# How Do YOU Treat Your Dock?



## Amie (Apr 25, 2006)

Share your Dock idiosyncrasies, modifier app extensions, position, etc. Here's mine:

I love ClearDock and use it all the time, constantly matching and modifying the app triangle with whatever theme I'm using to suit my mood. I also use it to remove the opaque background of the Dock and give it that 3D floating appearance (very cool!). I keep my Dock in the bottom position and "hidden" until I mouse over it, then it pops up; when I take my pointer away, the Dock disappears again. I like this feature because it maximizes screen space. I keep all my frequently used apps in my Dock, and I have it centered on the bottom with icons fairly large (Dock expanded), and I use the genie effect. 

That's my Dock. How 'bout yours?


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## ora (Apr 25, 2006)

on a 12" pb:
left side, set to hide, starts very small with magnification to a medium size. (i keep it on the left as at the bottom it interferes with application windows which use status bars at the bottom, like word or safari).

I also activate the setting to make hidden apps semi transparent, so i know what is hidden and what just has no open windows.


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## fryke (Apr 25, 2006)

Dock is
bottom
left
~36 px
set to hide, of course.

I'm using three "separators" (invisible icons with spaces as their names so they create some width between icons) to create four icon groups:

- Finder
- Dashboard
- Safari
- Mail.app
- Fetch
- Terminal
- NetNewsWire
- iChat
- TVbrowser

- BBEdit
- Pages
- TextEdit
- Bluetooth Transfer

- VLC
- Quicktime Player
- iTunes

- InDesign
- Illustrator
- Photoshop
- Golive
- Acrobat
- Distiller

... and then the apps launched but not fixed in the Dock.


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## sirstaunch (Apr 25, 2006)

Funny, in all my time I've had my dock down the bottom and always showing. last night I put it onto the right side, then today it's on my left. Guess I'm just playing at this time, then this post came up, so be interesting to see what the majority are doing, should of been a poll LOL


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## Rhisiart (Apr 25, 2006)

fryke said:
			
		

> I'm using three "separators" (invisible icons with spaces as their names so they create some width between icons) to create four icon groups.


How do you create these invisible icons?


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## Giaguara (Apr 25, 2006)

The G5 .. 21" display has dock on left, not hiding (somehting I do only when space on screen is not an issue), with a bunch of apps. Normally I have far less apps on it. ([work] = applications used for work, not specified names)
So that has
finder - terminal - adium - [work] - mail - safari - [work] - [work] - address book - ical - [work] - stickies - dictionary - sys prefs - [work] - console - network utility - disk utility - final cut - photoshop - filemaker pro - devonagent - airport admin utility - ichat - [work] - neo office - shiira - camino - [work] - [work] - itunes - dashboard (which i never use from the dock) - [work] - flock -iphoto - preview - a folder with shortcuts to all of the apps - trash. And looks like time to clean the dock ...
eMac has less; down and hiding, far less than on the other mac - yet even there time to clean a bit. :-/


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## Lt Major Burns (Apr 25, 2006)

bottom, pretty standard. ~36px icons, a bit of mgnification (not much), and there the whole time.

it goes finder....internet-things....music/media/ilife etc....office....creative suite...studio mx2004.....utilities and other apps.


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## g/re/p (Apr 25, 2006)

I usually don't use the dock - i have it set to the top, which "permanently" hides it.

I use Quicksilver to launch my apps/progs/files - they launch quicker because no mouse is needed with this method, which is even more convenient on my Powerbook.

The rare times i need the dock, i use the
"option/control/D" key sequence to unhide it.


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## Mikuro (Apr 25, 2006)

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? See attachment. And now for the thousand words! 

I have my Dock on the right of my screen, anchored to the top. I use the "suck" effect, because it's a little faster than the genie effect and still looks cool. I have it set to make hidden application icons semi-transparent. Aside from that, it's all default behavior. It's always shown (I find its popup behavior very frustrating). It's small enough so that it hardly ever reaches the bottom of my screen (1280x1024), where I store clippings and random junk I've yet to sort.

As for what's in my dock, I keep it reasonably trim. I have:

 Finder
 Safari
 Firefox
 BBEdit
 iTunes
 QuickTime Player
 PicBrowser (err...well, this is an app I wrote myself and have not publically released, so don't go looking for it)
 An AppleScript applet I made to quickly make a backup of an Xcode project I'm currently working on (or one I drag from the Finder onto its icon), and store it in a well-organized "backups" folder. Makes my life sooo much easier.
 StuffIt Expander
 VLC
 Script Editor
 TextEdit
 Preview

I frequently use all of those for drag-n-drop, which makes the Dock ideal for them. The only exceptions are iTunes, which is almost always loaded anyway, and the browsers, which I access so often that it benefits me to have them in the same place all the time (which is why I hate having it aligned to the center of my screen)

And then in the Folders section, I have two items:
 My second disk partition. Even though it's right on my desktop, I find this convenient.
 My REALbasic projects folder. This is the one item I frequently use the Dock's contextual menu for.


