Road to Mac OS X Leopard: Dock 1.6

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  • Reply 21 of 145
    I never use the Dock for minimizing windows. Talk about clutter. Plus, it makes all your app icons moving targets.



    This is also why I keep just about all the apps I commonly use on the Dock itself, instead of hidden in an Applications folder that I have to pop up. Every time I launch an app, the Dock goes nowhere. Much better for muscle memory.



    Sure that makes the Dock pretty filled, but I have good enough eyesight to make it the minimum size without losing the ability to distinguish between icons. Plus, as I said before, my muscle memory allows me to launch icons almost without looking, anyway, because the Dock never moves.



    Between Exposé and the simple Command + H "hide application" command, which I have conveniently mapped to my center mouse button, I never have a problem with too many open windows. Spaces will make that even easier to manage.



    As far as Stacks go, the only one I see myself using is the Downloads stack. I hate a cluttered desktop. It would probably be just as easy for me to put the Downloads folder in my Finder sidebar, though. So chalk that up as another feature that I'm glad is there for other people, but that I'll probably never really use.
  • Reply 22 of 145
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider


    Anticipating Vista, the minimized windows in the Dock depict a scaled down version of their contents;



    ... anticipating Vista? The Dock was doing live preview in Jaguar (I first saw it in 2003, but it looks like 10.0 did it as well: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/01q2/.../tiny-dock.jpg), years before anything with Aero was available. Versions of Windows at the time didn't (and still don't) double buffer window contents.



    To say that Apple took cues from what is now called Vista when designing the Dock doesn't seem to reflect reality. Maybe it could have read:

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider, or at least what should have been


    To show off the power of the Aqua windowing system, the minimized windows in the Dock depict a scaled down version of their contents;



  • Reply 23 of 145
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dr_lha View Post


    Right, because Apple itself doesn't do this does it? Ahem:



    /Applications/iWork '08/Keynote.app







    At least it's not called "Apple iWork", "Apple iWork Keynote.app", or "Apple Keynote.app".
  • Reply 24 of 145
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dr_lha View Post


    Right, because Apple itself doesn't do this does it? Ahem:



    /Applications/iWork '08/Keynote.app







    I think you're missing the point. Apple doesn't label the "iWork" folder "Apple iWork" and then call the apps "Apple Pages", "Apple Keynote" and "Apple Numbers".
  • Reply 25 of 145
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by davebarnes View Post


    I must point out that the Windows Start bar can be moved to the right where it is (in my opinion) much easier to use and read.

    I know that 99% of Windows users don't do that, but it is possible and improves the Windows experience.

    Is the Dock better? Yes, but not that much better.



    The Start bar is very bad all around. THe OS X Dock trumps it in every way.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by vinney57 View Post


    Great article, thank you.



    Agreed.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hdasmith View Post


    For me, the new stacks is almost a step backwards. I use the dock in much the same way as I used the Apple menu in OS 9, placing a folder in the dock, holding down on the folder allows me to browse through all the sub folders without loading a window. Stacks looks like it's going to force me to open a sub folder in a window which I don't want. I need lots of sub folders for all my stuff otherwise my folders are just a mess.



    You really should read up on Spotlight. It's really quite useful for productivity. Also, "holding down" your mouse button on a Dock folder to see a list of items isn't nearly as useful or as fast as a single click on a Dock Folder. Plus, you can drag and drop these expanded stacked items to other areas. For instance, you can click on your Download Stack and drag a DMG of an app you just installed right to the Trash. Quite useful. (did the article mention that feature?)



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by montrealer View Post


    Now here's a place where Apple missed the boat with the Stacks feature. Why didn't they make an option in the Preferences to make the Minimize button send the Window in a Stack ?



    Which stack would it go to? Would a bezel popup asking you which stack to send it too? Do we really want Windows of applications hanging around in our stacks? Is that even possible?
  • Reply 26 of 145
    I'm OK with Adobe putting their apps in a folder. I for one, do not want to have to muck inside a package to just remove a plug in or put a script or action in the folder. It's not that it's too hard, of course its easy. But it's just not safe. I don't want to pile a bunch of plugins I'm testing "into the application". I want to be able to dump them in or move them quickly and easily. Same with scripts or actions, no need to keep them 'inside' the application.

