Konfabulator Opinions

[thedogg]

I know that a lot of people don't particularly care to hear this about Konfabulator but I personally don't think that the actual appearance of the Konfab widges themselves can be compared to. Don't get me wrong......I enjoy Avedesk and Samurize a lot but there is no contest when it comes to being user friendly..........for those of us who aren't fluent in code and ****. Yeah the $20.00 for the ability to make widgets sucks but oh well......it's only twenty dollars...........I'm sure we all waste that much money ever week if not on a daily basis like I do.

Nate Dogg

[sipefree]

What I can't understand is that people are quite willing to go out and spend more than 20 dollers going to the cinema (popcorn, tickets etc.), but are reluctant when it comes to getting some great software with great potential.

As for the appearence, Arlo Rose really puts his heart into his work.

[thedogg]

What I can't understand is that people are quite willing to go out and spend more than 20 dollers going to the cinema (popcorn, tickets etc.), but are reluctant when it comes to getting some great software with great potential.

As for the appearence, Arlo Rose really puts his heart into his work.

WOW!!! I was expecting to be crucified on a cross by an early morning reply but I guess not the case just yet. I must say though that you bring up a great point that I really should have thought of regarding Arlo Rose.......he does work that is near flawless........I love the crisp, clean look of all of his widgets.............

Nate Dogg

[ew2x4]

I really do agree, also. While not a plethora of widgets *yet*, they are so much easier to deal with than Avedesk, for example. I still love Avedesk for its drives and icons, but for widgets, I think I'm gonna use Konfabulator from now on, just because I don't have to deal with Sysstats and that garbage, just put it in a folder and double click.

[grim53]

there are a couple of things i dont like about konfab, and the lack of options are one. if u want to change the font in an app, u have to change the widget file extention to zip, unzip it, fine the widget file (forget what its called). and change it in notepad).

[MDZ61384]

I'd have to agree with dennis...I guess its a tossup though. it really depends on the type of user you are and what types of features/performance matters to you. its hard to find a mix between the 2

[Shark026]

I am on a mac and would like to use Konfabulator, but I don't care for the widgets that are available for it. I use Avedesk on my PC and love the widgets that I am using. Is it an easy task to convert an Avedesk widget into a Konfabulator widget?

[donzee]

i use them both and i can say that Konf. is faster than avedesk, but there is less choice of widgets

[Septimus]

AveDesk widgets aren't scripted widgets. They are compiled .dll's. So no basically.

[Chi Chi Rodriguez]

Its smooth and pretty. Thats about all i can say about it. Samurize and avedesk have many more innovative widgets and I (not being a programmer or anything) can customize the appearance pretty easily and how they react. All the other programs out there for making widgets or what not are better imo because theyre either free, community driven, innovative, use fewer resources, or have a far greater amount of features. I started using desktopx, but like i said, im not a programmer, so its difficult. I used avedesk, but it didnt do EVERYTHING i wanted to do and was missing some polish features i think. That could have been ignorance on my part. Samurize is great, but has quite a few graphics draw backs imo. Kapsules i used briefly, and im keeping a close eye on for new fun widgets.

Competition is good.

Im not about to pay 20 bucks just so i can have a calendar, weather, or a to-do list on my desktop. All the other competing and free programs out there have plenty of choices in those categories of widgets.

[Corvida]

I'm with chi chi. Konfab has a smooth interface and what not but I don't see myself getting rid of avedesk nor samurize (due to crni's legendary cd covers). Plus, it really is a mem hog.

[gnomexp]

Hmmm... if we started serious development on Konfabulator instead of complaining about a lack of widgets, we might get somewhere. Kudos to the first person to post their own widget (especially one where you can change fonts in the preferences screen).

[Chi Chi Rodriguez]

Why waste time on konfabulator widgets when other FREE programs can do the same stuff, do more stuff, have community interaction, and hog fewer resources?

