The Dock is an integral part of OS X that Apple has styled in a one-size-fits-all manner. While the feature does work well, Apple's approach has kept a number of people at odds when features of the Dock have changed. For instance, in Leopard when Apple added reflections and changed the indicator to a white dot, many people found the view to be rather unappealing.... Read more
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As an integral part of the Mac OS X interface from the beginning, all Mac users know the Dock is where people can launch their most-used software and check to see which programs are currently running. I always find it interesting to see how people use the Dock on their Macs because its inherent flexibility makes it something personal for every user. Everyone has a specific way they work or play, and the Dock is easily customized to fit each person's style.
A program I discovered today makes the Dock in Leopard even more flexible and customizable for the different ways that you use your Mac. Docks makes it possible for you to take a snapshot of your Dock and save it by assigning a name. Once your Dock is saved, you can drag icons off or add new ones, knowing that you can restore your original Dock in only a couple of clicks. This means that you can create and name customized Docks for the various ways you use your Mac and you'll have a handy list to select the Dock you need at any given time. You could have a "work" Dock, for example, with each of the programs you use to get through your workday, or a "games" Dock with all your favorite games easily accessible. To switch, simply use global hot keys and pick the Dock you want to use at the time.
Name your docks so you know which ones to choose later
(Credit: CNET)The latest version of Docks adds support for Spaces making it possible to launch a customized Dock automatically when you switch to a different Space. This demo is a 30-day trial of the software and costs $10 to buy. I think that once you get used to switching Docks on the fly, you'll find that it improves your work flow and makes an already useful feature in Mac OS X Leopard even more flexible.
One of the best features in Windows 7 is its revamped taskbar and its program-pinning. Combining the utility of customization, big and legible icons, and stylish preview windows, it radically changes the Windows interface. Until it's released, Windows XP users will have to get by with third-party docking programs.
ObjectDock
(Credit: Stardock, Inc.)One of the most popular Windows dock replacements, ObjectDock, replaces the taskbar with a colorful, animated dock similar to the taskbar in Mac OS X. It displays icons for currently running programs and hosts quick-launch icons for your favorite programs. As you pass the cursor over each icon, ObjectDock magnifies it. An attractive clock rounds out the toolbar. It comes with skins, and users with slow computers can reduce the animation quality to increase speed. You can also customize nearly every aspect of the dock, easily maximizing its hefty resource usage to your best advantage.
Besides being a bit sluggish, it lacks a system tray replacement. You can also upgrade to the Plus edition for $20, which includes system tray support, tabbed docks, support for multiple docks and multiple monitors, and other features.
A RocketDock skin.
(Credit: RocketDock)Another well-liked taskbar replacement, RocketDock soars. The Mac-style program dock and launcher for Windows 2000, XP, and Vista has it all, from a smooth installation to mostly flawless icon transitions, and an unobtrusive footprint. If you're looking for something similar to ObjectDock that isn't ObjectDock, RocketDock might be for you.
It can live on any of the four edges of your monitor; you can set it to be always on top of other programs, or on the bottom; it can autohide or be ever-present. Twenty skins, customizable fonts and colors, and icon replacements give you the features you'd expect. A growing online community offers more icons, widgets, and skins, so there are tons of customization options. The main settings menu is not logically placed. Configuring extras happens in one menu, while another menu hosts your main options.
XWindows is a slick approximation of the OS X dock. It sports several improvements that ObjectDock and RocketDock don't have, such as stackable files that telescope out when you click on them. Of course, you have to manually build the stacks, but it's useful if you edit the same few files regularly. You can also stack folders and watch their contents telescope out from the bottom of your screen when you click on one.
That leads to a minor problem: XWindows can't be docked elsewhere on the screen. It must live at the bottom, which I found irritating since I prefer my taskbar and programs to live at the screen's top. It's not the biggest problem with the program, though. XWindows crashed on me several times during testing. It looks great, and the icon resizing was smooth, but be prepared for bugginess.
Yz Dock
(Credit: M.Yamaguchi)MobyDock DX comes loaded with icons, so as soon as you start using it you can get going. It's a good, solid, basic dock. You can customize icons and programs, use it to launch folders or documents, and place it anywhere on your screen. It can also be configured to notify you of new mail.