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## powermac (Apr 25, 2006)

I am boring, my Dock on bottom of screen. No modifications. Used the auto hide feature of awhile, got so used to having the Dock there, I feel weird with out LOL.


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## fryke (Apr 25, 2006)

It was asked, so here are the "Blank Dock Separators" I'm using. (Max rocks.) -> http://www.maxthemes.com/guistuff/?guistuff=Blank Dock Separators ... I'm not sure how they were created, but who cares, they work.  (I guess they're some one-pixel transparent graphics or something... They have spaces as their file-names, and they're apps, kinda, or something like that, although not launchable. Strange stuff, really...)


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## simbalala (Apr 25, 2006)

fryke said:
			
		

> It was asked, so here are the "Blank Dock Separators" I'm using. (Max rocks.) -> http://www.maxthemes.com/guistuff/?guistuff=Blank Dock Separators ... I'm not sure how they were created, but who cares, they work.  (I guess they're some one-pixel transparent graphics or something... They have spaces as their file-names, and they're apps, kinda, or something like that, although not launchable. Strange stuff, really...)


Those aren't very special. You can accomplish the same thing by saving any file (a simple text file will do) and rename it as a space with a .app extension. Do a Get Info on it and drop a 1 x 32 (or 32 x 1 for vertical) pixel black (or any color) bar into its Icon area from Photoshop or another image editor and you have a real separator. Just drag it into the Dock.

Get fancy and you can have double lines, etc.


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## Lt Major Burns (Apr 26, 2006)

my minimised windows _still_ have this weird icon where by it makes an icon not of the whole scaled down window, but a scaled down version of the top left inch-square, so basically it's just the three aqua blobs.  examples attatched.  any reason why it does this? i reckon it's done it since about 10.4.2 or something.

also, does anyone else have trouble minimising quicktime? it always crashes in the dock when i minimise a quicktime movies, it goes down, but then i can';t get it back up again and i have to force quit.


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## powermac (Apr 26, 2006)

What about Tabbed Dock? One could have tabs, each tab could continue certain apps. You could categorize your icons, and the dock would still use the same amount of space.


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## Rhisiart (Apr 26, 2006)

fryke said:
			
		

> It was asked, so here are the "Blank Dock Separators" I'm using. (Max rocks.) -> http://www.maxthemes.com/guistuff/?guistuff=Blank Dock Separators


Thanks for this.



			
				simbalala said:
			
		

> Those aren't very special. You can accomplish the same thing by saving any file (a simple text file will do) and rename it as a space with a .app extension. Do a Get Info on it and drop a 1 x 32 (or 32 x 1 for vertical) pixel black (or any color) bar into its Icon area from Photoshop or another image editor and you have a real separator. Just drag it into the Dock.


I tried this. Firstly my system won't allow any application to be named "   .app". Secondly, I opened Get Info on a text file as you suggested and tried dropping a 1x32 pixel vertical black bar created in Photoshop onto the icon area. It wouldn't take. 

The world may be in chaos, but I just want to have real separators on my dock.


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## Amie (Apr 26, 2006)

Hey, thanks for posting that Max Themes dock seperator link. I'm now using it as well. Great organization tool!


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## fryke (Apr 26, 2006)

yep.  ...


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## simbalala (Apr 26, 2006)

rhisiart said:
			
		

> I tried this. Firstly my system won't allow any application to be named "   .app". Secondly, I opened Get Info on a text file as you suggested and tried dropping a 1x32 pixel vertical black bar created in Photoshop onto the icon area. It wouldn't take.


Works for me...

It's a text file with the text "spacer only" as content. I created it in TextEdit and saved it then changed the name, I can still open it in TextEdit. I do have "show extensions" set in my preferences.

Dropping a graphic into the icon area is the same as for any other file. Just make sure the icon is selected (blue outline) then paste into the area.

Photoshop -> copy, Get Info -> select icon -> paste

I keep the Dock really tiny, just big enough that I can distinguish the Icons clearly, about 1/4 inch high. If you're using a larger format you might want to make the bar larger, say 1 x 64 or 1 x 128.

You can also take one of those empty folders named " .app" and drop a bar into its icon area. I just did.


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## Amie (Apr 26, 2006)

fryke said:
			
		

> yep.  ...


Is that any way to reply to someone who teaches you something? lol


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## Amie (Apr 26, 2006)

Actually, folks, I found something even better for organizing your Dock--plus, it's highly customizable. 

http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/19733


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## Amie (Apr 27, 2006)

As an afterthought, just in case anyone's interested in what the Dock Separators from that link look like, here's a snapshot of my newly organized, spiffy Dock. There are about 14 different separators to choose from, fully customizable. Some are plain, solid colors, others are creative with flames, etc.--all sorts of fun stuff! Here, I'm using the solid Aqua separators:


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## fryke (Apr 27, 2006)

What do you mean. You taught me something?


