A couple of things:
One, the icon mask for dock icons doens't matter as far as I can tell. Try it--scroll down to the very bottom of the screen and click below a dock icon--it'll activate even though you're not "on" the icon. So, basically, the dock acts like it has seperated buttons extending to the bottom of the screen, even though you can't see them. And, as explained so clearly by Matrix Agent in relation to the menu bar and the problem with the stupid MS task bar design, this is a very good thing.
Two, applications actually can use icons instead of menu text (although I'd personally hate that in most cases--I'd rather have a clear word describing what I'm doing rather than icons with all sorts of opportunity for ugly or unclear design). Check out BBEdit for example--they're small, but there are a couple of icons. KidPix way back when also had entirely icon-based menus, for kids who couldn't read yet.
And one more thing: I'm a diehard "Trash" fan, but ironically "recycler" is a more accurate (if somewhat lamely environmental) metaphor. After all, when you delete a file, you're allowing some other file to re-use that piece of disk. You have, therefore, "recycled" the media on which the deleted file was stored.
Personally, I kind of prefer a small, floating, tear-off 9 app menu in the lower left corner, but now that my dock is pinned down there, I'm starting to really like it--having apps I use alot available for drag-opening whether I've launched them or not is convienent.
One, the icon mask for dock icons doens't matter as far as I can tell. Try it--scroll down to the very bottom of the screen and click below a dock icon--it'll activate even though you're not "on" the icon. So, basically, the dock acts like it has seperated buttons extending to the bottom of the screen, even though you can't see them. And, as explained so clearly by Matrix Agent in relation to the menu bar and the problem with the stupid MS task bar design, this is a very good thing.
Two, applications actually can use icons instead of menu text (although I'd personally hate that in most cases--I'd rather have a clear word describing what I'm doing rather than icons with all sorts of opportunity for ugly or unclear design). Check out BBEdit for example--they're small, but there are a couple of icons. KidPix way back when also had entirely icon-based menus, for kids who couldn't read yet.
And one more thing: I'm a diehard "Trash" fan, but ironically "recycler" is a more accurate (if somewhat lamely environmental) metaphor. After all, when you delete a file, you're allowing some other file to re-use that piece of disk. You have, therefore, "recycled" the media on which the deleted file was stored.
Personally, I kind of prefer a small, floating, tear-off 9 app menu in the lower left corner, but now that my dock is pinned down there, I'm starting to really like it--having apps I use alot available for drag-opening whether I've launched them or not is convienent.