The weather indicator didn't work for me even when configured, and the despite its smoothness, the dock is a bit of a slow responder. It comes with a clock, too, but if you're addicted to your system tray don't plan on using MobyDock to wean you from it. It's a strong supplement, but not a replacement. The lack of skins is annoying because you can only choose from three Windows XP-default color backgrounds--blue, olive, or silver; but at least you can hide the background altogether by making it transparent. Even with these problems, and the fact that MobyDock hasn't been improved since 2003, it still works well enough for many XP users.
RK Launcher is another dock that hasn't seen an update in years, but works well enough to make it onto the list. It's very similar to many of these docks: you can position it anywhere on the screen; it uses little notification arrows when a docked program is running; you can customize icons and programs. It struggles a bit with responsiveness, but not as much as MobyDock. It does use the Mac split-face icon by default, so if you're trying to skin Windows XP to look like OS X, this dock might appeal to you.
Circle Dock
(Credit: Eric Wong)Yz Dock--"wise" dock, I'm assuming--feels like the fastest "traditional" dock of the group. Yet another dock that hasn't seen an update in nearly half a decade, it loads stripped down and ready for you to drag-and-drop your icons onto its translucent pane. It's got the basics: adjustable placement and customizable icons. You can also choose from several in-use notifiers and dock skins. It froze in the magnified position several times, but it didn't actually crash and cease functioning. If you want a dock that's lightweight and fast, this might be what you're looking for.
The two nonlinear docks that I tested were Circle Dock and Slider Dock. Circle Dock might bother people who are used to the traditional, linear-dock style, and you might miss the animation of icons zooming. If you don't care about either of those, Circle Dock will run elliptical shapes around other docks. It's fast, customizable, and can be dragged to wherever you need it on your monitor. The center of the dock is a button that can be configured to open the Start menu, or hide the dock. You can toggle the dock's visibility with the F1 key or your center mouse button. When you bring it up again, it will appear wherever your mouse is--saving you the extra wrist movement of getting to the dock.
Users can configure the dock behavior so that it's locked to a position, and you can set the number of icons per circle. Any spillover will create an ever-larger second circle of your files, folders, and programs. If you're looking for something fresh, Circle Dock is an excellent choice. Slider Dock isn't bad, either, but it's a bit weird.
Slider Dock
(Credit: Dimitri Roozendaal)It places your icons on an ellipse, with the nearest icons the largest. It's even more atypical than Circle Dock, though. When you click on an icon, it orbits the icon around the ellipse until it's located in the foreground position. From there, you have to click on it again to launch it. You can use your mouse or arrow keys to rotate the icons, but it's still fairly strange behavior for a dock, because it makes you work more to get your programs running.
Unlike Circle Dock, there's only one ring of icons. If it gets too cluttered, you can adjust it with sliders in the control panel. It's smooth and fast, though, so if you can get beyond the unusual behavior it could make for an excellent dock.
If you have a favorite dock that I didn't mention here, let me know in the comments below.
Where most other docks fail, RocketDock soars. The Mac-style program dock and launcher for Windows 2000, XP, and Vista has it all, from a smooth installation to flawless icon transitions and an unobtrusive footprint.
The app is loaded with options. The dock can live on any of the four edges of your monitor, as well as autohide or be ever-present. It comes with more than 20 skins, and fonts and colors are fully customizable, as is the icon order. Program icons are customizable, too. The program publisher is also growing a community around the program, and the app's Web site has areas where you can download more icons, widgets, and skins to enhance and further customize your experience.
One drawback of the program is that the main settings menu is not where you go to add in and configure these extras. Instead, they're accessible from a secondary settings menu available only by right-clicking on the dock itself. It's frustrating, but not a major problem, and hopefully can be addressed in future updates.
Are you jealous of that slick Mac interface? Check out ObjectDock, a free utility that replaces the Windows Taskbar with a colorful, animated dock similar to the taskbar in Mac OS X.
ObjectDock displays icons for currently running applications and can hold quick-launch icons for your favorite programs. As you pass the cursor over each icon, ObjectDock magnifies it and displays relevant information, helping you find what you need even when you're running several programs at once. An attractive but optional clock rounds out the toolbar. The tiny utility comes with a dozen attractive skins, and users with slow computers can reduce the animation quality to increase speed.
