envelope and get people creating better things. Instead of widgets/gadgets, let's aim for 'applets'.

A few more ideas:
- A scientific calculator (maybe even graphing calculator) that stays on the desktop or in the Sidebar.
- That 'mini browser' that I mentioned above would be ideal for a quick way to post to one's own blog. For example, when a thought crosses your mind that you want to blog about, you don't have to launch the browser, go to your site, log-in to the administration panel, create a new post, and type. Instead, just mouseover the mini-browser in the Sidebar: Out zooms a mini-browser connection to the blog's create-a-post page. Type and post. Voila'!

Any other ideas?

Do they have it working on multiple monitor setups yet?
That and the fact that 95% of the themes are 1280x1024 (bastard size) is why I've bypassed it so far.

Only problem with this is that you rely on a plugin or ActiveX to do the drawing. DX is not capable of generating graphics on the fly through scripting.

I'm actually making a mini-browser right now. I loads up the DesktopX scripting manual and gives the user to cache the content to disk for offline use.


Fear my two bastard monitors! raah!

Hi all! I like DX themes, for me they are really cool. I think DX can change the UI and does extend the desktop function quite nicely. I also like DX widgets so for me the answer is both themes and widgets. Having widgets that consistently work well in ObjectBar would be cool. Some widgets won't load at all and some won't stay put(they move around on the bar). There are only some widgets that behave well with OB. Fixing that would be great. Later.  

Alessandro,

I have finally understood you (this is because I have some problems with English-Russian translation...). And I wholly love your ideas.   

But it seems to me that any new creations have a good chance to dissolve into hundreds of weather widgets.   

apples taste good.....

I also have a bastard   

I once emailed a person in Russia...requesting some rip removals from a site over there.  I used Babelfish to do the translation.....and just as an experiment...I then reused Babel to revert back [Russian to English].  'Sadly' the result had me in tears....of laughter.....it was vaguely similar to English ... if you closed your eyes and squinted a bit....

Monty Python....."Your hovercraft is full of jellied eels" ....

I am waiting for the possibility to convert gadgets to the windows sidebar... And there are things that really could need polishing like a scriptable dxplayer-plugin (or a scriptable media remote)

I found that translating into Japanese and back to English again makes great fotune cookie notes.

As I have used both full themes (thanks Gef, et al) and widgets (thanks All!) I find myself using a few widgets over and over again. I even have a "simple" theme of the usual widgets for ease of implementation.

I have to agree that the themes support for multiple monitors is one reason that I stopped using them, but more so would be the need to modify each and every path for all shortcuts in a theme to the right items if you have moved them from the default windows location. It would also do well if DX could use the "Set Program Defaults" from windows for the applications it would link to as I don't even have OE installed on any of my machines and have dilligently set the correct pointers for the programs I do use.

I would also like to point out that great steps have gone into the development of DX, for both themes and widgets, but it seems to me that there could still be more....TBC!

{Right, well I'm at work at the moment, and lunch is over now; but I will sign in this evening and finish this off with actual illustrations of the path I'm going... Sorry if this confuses anyone!}

Randahl

Personally, I can think of a number of app's on my computer that can be done easily in DX by simply taping the FSO. eg. Folder/Directory Maker, File Sorting, Zip Archiving, A DX Browser for Archiving rarely used objects/widgets/gadgets into My Documents & browsing current ones. Lot's of ideas.



Glad to know. I have one in my "Projects in Obscurity Folder". Now I can be lazy.

I also have a bastard. Plus one legitimate.

Have you ever checked out AutoIT? It's a scripting language which allows you to create graphical apps which interact with Windows very nicely (much like DesktopX objects with scripting). They can be compiled into exes to protect the source and to not require the AutoIT runtime be installed (much like DesktopX Pro Widgets/Gadgets). And it's free (unlike DesktopX). http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/

I have but, haven't used it much. It also doesn't compete on par with DesktopX. There's much that can be done with DestopX without any scripting. The average non-scripter would be lost in AutoIt. Sranshaft has built a number of gadgets combining both which sort of interests me.