“I’d be willing to bet that Dock is one of the many (and probably the first) thing a non-Mac user would find most fascinating on OS X. When I first got my Mac, I was obsessed with it. At that time, I was running Tiger and I found myself constantly resizing the Dock, setting the optimum amount of magnification and making sure that the applications I had on it deserved to be on the Dock,” Jackson Chung reports for MakeUseOf.com.
“Over time, things have changed. I couldn’t be bothered with how it looks, I took it for granted and purely used it to launch and switch between apps. Oh how the love has died,” Chung reports.
Chung reports, “But recently, I’ve found a couple of tools that seems to have rekindled my child-like infatuation which I once had for my Dock. And now, I’m back to customizing it all over again, tweaking it to look its best and function at its prime. Here’s what I used.”
• Dock Library
• Dock Dodger
• Dockables
• SuperDocker
Full article, in which Chung explains the apps, gives links, and also awards honorable mention to “Dock Spaces,” here.
I’ve found DragThing to be the simplest way to organise multiple applications and overcome the limitations of the Dock.
I keep the commonly used applications in the Dock, and use tabs in DragThing to group other apps and utilities by type.
Richie
I keep major Apple, Adobe and Microsoft productivity applications in the Dock. I use Unsanity’s FruitMenu to add Mac OS X System Utilities and Apps to the Apple menu. I love the logical division of resources that this setup provides.
Micro Me,
Is DragThing a Dock add-on or something else?
So, are you like Mini Me’s younger brother or something?
Hi Cubert.
DragThing is a stand alone application.
http://www.dragthing.com/
You can try before you buy.
No. I just have a gross inferiority complex.
Some of my Favorite Free Utilities:
Witch – takes command-tab to a new level.
Onyx – system cleanup utility (and unlocks some hidden Finder and System preferences).
Site Sucker – will download all pages from a particular website (ie. all pages – not just the home page and all pages that are linked). Great for when you want to read online but know that you won’t have a connection so you can download in advance.
WhatSize – Helps you track down the largest files on your Mac eating up hard drive space.
And, of course, Flip4Mac and Perian.
@Micro Me,
Hey, at least you aren’t a polyhedron.
Micro Me,
DragThing looks freakin’ sweet! I will get it just for the “hot sides” feature. I’ve always wanted Apple to implement this (and not just “hot corners”). I frequently overshoot the trash or the Apple icon, etc. and trigger my screensaver, for example. This won’t happen if I set a side instead.
Sweet!
Thanks!
Personally, I have only placed my Download and Document folders on my dock.
Fastest way I have found to open apps is simply type command-space bar and start typing the name of the app I want to open or go to if it is already opened.
Since I set my Spotlight preference to list Applications first, the app’s name is usually selected before I can type in the second letter. From there, a click on the enter key and voila.
@Cubert
My pleasure. Yup, DragThing is sweet. I’ve used it since Mac OS 8.6. It’s highly configurable, and well worth the US$29-00 they ask for it.
Good list of free utilities. I use some of them. My other favourites are SideNote, MacJanitor and a version of iClip that was briefly available for free.
I must look for Witch.
10.5.5 is out guys and girls!
Young users are frequently obsessed with playing with their docks.
Quicksilver.
I switched in January, and TheDock is still A MAGIC!
and it never stops fascinating me.
I like the reflections and the wavy movements, and the elegant look…everything about DOCK is Pure APPLE.
Nobody but Geniuses in APPLE can create something beautiful.
Not in Msoft, not in gooooogle.
LaunchBar.
Keeps my Dock little.
Wait…
A dock icon to turn off the screen?
Wow. You can tell that this guy is used to the Windows way of making things as difficult as possible… The screen brightness button is right there on the keyboard–Just turn it all the way down!!!
There’s a standard keyboard command for instantly putting all displays to sleep: [CTRL][SHIFT][EJECT]
Done. There is no step two. 😎
By the way: Since the Leopard Dock is still crippled regarding traversal of docked folders (which is an absolutely indispensable tool for me), I still use and recommend HierarchicalDock, which contrary to the Dock itself can still traverse linked folders as well as those contained in the docked folder directly.
DragThing, which I used to use and love, is soooooo OS 9.
Get LaunchBar and enter the 21st Century. QuickSilver is similar.
There’s no need to setup and configure launchers and palettes and such, just type a few characters and hit Return. It can find and open anything. I can barely type and love it.
It works great in conjunction with Spotlight.
BEWARE. Aren’t many, if not all, of these Input Manager hacks?
I avoid Input Manager hacks like the plague. Apple doesn’t support them. Remember the pain they caused in the upgrade from Tiger to Leopard!