# Why do you place every single app in your dock?



## qwikstreet (May 8, 2003)

It drives me nuts sometimes when I see someone's desktop and their dock takes the whole length of the screen. All this so they can have every app and folder right there in front of you.

I, mean, I like the quick simplicity of starting or accessing something, but try using a multi dock like DockFun to clean up the look.

I don't know if that is the minimalist in me coming out.


----------



## Randman (May 8, 2003)

Why are you so worried about other people's docks? Maybe your minimalist bothers others?

  Personally, it took a little time adjusting to it when I came over from Classic, but once I got it working for me.
 Personally, I leave the big 'uns in the dock (Safari, iTunes, iPhoto, DVD player, iSync, iBert, mail etc) and a few folders (such as my applications, my documents, a "temporary holding spot", my .mac drive, a folder for games, a folder for imaging/players such as photoshop, quicktime, vcdx, etc, a work folder for apps such as in design, quark, illustrator, etc.
  All of that may sound like a lot, but it's not. And I use rocket launcher for menu bar access to other apps I use, but not all of the time (voice box, yum, space, spring cleaning, secure delete, palm desktop/ical, fuzzy clock, etc).

  But to each his own. Vive le difference.


----------



## qwikstreet (May 8, 2003)

They can do what they want but I seen this one desktop pic that had 89 icons on it. 

Sad that I sat there and counted them.  Oh well, my employer paid me for that time wasted.


----------



## toast (May 8, 2003)

I have 17 apps and 3 folders in Dock, excl. Finder. Those the apps I use on a daily basis. I also need to drag and drop on them very often.


----------



## qwikstreet (May 8, 2003)

I use DockFun and have a Dock for Daily,Internet, Design, Games, Utilities, and Entertainment.


----------



## symphonix (May 8, 2003)

I have only 19 apps in my dock, and they are sorted by category. One of the great things about the dock is that it is very easy and very personal.


----------



## Cat (May 8, 2003)

I've got only the apps I use daily in my doc: Finder, iCal, Eudora, Safari, Camino, TeXShop, Start OpenOffice, OmniGraffle, iTunes, System Preferences, Terminal, X11, FinkCommander and then links & folders for the Desktop, Applications and the Trash. Doc's set to be quite small. 
My desktop however tends to get quite cluttered with downloads & folder & icons. I have to tidy up a lot ...


----------



## Randman (May 8, 2003)

> my employer paid me for that time wasted


 Is your employer hiring??

 No I once had a dock headache. I was trashing a bunch of files, but the trash can did one of those little dodge moves and I ended up dropping like 30+ files into the dock.


----------



## qwikstreet (May 8, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Randman _
> *Is your employer hiring??
> 
> *



I work third shift for an ISP/COLO/Hosting company. So, I am lucky to get 5-10 calls in a 10 hr shift. Leaves me alot of time to waste away and go crazy by myself.


----------



## Decado (May 8, 2003)

I have the ones that i a) normally have on (that way i can arrange them in my favorite order) b) applications i likes to have handy when i want to impress a friend with macosX  and C) applications (only one actually) that i like to drag documents to.
All in all 11 applications and two folders (one for aliases to  applications and one for aliases to games).


----------



## profx (May 8, 2003)

have to admit i have quite a few in mine (27) but the dock is set to teh smallest and it takes up a little less that half the bottom of my screen. I find it convienent, and i also drag files on to apps that wouldnt normally open those files. Pictures for example preview or photoshop?

I dont find it in the least bit intrusive having a whole heap of icons.  It just saves hunting around the apps/utilities/dev apps folders to geat at what you want!


----------



## phatcactus (May 8, 2003)

I have only one item that is always in my dock:  the Finder.  Not that I'd notice, since it's hidden and all.

Application launching is done through MaxMenus, and switching is handled by LiteSwitch.

There's an alias of my trash can on my desktop.  In the lower-right hand corner.  Where it should be.


----------



## Giaguara (May 8, 2003)

the stuff i normally have.. hmm... finder - notes - mail - terminal - camino - itunes - prefs - project builder - bbedit - address book ... all other are temporary. uh, i just notice i've got now 2 itunes on my dock. maybe i remove the 3 of there for now  

right of addressbook, everything's just temporary or open. and i think my dock neads some cleaning..


