Scrolling dock a good idea?

bungebunge
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
I was thinking that as the number of icons in the dock increased, instead of them getting absolutely tiny, they could extend outside of the viewing area. And when the cursor hit a hot spot on the edge, the icons would "roll" through all of the icons that couldn't be seen. Perhaps then people could set a minimum icon size so they wouldn't get too small.



Any thoughts?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    Not a bad idea.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    odinn5odinn5 Posts: 107member
    I like that. Prehaps someone at Unsanity could release a Haxie.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    I like it. Maybe instead of making two sliders for "Dock size" and "Magnification," you could have a slider for minimum size and maximum size. unchecking the Dock Magnification feature mean the Max size will be ignored. In any case, I'm just trying to think of how you would handle this kind of thing and other Dock options.



    BTW, I think this would be welcome in toolbars as well, no?
  • Reply 4 of 12
    kaboomkaboom Posts: 286member
    If they just got rid of that stupid "rolling magnification" and made the icons just magnify right where they are, there wouldn't be any problems. As it is right now, with magnification on, it's too hard to hit the icons because they're moving targets.



    By far, one of the greatest UI blunders in history!
  • Reply 5 of 12
    bungebunge Posts: 7,329member
    [quote]Originally posted by kaboom:

    <strong>By far, one of the greatest UI blunders in history!</strong><hr></blockquote>



    But it's so pretty!



    Sorry....
  • Reply 6 of 12
    mac the forkmac the fork Posts: 722member
    I have been thinking of that sort of thing for some time now... I think some sort of scroll thumb for the dock would also be nice. It would indicate position and let people scroll faster too.
  • Reply 7 of 12
    nebagakidnebagakid Posts: 2,692member
    APPLE: just give the people more UI options!
  • Reply 8 of 12
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    It has its merits. this isn't going to be a Dock bashing thread is it? Constructive criticism is so much more worthwhile.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    bungebunge Posts: 7,329member
    It wasn't intended to be a dock bashing thread...



    I definitely like the idea of the 'widgets' at the ends of the dock that respond to the cursor. Roll farther over them and the dock scrolls faster....
  • Reply 10 of 12
    neilybneilyb Posts: 128member
    I disagree, this would be a bad idea. Part of good UI design is getting the user to be organized. Allowing the user to go hogwild in the doc would in the end make the user feel disorganized and cluttered and then the user would blame the designers. What about bouncing notifications? What about intelligent dock icons?



    If you have the need for a scrolling dock, you should probably be re-thinking the way you organize your mac.





    Fun



    NeilyB
  • Reply 11 of 12
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    Good point, NeilyB, especially when it comes to app notifications and warnings. Even if Apple does something besides the bug hopping icons, you would think that the app icon in the Dock would still be the best way to get the user's attention, or declare a warning in the background.



    The best way to get organized to to create hierarchy. That old OpenStep 4.1 idea of tabbed docks is one way to create hierarchy. Another is to group apps into an icon/pop-up. Another is to create multiple Docks -- going along with the multiple desktops idea many here approve of. any other ways to get more stuff in the Dock while keeping it organized?
  • Reply 12 of 12
    mac the forkmac the fork Posts: 722member
    I am forced to agree with NeilyB, god damn it! The dock idea is very difficult to improve on... not that it's particularly great, but there's just so much to consider when thinking about extending/improving it.



    Any sort of hierarchy that manages to hide dock icons makes the visual feedback from app switching and notifications quite difficult to deal with, but it is the most probable 'way to go' if there is one at all. I have no clue of how to approach this (and may lose some sleep over it, as I did with the spatial Finder idea last night :eek: ) .



    [ 01-05-2002: Message edited by: Mac The Fork ]</p>
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