“So, during the beta stages of Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) there were some key features that Apple decided to add to the new OS, and advertise publicly on their website in order to create buzz and get people excited about the new OS,” Kuragari.com reports.
“One of these features was what Apple calls ‘Stacks’ in the new 3D glassy looking Dock area. Some people love the new dock, and the way the stacks work on the dock, some don’t. This article has nothing to do with either side,” Kuragari.com reports.
“Instead I’m going to show everyone the way it was ‘supposed’ to be. This is not a hack, this Dock was taken from one of the Leopard beta installations that was seeded to developers and beta testers before the official release. Up until the final release of Leopard, this part of the feature was not only present in the beta versions, but was also included in the description of the new Dock features on Apple’s website,” Kuragari.com reports.
“In fact, this capability still seems to be present in the current/final release code, at least it still has all the descriptions and settings intact. How to enable the feature? I’m not sure, maybe someone can figure that part out for us. All I know is that the feature is really cool, and useful and I can’t for the life of me figure out why it was ever removed or disabled,” Kuragari.com reports.
Kuragari.com also reports that “there was also a major change in the way the folders on the right side of the dock behave, I’ll post a video of that later.”
Watch the video of the full-featured Leopard Dock in action in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “davecc” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, something caused Apple to dumb down the Dock at the last minute which, on the bright side, gives us hope that useful functionality will be restored by Apple ASAP.
Mac OS X Leopard’s Stacks’ default curving fan is ugly and virtually useless. The optional grid view is better looking, but just as pointless. Of course, users of former versions of Mac OS X who are now on Leopard know that what we’re really bemoaning is the loss of hierarchical folders in the Dock. What a stupid backwards step Apple made here! Where users could simply drag their drives to the right side of the Dock and “Boom!” in previous Mac OS X versions, now they just get an ugly dead end. “Stacks. An ugly dead end.” Some slogan. So, Apple, what was the goal, to make the Dock much less useful? To force users to go through the new Finder to see the snazzy new Cover Flow view? Seriously, what’s the point? Here’s hoping Apple fixes this (a third-party fix would be nice, but Apple should restore the lost functionality themselves) in a future Leopard update as soon as possible. – MacDailyNews Take, November 30, 2007
It is not scalable beyond a handful of items. Translation: eye candy.
Holy poop. That’s what I want! The Applications stack is pretty much useless, or at least crippled, if you have more apps so that all of them don’t fit there – you’re forced to open Finder to get to your apps.
Enable this feature ASAP, Apple!!!
Don’t be stupid. The dock is curved so that people don’t confound with folders and icons on the desktop.
You can basically do the same thing without this code.
First you create a folder where ever you want out of the way.
Make aliases of things/apps you want in the folder.
Move aliases into the folder.
Place folder in the dock.
Effect achieved. Not quite as fast and elegant as the demo in that movie, but reaches the same goal.
I’ve been using stacks and aliases of apps as my app launcher for quite a while now. Works well.
I don’t get it…can’t see any video on his page. Help?
Back many years ago I Alpha tested then Beta tested some software called Click-Change that was amazing.
You could change and customize the look of your windows, buttons, menu bars and so on.
You could even create your own set of custom windows, buttons and such and post them on line too.
We need something like Click-Change for 10.5 with the additional feature of customizing the dock and so on.
I’m sure it would sell very well and I’d pay $39.95 or so if it was worth it.
What a bunch a babies! Okay, Stacks is not what it should or could be. But what’s with the “Leoptard” and “misfortune of running Leopard” crap, and cursing at Apple. Leopard is very nice upgrade with a ton of excellent features… and it’s faster than Tiger. Whatever reason Apple engineers hobbled Stacks, I suspect it was a good one that is currently being resolved. Just because you’re on an anonymous chat board doesn’t mean you have to embarrass yourselves with immature whining and general ingratitude. Grow up.
Cubert. It curves to the right because 89% of people are right-handed (sorry lefties).