You can even force it to permanently hide the native Windows Taskbar and create a dock icon for the Start menu, but there's a drawback: no built-in support for the system tray short of upgrading to the paid version. Despite this, ObjectDock is a no-risk, solid choice for an alternative taskbar if you're dissatisfied with the Windows offerings.
Power Downloader and I have talked about how useful RocketDock can be, and it is still is. But another excellent program dock to check out is ObjectDock, from Stardock. Besides providing a skinable and extensively customizable Mac-style dock, the free ObjectDock lets users replace the Windows taskbar completely.
ObjectDock can replace the Windows taskbar, and includes a Start menu link.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Colorful and animated, ObjectDock is so customizable it's impressive. Not only can you choose your own icons to represent programs and documents, set the dock size and location, and configure icon behavior, but you can also set the dock to run faster and take up more RAM, or sacrifice the gloss for other programs.
In replacing the Windows taskbar, users can insert a Start menu button that launches the menu right from the dock, as well as inserting a clock icon using the built-in docklets. Other docklets include prebuilt links to your default Web browser, document editor, music player, e-mail client, and other application essentials. The only docklet I found lacking was one for the task manager, but that's easy enough to create by hand.
The simplest way I found to add a program to the dock was to send a shortcut for a program to the desktop, and then drag-and-drop directly onto the dock. Once added, it was easy to configure the specific icon for the application via the context menu and dock entry properties.
Users also have two choices as to how to indicate that a program is in use. You can have open programs appear minimized on the dock, or have an indicator hover over the dock icon. A huge mess of options makes the 30 included dock skins go a long way, from adjusting the transparency to importing icon and dock themes.
When hiding the Windows taskbar, ObjectDock still lacks an adequate replacement for showing programs that live in the system tray. If you're otherwise dissatisfied with the Windows taskbar, though, or just want to spice up your desktop, ObjectDock is a cool port to call home.
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You can't deny the beauty of Mac OS X Leopard, and all the new functionality is certainly a joy to use. But if a third party developer can come in and make some functionality better or more customizable to users I think it's worth looking at. One of the great things about Mac OS X and Apple in general is they pay close attention to design. But every user is different, which is why some developers make it possible to put your own brand of style on key interface elements of Mac OS X.
During my usual daily scouting of popular Mac sites, I came across a cool Dock customization app called Dockulicious. Dockulicious lets you drag-and-drop Dock styles to change the way your Dock looks to better fit your overall desktop aesthetic. The program is very easy to use, letting you play with different Dock styles from third-party sites.
You'll be able to find several unique user-created Dock styles on the Web
(Credit: CNET Networks)Once you have Dockulicious (strangely called DockSwitcher in the file itself) on your hard drive, simply browse sites like LeopardDocks.com, LeopardDocks.net, or the Dockulicious site to find new styles. When you find one you like, download the zip file to your Mac and then drag-and-drop the zip file on the Dockulicious (DockSwitcher) icon. Though switching out your Dock is possible without the program by drilling down in your folder hierarchy and switching files, using this app makes it much easier. If you want to return to the default Leopard dock style, Dockulicious comes with a Restore.zip file in the original install folder to bring it back to the original Dock.
Overall, I think this app makes it pretty easy to switch Docks, but I wish they would get their app-naming convention straight. There's another DockSwitcher on the Web that modifies the Dock as well, but not with the ease of Dockulicious...I mean DockSwitcher...once you download it, you'll see what I mean.
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The Windows and Mac operating systems are both intended to be easy to navigate so you can get to your files quickly. Ideally, once our computers are fully booted up it should only take us a couple of steps before we can start working (or playing, as the case may be). While Windows Explorer and the Finder are adequate for navigating apps and files, it still takes a few unnecessary steps before you can get started.
While both operating systems offer a quicker option than digging through folders--Windows has the Quick launch bar and Mac offers the Dock--they tend to fill up pretty fast and before I know it, launching my favorite apps becomes a little less than quick. Fortunately, there's a whole category of third-party launchers designed to get you to your apps fast and offer varying options to increase productivity and improve workflow.
This week I've rounded up a pair of apps for each operating system to help you quickly launch your must-have software, Web sites, and files. Each has their own set of options that I like for different reasons, and the one that you choose should be the one that maximizes your productivity.