----------



## Izzy (May 8, 2003)

I was moving away from putting anything in the dock but minimized windows...but now that I have high speed access it's nice to have safari, mail, and stickies (for the occasional note) in my dock.

Most of my apps are still in TigerLaunch and folders are in A-dock


----------



## senne (May 8, 2003)

i only have 4 apps in my dock, the ones that i ALWAYS use (Mail, iTunes, Safari, MSN Messenger). The rest of the application i start up with Launchbar. Search for it! Best app evvveeeer!


----------



## cabbage (May 8, 2003)

I have 11 docks in DockFun!....too lazy to count how many apps


----------



## Randman (May 8, 2003)

Still, the dock is better than having a gazillion aliases spread across your desktop.


----------



## shatfield1529 (May 8, 2003)

> _Originally posted by senne _
> *i only have 4 apps in my dock, the ones that i ALWAYS use (Mail, iTunes, Safari, MSN Messenger). The rest of the application i start up with Launchbar. Search for it! Best app evvveeeer!  *



I couldn't agree more. Whenever I use other people's computers, I always hit command-space when I want to load an app, and always get frustrated when I realize that I actually have to *look* for what I need. You can't go wrong with LaunchBar.


----------



## Rhino_G3 (May 8, 2003)

> _Originally posted by qwikstreet _
> *I work third shift for an ISP/COLO/Hosting company. So, I am lucky to get 5-10 calls in a 10 hr shift. Leaves me alot of time to waste away and go crazy by myself. *



Must be nice. I work for Alltel doing DSL tech support. (Actualy it's where I'm at now  )  

The longest I've been without a call today is about 5 minutes.  But I guess we have our off days too.  It's starting to slow down now that spring time is around.  Winter isn't a fun time to be here 

as far as my dock,  the apps I have in it change periodicaly.  It all depends on what I'm working on at the time. There are normaly about 10 apps that I use frequently that are in my dock.   There are a few that get traded out depending on what I'm doing.  Photoshop, indesign, imageready, flash, dreamweaver,...


----------



## genghiscohen (May 12, 2003)

I have 34 "permanent" items in my Dock (including the Finder & Trash).  Anything else gets launched via LaunchBar.  I use Dockless to keep stuff like Spell Catcher from adding to the clutter.


----------



## kermit64 (May 12, 2003)

my dock is bigger than yours


----------



## cabbage (May 12, 2003)

My Dockz


----------



## Arden (May 12, 2003)

qwikstreet:  So does it bug you when you go over to someone's house and they have 89 books lined up on one bookshelf?  Would you rather they sorted those books onto 11 different shelves by genre, author, or subject?

What I'm saying is it's all personal preference.  Frankly I'd rather have everything together in the Dock (not that I have much in my Dock) because I wouldn't have to hunt through 11 different Docks to find whatever I'm looking for.

Could you post this screenshot of 89 Dock items by any chance?


----------



## Androo (May 12, 2003)

Actually, i put my most used apps in the dock...system prefs and ichat arent there cuz they have their own locations.....
Finder, Safari, iTunes, Photoshop, MSN, Dreamweaver. Then: Applications, Trash.
that's all.
I think that too many make it look ugly... then u gotta keep it small. It's just called laziness.... i click on apps folder then press whatever letter it starts with and open. Why DO you put every app inside?


----------



## JML (May 16, 2003)

I'm a minimalist too. Only my most used apps are in the dock. For quick launch, and to drag multiple files onto the icon to open. I use Fruit Menu to stash all my other stuff. One Classic feature I just can't live without. Well, that and Window Shade. Not a big Genie fan, but that's another topic. If anyone misses the Apple Menu, and loads up the dock instead, get Fruit Menu. I've used them since OS X first came out. Highly reccomend.

I actually learned about them both here, but here's the link for anyone who didn't know, and is interested.

unsanity.com/products


----------



## fryke (May 16, 2003)

Just wanted to add the same. LaunchBar rocks for this stuff. Got 6 permanent icons in the Dock...


----------



## dlloyd (May 16, 2003)

Uhhg, cabbage: no offence or anything, but that looks nasty *pukes* 
Who needs LaunchBar or FruitMenu or whatever? I just have a link to my Applications folder in my Dock, it works really well! 