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## Amie (Apr 27, 2006)

fryke said:
			
		

> What do you mean. You taught me something?


Huh? Wha? I don't remember. Never mind. Probably wasn't important.


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## Amie (Apr 27, 2006)

No one liked my spiffy new dock with the seperators? Well, pppfffttt.


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## powermac (Apr 28, 2006)

How do you get the dock to have a transparent look?


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## Rhisiart (Apr 28, 2006)

powermac said:
			
		

> How do you get the dock to have a transparent look?


Try *this* (but be aware it can change your system's permissions, so run Disc Utility to repair permissions after making any changes).


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## Amie (Apr 28, 2006)

powermac said:
			
		

> How do you get the dock to have a transparent look?


Nifty little haxie called ClearDock. In addition to "floating" the Dock, you can also change the color of the active app triangles. Perfectly safe and doesn't mess with system settings, permissions, etc. Have fun!

http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/8808


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## Rhisiart (Apr 28, 2006)

TransparentDock allows you to lock icons into the dock, which is why I tolerate the permissions problem. I just don't like haxies.


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## CaptainQuark (Apr 28, 2006)

I like to keep my Dock just so. Working is a bit like a "stream of consciousness for me when I get going. I don't think, I just do! I can start an application by clicking on its icon in the dock without even having to think about it or look what I'm doing  it's just a reflex action.

 Sad, innit?







Lots more apps available, but these are the ones i use on an everyday basis.


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## Amie (Apr 28, 2006)

ClearDock is a wonderful little haxie. And it doesn't mess with permissions like some apps. Been using it a long time.


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## Rhisiart (Apr 29, 2006)

I'm not sure about hiding the dock. I've tried it out for a week now and I find it slows my work rate. 

Anyone else find this too?


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## Lt Major Burns (Apr 29, 2006)

yup.  it's that silly pause.


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## powermac (Apr 29, 2006)

Thanxs. 
I don't normally fool with my system. I will try this.


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## Amie (Apr 29, 2006)

I always keep my Dock hidden. No use taking up screen space with a Dock just sitting there doing nothing. When you need it, touch your pointer down on it, and it jumps up and salutes you ready to go. And, no, I've never noticed any "pause," and it doesn't slow me down. If anything it speeds things up by maximizing my work space.


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## Rhisiart (Apr 30, 2006)

powermac said:
			
		

> Thanxs.
> I don't normally fool with my system. I will try this.


You are right to be careful. I recommended TransparentDock as it allows 10.3.9 users to lock the dock as well as make it clear (Tiger users can lock the dock using Parental Control - see *this* thread).

I reinstalled TransparentDock and it no longer changes permissions, so perhaps it is not as flakey as I earlier described.

My experience with Haxies, such as ClearDock, is that they screwed up my system each time I installed them. However, I may just have had bad luck or didn't install them corrrectly.

Haxies have their supporters and detractors, e.g. *this guy who hates them* and *this guy who loves them*.


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## Amie (Apr 30, 2006)

You probably just didn't install it right. Or maybe just a run of bad luck. ClearDock is perfectly safe and doesn't screw with your system. Which is one reason why I like it.


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## powermac (May 1, 2006)

I giving ClearDock a try. Knowing me, in the end I probably go back to default. 
I installed one haxie awhile ago, on one of the early OSX versions. This Haxie allowed the use of OS9 sounds. That really screwed my system up, at the time. Since then I have stayed away from them.


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## Amie (May 1, 2006)

powermac said:
			
		

> I giving ClearDock a try. Knowing me, in the end I probably go back to default.
> I installed one haxie awhile ago, on one of the early OSX versions. This Haxie allowed the use of OS9 sounds. That really screwed my system up, at the time. Since then I have stayed away from them.


I don't see why ClearDock would screw up your system. Tons of people, including myself, have been using it a long time with 100 percent safe results. Let me know how you like ClearDock. You can come back to this forum and thank me later. You'll love it.


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## powermac (May 2, 2006)

So far clear dock is cool. I wouldn't try it if no one on this board recommended it. I trust you all.


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## Mikuro (May 2, 2006)

The problem with things like ClearDock is that even if they work perfectly NOW, there's no guarantee that they will later. Every time you install a system update, you might run into incompatibilities. For that reason, it's safest to avoid hacks and add-ons whenever possible.

But hey, this is coming from someone who swears by PithHelmet. Sometimes, it's worth the risk.


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## Amie (May 2, 2006)

powermac said:
			
		

> So far clear dock is cool. I wouldn't try it if no one on this board recommended it. I trust you all.


Glad you like it.


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