Customize Launchy's skin to your desktop so you can open apps in style.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Launchy for Windows is a popular free launcher in the office here at Download.com for quick access to apps and files. Simply hit a hot key to bring up the Launchy interface and type in a few letters to show results offering the best match. Not only can you launch your favorite apps and files, Launchy also searches your default browser's favorites file for matches to your most visited Web sites. To top it all off, the program is completely skinnable so you can customize it to fit the look of your desktop.
Separate your apps and files into groups with this app.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Fast Launcher lets you hit Control-Alt-X or double click a tray icon to bring up a nicely organized interface. This app takes a bit of setting up, but when you're done you can get to any app, file, or control panel in only a couple of clicks. Though you can't get to bookmarked Web pages like Launchy, Fast Launcher offers the option of creating groups so you can organize and launch multiple apps and files simultaneously. The drawback to this app is the lengthy setup that makes you drill down to find the apps you want to add to the interface. But when you're done, you'll like how quickly you can launch anything on your hard drive.
A sleek interface makes it easy to get to the files and apps you want.
(Credit: CNET Networks)QuickSilver for Mac has been a longtime favorite of mine (and many Mac users) for getting to apps and files quickly. Like Launchy for Windows, Mac users can type in a couple of keys to find just about anything and hit enter to launch. But what makes Quicksilver even better is the ability to perform specific actions with the files you find. Hitting the Tab key brings you to the action field where you can upload your updated page to your Web site via FTP, send a file in an e-mail, and queue up an album in iTunes, for example--all from within the interface. It also doesn't hurt that this free app is great to look at, fitting in perfectly with the smooth lines of OS X.
Organize your files into DragThing's tabbed interface for easy access
(Credit: CNET Networks)DragThing for Mac has been around since the Classic Mac OS as a way to add Dock-like launchers to your Mac desktop. Simply drag files, apps, and URLs to DragThing's dock to fill it up with your most-used stuff. What's great about this app is its flexibility. For example, you can choose to only launch specific DragThing docks alongside certain programs, filled with useful apps and files for that program. You can create as many as you want and it offers several customization options so you can create just the look you need for the job. When you want it out of the way, it minimizes like a drawer to the edge of your screen. If you're looking for ways to group programs and files together for easy access under specific workflow circumstances, DragThing is the launcher for you. You'll have to pay for all this flexibility though ($29).
If you use certain programs on a regular basis, it's much easier to use one of these programs to launch them quickly so you can start working right away. Also, whenever you need to get to a URL or open a specific project, these programs can you save you the hassle of searching through the Windows start menu or the Mac's Finder through countless folders. If you have a favorite launcher that's not listed here, please tell me about it in the comments!
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By now most Mac users (and certainly Leopard users) know about Stacks, the new file-management feature that resides in the Dock in Mac OS X 10.5. Stacks are great for many things, like organizing a bunch of similar files or keeping all the parts of a project together. To create a stack, you just put a folder in the Dock and start grabbing files and drag them to the same folder. You get your choice of the way it displays your files when you click the folder--either in a grid or fanned out. The less-than-useful issue I noticed, is that when I have too many items in a stack, it automatically offers the overflow option of opening in the Finder. While it's still useful for a certain number of items, it seems like it could be better.
A hierarchical menu lets you get to the file you want without leaving the Dock.
(Credit: CNET Networks)I was going through my usual daily software scouting earlier this week when I came across a little software gem I think Leopard users will really like. HierarchicalDock is a free utility that makes folders in the Dock more accessible, especially if you have a lot of items in the folder. Simply choose or make a new a folder of items and drag it into the HierarchicalDock window, then drag the resulting "processed" folder to your Dock. Now, in addition to being able to use stacks, you can have multi-item folders with hierarchical menus for easier navigation. Any time you want to navigate the folder, just click on it to get a hierarchical display and drill down to the file you want to open without ever leaving the Dock.
I like most of the stuff Apple added to Leopard and Stacks is no exception--for some projects. But when I have a lot of items that I'm going to be using for a project like digital photos, for example, HierarchicalDock is the way to go.
Do you have a better program for the job? Do you think I'm crazy for not loving Stacks? Let me know in the comments!
Windows taskbars are notorious for being unfriendly, chaotic, and occasionally unresponsive. They also have poor social skills, but I'm not here to pass judgment. Instead, I'm going to show you three great freeware ways to lasso that unruly taskbar of yours and tame it right down, with Taskbar Shuffle, RocketDock, and Launchy.
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