[gnomexp]

It takes up RAM, but nothing else. Anyone with 512MB can handle the drain without a hitch. The beauty is its lack of CPU usage. In otherwords, I can run iTunes, Firefox, MSOffice, Halo, and Konfabulator without jamming my system (although my RAM would be down to about 100MB remaining). The point is that you can still run many other programs with Konfabulator without a hitch, as long as you either run few widgets or have 512+ RAM.

--I have a 2.66GHz VAIO with 512 RAM

[duyvan82]

I agree with GnomeXP, konfab runs very smoothly on my laptop even though it's just a P!!! M 1Ghz with 256 MBRAM. However I'm also with Chi Chi, we could have those widget with Avedesk, Samurize or Kapsules, I don't see why we should spend $25 for that, we have already weather, FTP drop, iTunes controller with Avedesk, uptime with Samurize, what else do we need apart from World Clock Pro? This is the only konfab widget I'm running right now, so spending 25 bucks for a clock would be ridiculous don't you think? Hope that Ave could release an avedesk version for World Clock pro hehe :P

[ew2x4]

I had problems with sysstats. Widgets wouldn't update. They'd get messed up, missing or corrupt files. With Konfab, there's just one file, double click, voila. It's just easier.

[Shumai]

I think with Konfab coming to windows(finally) it will obviously attract more developers who know a thing or two about xml and javascript and lead to much more widgets. And the memeory usage problem is something that will also be dealt with in the future, we are using the first release for windows so obviously everything isnt going to be 100% optimized and system friendly. And also, Konfab does look better than other widget-like programs, but such beauty isnt limited to Konfabulator. All the other programs can pump out just as much visually delicious widgets, its just that the developers of them need to put more heart and time into them. I am definitly interested in the future of widgets, with the release of dashboard coming up, there's gonna be alot of competition, and alot of ports.

[MDZ61384]

All the other programs can pump out just as much visually delicious widgets, its just that the developers of them need to put more heart and time into them.

While I'm sure you didn't mean it, something about your quote definately struck a nerve with me. A computer programmer myself (though not nearly as proficent as these guys!), it takes a LONG time to make a successful, memory-optimized widget program. Programs all have their early stages, and improve from there. It is not that the designers need to put more heart and time into them, but they need to do their programs in a series of steps, first to get basic functionality and then polish. Konfabulator had the advantage of having basic functionality in the form of its macintosh widgets, it was their development teams job to port their program to Windows. Other widget program makers like Ave, Judge and Herd have started completely from scratch. With no library to base off of except from the things people make, its not easy to do! (especially when compared to other commercial programs like DesktopX and Konfabulator, whose development teams may be more full-time based). Programs don't start off beautiful and functional...in programming (or so I've generally thought anyway) there is usually a tossup between performance and looks/ease of use...achieving a balance of both is a very very hard thing to do; IMO what every programmer sets as a goal.

It just saddens me, REALLY saddens me when I see people criticizing Ave and Judge and their programs. No program is perfect, but come on! A few months ago when AveDesk 1.1 was released, everyone s**t bricks! All of a sudden, it doesn't seem to be good enough anymore. Same thing goes with sysstats. No program is easy or perfect right off the bat, but I can't wait to see what the future holds for those programs. We at Aqua-Soft, more then any forum community I've ever been on, have an undeniable desire to make progress occur if we set our sights high enough.

Please don't take me the wrong way, and it is just my opinion, but I would gladly support a project from the members of our Aqua-Soft community any day that are free then something else. It is only by helping them that their programs get better and we as a community grow and strengthen.

[juno]

...they are so much easier to deal with than Avedesk, for example.

I beg to differ! Is it easier to right click on a systats widget and change the font used or go to My Documents folder, my widgets folder, find the widget I want, open it with WinRAR, take out the *.kon file, start up Font Book because I cant remember the name of the font, change the font, save it, put it back in the archive and restart the widget? It may be easy for people happy with the default font on Widescape Weather (which looks nothing like it should) but it isnt easy for people who actually like to do things to widgets other than look at them.

