There is no such thing as "Dashboard" separate from an instance of a widget. That thing you see in the Dock is not a running application, although Apple made it to look like that. (What other application that's running (has the black triangle underneath it) in the Dock can you drag out of the Dock and have it go "poof"? None. You're able to do it here because that icon doesn't represent a running process).
When you hit F12 or click on that Dashboard icon in the Dock, the Dock application morphs to show you available widgets. There are no new processes that are activated if you are simply looking at your widgets! "Dashboard" does not suddenly become active and start consuming resources. Dashboard isn't even a secondary process -- it's built directly into the Dock. Not until you explicitly click on a widget in the "Dashboard tray" to create an "instance" of a widget, does any process actually launch, in order to create an instance of a widget. (You've probably noticed the slight delay before a new instance of a widget "wakes up" and is ready to use -- that's the Dashboard Client process that launches and gets the widget up and running). The things you see down in the "Dashboard tray" are little different from a non-running application in the Dock: they do not use any resources.
If you click on the Stickies widget twice, you've created two separate instances of the widget. Both of these instances will "consume" resources in that each one is a process that will occupy RAM. If they are active on the screen and you dismiss the Dashboard interface and return to your regularly scheduled programming, then yes, those 2 widget instances will continue to run in the background (and "consume resources").
If, before returning to the normal interface mode, you clicked the black and white X in the upper left-hand corner of the instance of the widget, you will QUIT the widget. If you clicked to close both of them, you would be back to square one in terms of resources (RAM would be freed, etc.). If you do not have any instances of any widgets, then there are no resources that are being consumed.
Trying to "kill" or turn off Dashboard by killing the Dock is absolutely ridiculous. There's simply no need for it. Just click the X for each widget you have on your screen and you've returned to your "pre-Dashboard" state.
So, what to do if you don't want to use Dashboard or want it "consuming resources"? Don't create any instances of any widgets. It's that simple.
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Dashboard vs Widgets - Mark Douma
There is no such thing as "Dashboard" separate from an instance of a widget. That thing you see in the Dock is not a running application, although Apple made it to look like that. (What other application that's running (has the black triangle underneath it) in the Dock can you drag out of the Dock and have it go "poof"? None. You're able to do it here because that icon doesn't represent a running process).When you hit F12 or click on that Dashboard icon in the Dock, the Dock application morphs to show you available widgets. There are no new processes that are activated if you are simply looking at your widgets! "Dashboard" does not suddenly become active and start consuming resources. Dashboard isn't even a secondary process -- it's built directly into the Dock. Not until you explicitly click on a widget in the "Dashboard tray" to create an "instance" of a widget, does any process actually launch, in order to create an instance of a widget. (You've probably noticed the slight delay before a new instance of a widget "wakes up" and is ready to use -- that's the Dashboard Client process that launches and gets the widget up and running). The things you see down in the "Dashboard tray" are little different from a non-running application in the Dock: they do not use any resources.
If you click on the Stickies widget twice, you've created two separate instances of the widget. Both of these instances will "consume" resources in that each one is a process that will occupy RAM. If they are active on the screen and you dismiss the Dashboard interface and return to your regularly scheduled programming, then yes, those 2 widget instances will continue to run in the background (and "consume resources").
If, before returning to the normal interface mode, you clicked the black and white X in the upper left-hand corner of the instance of the widget, you will QUIT the widget. If you clicked to close both of them, you would be back to square one in terms of resources (RAM would be freed, etc.). If you do not have any instances of any widgets, then there are no resources that are being consumed.
Trying to "kill" or turn off Dashboard by killing the Dock is absolutely ridiculous. There's simply no need for it. Just click the X for each widget you have on your screen and you've returned to your "pre-Dashboard" state.
So, what to do if you don't want to use Dashboard or want it "consuming resources"? Don't create any instances of any widgets. It's that simple.
Hope this helps.....
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Tuesday, May 24 2005 @ 10:49 AM PDT