All humans are born right handed, only the gifted overcome it.
11% of humans are left handed. 20% of artists are left handed.
If I can’t drill down through the file system then the dock gets a big fat FAIL. The stack fan is cheesy, useless, and gimmicky. And it’s just plain revolting to look at. Almost the firs thing I do with a new OSX install is to put copies of all my local volumes and my most used network volumes into the dock. I can get anywhere with a right click.
But no more.
FAIL, Apple. FAIL FAIL FAIL.
My opinion. Leopard is way better than Tiger, even at this stage. The speed and stability FAR outweigh and minor bitches like this.
And, pete,
The iPod was developed internally at Apple. They did subcontract things out, but they do that all the time. They did not “buy” the iPod from another company like you imply.
This happens after every upgrade. It’s never the case that everyone likes every change, and the haters whine about it incessantly until they finally get used to it or give up. Then, when the next OS update is finally ready, they whine incessantly about the changes they don’t like in that one, and suddenly hold up the previous OS as the gold standard. It’s the same with Windows. Of course, it undoubtedly has something to do with all the fine-tuning point releases between now and then, and the fact that people have trouble remembering that there’s usually flaws in every brand new release of Mac OS.
I distinctly remember that when Tiger came out, there was tons of people saying “Wtf, it’s more buggy and less stable than 10.3, this OS sucks, Apple screwed us all, Tiger sucks”, but by the time 10.5 comes out everyone loves Tiger and decries the changes in Leopard. Pretty much any of the new features or changes in Leopard, you can find someone who loves it, someone who hates it.
Personally I’m indifferent to most of the changes people are whining about (ooh, a the menu bar is transparent, who friggin cares, seriously), and I find a lot of the changes really useful, but some people just like to complain every time everything isn’t exactly perfect.
MDN MW: “Side”, as in “Some people just can’t ever see both sides of an issue.”
P.S. I like the new Stacks features, including the “fan” setting… it’s a quick way to get to my latest downloads, and if I need something more, I *gasp* flip to the finder, which takes all of a second with command-tab, and *gasp* gives you access to hierarchical folder view! Or just use spotlight…
@Spark,
Whoa, whoa, whoa now… I was just stating that there have been some complaints about Leopard, so, depending on how you talk to about it, you’ll get either that using it is awesome or loathsome. I def wasn’t ‘whining’ about it as I haven’t used it yet, but am sure it will be a privilege, imo, to do so. (I tend to be somewhat of a fanboy. I mean, look at my screen name 4col, lol). I mean, I was praising the Stacks feature where many have been ‘whining’ about it. Anyway, just wanted to set the record straight that I’m def not whining about any of this… as I have really no place to since I haven’t used Leopard yet. Plus, I don’t tend to ‘whine’ about stuff like this, for the most part.
But, you know, if I were complaining about Leopard, I have every right to… just as you have every right to defend it (just maybe not so derogatorily, tho). 😀
ron,
Correct you are. And, all of us are female initially and only the best escape to turn male.
(ducks)
If you are having trouble viewing the video (as opposed to just opening the page!) go into your “System Prefs > Quicktime” and activate “Enable Flash”.
Worked for me.
The version of stacks it shows does certainly look better, but then I am resisting Leopard till I get Quark XPress and Creative Suite stable and a copy of Helvetica Neue LT etc.
I’m still using Tiger.
You know what? It still feels pretty snappy!
Late to the party, but I’ll again add my voice to those describing Stacks as fugly, cheesy and useless.
Give us the ability to turn it off Apple, and restore the hierarchical menu feature.
And while you’re about it, please give us the ability to turn off transparency in the menu bar. My third party fix is cumbersome.
Please fix the video or give a mirror site please.
you need to have the latest Flash player for the video to show up in Safari. It shows up fine in Firefox with the old player.
The video is fine. Have you enabled Flash?
The user interface is fine. OK, the one in the video is “better”.