My permanent icons (from left to right): Finder, Mail, iChat, Safari, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, iTunes, System Prefs, Terminal, TextEdit -- Applications Folder, Home Folder.
Finder: I can't remove (wouldn't want to )
Mail: I don't use it too much, but I like it there 
iChat: is on ALL the time, I like to have it there for when I want all my chat windows at the front.
Safari: is also on all the time
Fireworks and Dreamweaver: why I got this computer.  (can't wait for MX 2! I am 'borrowing' MX right now)
iTunes: this one just got in a few days ago, but I usually have it open now, even if not running
System Prefs: I make changes every once and a while, and I hate digging through folders that much 
Terminal: same thing
TextEdit: I do some PHP in here if I don't want to open Dreamweaver, also good for opening system files and things.

I used to have Address Book and AOL in here, but I don't use them that much, so they were just cluttering it up.


----------



## JML (May 16, 2003)

> _Originally posted by dlloyd _
> Who needs LaunchBar or FruitMenu or whatever?



To each their ownObviously. Top left is just habbit for me. Also, I'm not a fan of click and hold or CNTRL Clicking. And it's one less thing out of my dock. And it's very customizable. Whatever the case, I like it.


----------



## senne (May 19, 2003)

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/2409

I suggest everybody to try it at least.


----------



## Izzy (May 23, 2003)

> _Originally posted by dlloyd _
> *Uhhg, cabbage: no offence or anything, but that looks nasty *pukes*
> Who needs LaunchBar or FruitMenu or whatever? I just have a link to my Applications folder in my Dock, it works really well! *



I have a pismo 400 MHz and I've tried putting the apps folder in the dock...it's waaaay too slow.  Drives me nuts.

FruitMenu works great, especially since I now have contextual menus on a click and hold (ala FinderPop back in the day...).

Highly recommended.


----------



## kanecorp (May 23, 2003)

i have 14 items in my dock including the trash and finder
i like it uncluttered


----------



## TommyWillB (May 30, 2003)

> _Originally posted by qwikstreet _
> *They can do what they want but I seen this one desktop pic that had 89 icons on it.
> 
> Sad that I sat there and counted them.  Oh well, my employer paid me for that time wasted.  *


Don't forget it also shows all of the applications you have open.

I don't ever shut my computer down and I rarely quit programs. (With OS X's virtual memory there is not really an reason to.) 1/3 of my Dock is probably these things that are open...

From a technical standpoint it just seems silly to quit an aplication simply to "unclutter" the Dock.... but I'm not really sure how Apple can do this any differently with brining back the OS 9 style Applications menu...


----------



## bigbadbill (Jun 19, 2003)

I use Key Xing to launch my most used apps. I added the applications folder to my Apple Menu using Fruit Menu, which lets me easily navigate to any app I have. This way my dock gives me a clear picture of exactly what I've got running (those litttle triangles under the running apps in the dock are so hard to see). I find this a much more efficient way to switch between apps.


----------



## TommyWillB (Jun 19, 2003)

Ooooohhhh.... Spinnining....







Okay... sorry for the tangent. This is the first time I've seen bigbadbill's avatar and I got sucked in for a moment.


----------



## xyle_one (Jun 19, 2003)

my dock tends to get cluttered. but i do try to keep it simple. a few apps i use regularly, some folders. after time though it just sorta fills up. like right now. i have like 20 things in there. too much. time to clean house i think


----------



## qwikstreet (Jun 20, 2003)

Can't beleive this post is still going on. I feel like a hypocrate for starting it. Ever since I got broadband I've been a downloading machine. I got all these utilites so I now hav 7 icons up next to my clock, 5 different docks, each having different apps and folders on it. A little organized, but still over the top.


----------



## hulkaros (Jun 20, 2003)

> _Originally posted by qwikstreet _
> *Can't beleive this post is still going on. I feel like a hypocrate for starting it. Ever since I got broadband I've been a downloading machine. I got all these utilites so I now hav 7 icons up next to my clock, 5 different docks, each having different apps and folders on it. A little organized, but still over the top. *



Damn those broadband connections...


----------



## qwikstreet (Jun 20, 2003)

CandyBar is another great app i downloaded from Icon Factory.


----------



## Randman (Jun 20, 2003)

Rocket Launcher is a good alternative and uses some space in the menu bar. I have a handful of things up there that I use on occasion, but not regularly enough to put in the dock.


----------