EDIT

I had never seen a *.kon file before. Without posting a single question on the board I figured out it was an archive, I opened it, found the kon file and started searching for the font line. Many kids on the Kon boards complain about widgets not working. Maybe they should try fixing them first! It's not too hard...

[duyvan82]

good point MDZ61384, me too I feel frustated with those complains... if only world clock pro got ported to avedesk I would kick Konfab away

[bzeitler]

People.... Why does everything have to be a competition? I see no reason to compare the widget programs to each other AT ALL. Just use them all for what you like them for. THey all serve there purpose. There is no need to say that one is "better" than another becuase in fact it is merely a matter of personal opinion. There is no need to trash other programs becuase you find one is superior. They are all good and they all have there strong points.

All of these threads inevitiebly lead to flaming and hurt feelings. If you like something than good, get to work and make widgets for it if it is so easy. If you dont like it.. keep your opinions to yourself and use the program of your choice.

[ew2x4]

I think if it's civil, it will only lead to improvement. These are the types of conversations that might inspire someone to acctually start making what everyone wants. They might help improve something drastically. So, I feel if it's done in a civil manner, much like this, it will do more good than harm.

Just my two cents though.

[Tandis]

I totally agree. I've been a registered user of Konfabulator for over a year back when it was Mac-only. A lot of people where I work have Macs and PCs and most of us have Konfabulator on our Macs. And like you said, $20 isn't that big of a deal when you're buying a quality program.

But.. i don't think its widgets are really noticeably better (if at all) than the DesktopX widgets or Avedesk widgets and so on other than the ones they include.

Compare this:

[Konfabulator Widgets]

with

[DesktopX widgets]

I definitely think Konfabulator is worth $20. But I think many people wrongly say "oh, Konfabulator widgets are so much better..." simply because the default dozen or so widgets that come with it are fantastic. But beyond those, the quality is pretty much the same as Avedesk, DesktopX, Samurize, etc. Except that Konfabulator widgets tend to have less variety.

Look closely through both libraries and see for yourself. I've been using Konfabulator for a year and a half. And it's top notch. But there's nothing superior about it compared to Avedesk, Kapsules, DesktopX, or Samurize. It just happens to include a really slick set of defaults. Something the other programs could learn from.

[Shumai]

@MDZ61384 haha i think my point must have come out totally wrong. I totally agree with the views you have stated. I am definitly NOT trying to critisize Ave or Judge AT ALL. Their programs are most impressive and i am constantly using them with no gripes or complaints at all. I am not critisizing the developers of the "widgets" or what not for the programs either. I know they all have reason's for the quality of the products they produce. And i respect that and download and support all that i can. What i meant when i said "All the other programs can pump out just as much visually delicious widgets, its just that the developers of them need to put more heart and time into them." is that Arlo's image resources are superior only because , he was apparently the first to come up with his current style, so when others "build" widgets based off of his, they are not going be be 1:1 (obviously), he has great gloss and shadow placement (my opinion), his resources(pngs) are saved at a higher resolution(quality, dpi, whatever), and he uses a mac to make them . but i dont think that such quality is limited to Konfabulator. And i know that Avedesk and others can have the same quality, but because of certain reason's (copyright infringement, inaccurate placement, keeping an eye on sys resources, etc) the widgets just dont look as good (again just an opinon based on taste) as Konfabulator. I hope i dont sound like i am complaining, because that is not what i am doing. I use and love sysstats and avedesk because of the ease of use and options. i use konfabulator because i think its currently the eyecandy king. i took the resources from mini itunes remote widget (from konfab) and made myself an avetunes skin from them and it looks no different in quality from when i used it on konfabulator. besides the difference of options, i am just trying to prove that konfab only looks so good because the png resources are so good. but any widget like program can "look" as good, it just depends on the quality of the resources. i hope this clears things up :slant:

[gnomexp]

Sigh... I believe that this conversation needs closing. It has done nothing but go downhill from the start. This is not a thread to state why something is better than another thing, or whether it is worth paying for when something else will do the trick. bzeitler has the correct idea down to the dot.

/thread reported.