I was using “Stacks” in Tiger – still am, on my wife’s Al iMac. It just isn’t “built in”.
I’ve spent ~$400 this year to update my system and will spend a bit more – maybe – when Bento goes on sale. It’s like having a new computer! OK, I could have passed on the iLife Family pack. Maybe. This has been a good year for Apple, even if Leopard’s launch was a bit … buggy? … not as clean as those for 10.2, .3 and .4 were.
Dave
Apple just needs to provide a third view option for Stacks called “List.” Have it act like the way folders did in Tiger’s Dock, including the hierarchical navigation. Also, it would be nice if there was a checkbox option to make the “stack” icon look like the parent folder instead of a stack of icons.
Instead of just complaining about it here, I suggest you send Apple feedback about it. Here…
http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html
> It curves to the right because 89% of people are right-handed (sorry lefties).
Cubert, that point is somewhat irrelevant. Many right-handed users use the mouse with the left hand. Pointing and clicking is pretty easy with either hand. For righties, using the left-hand for the mouse leaves the right-hand free (simultaneously) for things the require more dexterity, such as writing on paper, using the numeric keypad, or using a Wacom tablet. Try it.
Also, Apple has traditionally designed “symmetrical” products. That’s why the trackpad on Apple laptops are always centered instead of off to the left. The 17-inch MacBook does not have a numeric keypad on the right, even though there is room. Apple’s mice are not strangely shaped like many “ergonomic” mice. So having the “fan” curve to the right without an option to make it go left is against Apple philosophy; it just seems wrong.
That is almost identical to the setup that I have on Leopard already, though I did it manually…
Here’s how I did it:
1: I simply created a folder which I called “Stacks”, and created more folders within called whatever made sense as a stack group (such as productivity, creative, etc., but the names are not important.
2: I then made aliases of the apps I wanted in wach stack, and moved the aliases to the appropriate stack group folder.
3: Added the stack group folders to my Dock.
That’s all there is to it. It works great.
Only a couple differences exist:
1: The stacks are on the RIGHT side of the dock (big deal!)
2: You have to do this manually as I did, but it’s not something you’re likely to change daily, so who cares?
3: The sort order of the apps in the stack is per the sort order of the folder, but there is a kludge to sort them any way you want.. Just add one or more leading spaces to the beginning of an app name and sort the group alphabetically.
However, if Apple or a third party added this feature, that would be nice, though I doubt I would pay for it considering the relative ease of doing it for free. YMMV
Try this!
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071027195419540
My hope is that Apple peruses these long comment lists and changes the way Stacks currently operate. Leaving out a core feature by not including an option to view stacks as a hierarchical menu is a complete gaff on their part. Leopard won’t find its way onto my machines until changes are made.
I’m afraid I have to agree. I’ve replaced the idiot mouse with a Kensington scroll mouse, and a fast/simple right click displays a folders contents, . . . in Tiger. Stacks is just gaudy confusing clutter. I’ve spent a lot of money on Apple equipment is the last few years. I find this pretty much a deal breaker towards an OS upgrade.
Stacks is a good idea, but it needs some TLC to get it to where it should be. Right now I find it more distracting/irritating than useful, mainly because:
1) It’s incredibly difficult to tell which stacks icons are what (without scrubbing over them), due to the sloppy pasting of icons on top of each other. Stacks need to show the original folder’s icon, and then maybe lying next to that, the icons of their contents with some perspective applied as though they are actually lying flat in a stack.
2) With any large number of items, you don’t know what will be visible. I have a Stack of the Applications folder, but before clicking on it, I always find myself thinking… “Let’s see, the app I need starts with the letter P, so it might not show up in the stack.” Why not use the same magnification technology the Dock has, so that the icons in a stack always shrink to fit the available space? (Yeah, it might get crazy if you put a folder with 1,000 items in your Dock, but that’s your choice)
Stacks does just what my mom expects, it just works for her to find her latest downloads.