    Plus remember, not every user is the administrator!
  • Reply 27 of 145
    akacakac Posts: 512member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JohnnyKrz View Post


    Actually, this is my BIGGEST peeve with OS X. In the Classic OS, you could put apps wherever you wanted. Each application had an ID that was used to locate it rather than a path. You could make aliases and move the original, it would still find it. In OS X, you CAN put most things where you want, but especially Apple apps won't be found in a subfolder of /Applications - when being called by other applications or Software Update. And yes, Adobe's new Window's-like approach to the Mac is very annoying as well and if you move Adobe folders from their default location, it will have to 'fix' itself which Photoshop has never been capable of doing properly on my system. What has happened is that my /Applications folder is very messy and I've given up on Apple ever allowing me to organize things the way I want them again.



    Its NOT OS X's fault. This is not your biggest pet peeve with OS X. Its your biggest pet peeve with people who make OS X apps (including Apple) who do this.



    OS X has many APIs that if used properly this issue would never appear. Unfortunately too many devs (including Apple) are lazy. But its not OS X's fault.
  • Reply 28 of 145
    boogabooga Posts: 1,082member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by serpicolugnut View Post


    I'm not sure what you mean by this. You can organize your Apps folder however you like. However, there are some apps that are expected to be in a specific location for other apps to access them (Mail, Safari, Disk Utility, etc.) Moving those might have adverse affects on how other apps interact with those apps, but will not stop those apps from working at all.



    If you want to group all of your web browsers in to a folder called "Web Browsers", under the apps folder, you can. If you want to have an apps folder inside your home folder, you can.



    You sound like an uninformed Windows user. Get some hands on time w/ Mac OS X and you'll see you can organize your folders however you like.



    Oh, and for comparison, start mucking around with your apps folders inside your Program Files folder on a Windows box. I guarantee you more apps will break faster than doing the similiar action on a Mac OS X machine.



    I've been using Macs since 1988, and MacOS X since it was called Rhapsody Preview Release 1. *You* sound like the kind of Apple bigot that makes the rest of us look bad.



    In Windows, almost all the installers let you pick where you want the app installed and in what group in the Start Menu it should put the links. After that, an amazing thing happens-- updates still work! Unlike on MacOS X, where if it's not in the /Applications folder it doesn't exist, Windows will actually track the location and handle updates and uninstalls correctly.



    There's a lot of great things about MacOS X, but this isn't one of them.
  • Reply 29 of 145
    akacakac Posts: 512member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Booga View Post


    I've been using Macs since 1988, and MacOS X since it was called Rhapsody Preview Release 1. *You* sound like the kind of Apple bigot that makes the rest of us look bad.



    In Windows, almost all the installers let you pick where you want the app installed and in what group in the Start Menu it should put the links. After that, an amazing thing happens-- updates still work! Unlike on MacOS X, where if it's not in the /Applications folder it doesn't exist, Windows will actually track the location and handle updates and uninstalls correctly.



    There's a lot of great things about MacOS X, but this isn't one of them.



    As I wrote above - this is not a OS X issue. Its an application issue. 100%. There is no excuse for applications not doing this. And on WIndows while you can choose where it gets installed - guess what? You can't MOVE IT!
  • Reply 30 of 145
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Booga View Post


    I've been using Macs since 1988, and MacOS X since it was called Rhapsody Preview Release 1. *You* sound like the kind of Apple bigot that makes the rest of us look bad.



    In Windows, almost all the installers let you pick where you want the app installed and in what group in the Start Menu it should put the links. After that, an amazing thing happens-- updates still work! Unlike on MacOS X, where if it's not in the /Applications folder it doesn't exist, Windows will actually track the location and handle updates and uninstalls correctly.



    There's a lot of great things about MacOS X, but this isn't one of them.



    If you then move a Windows app about, it won't work. In a lot of the Apple software installers, you can also choose where to install an app. Neither OS will track where it moves to, at least not in my experience (unless you're talking about small apps that don't make system calls).
  • Reply 31 of 145
    I think most of the people here don't see the concept and power of the Taskbar. It is the whole OS! You can reach everything from it and see always (!) every running task. This isn't the case with the Dock. So with the Taskbar it's easy to operate in full screen mode while you can switch to or start every other task. No need for an Exposé-like feature or additional menus.



    And because the Taskbar is at the display's border (like the Dock), it doesn't matter how tall the buttons are (Fitt's law!). Scaling only the button's width is very smart to use the space in an optimal way.



    With Vista there is now a very good hierarchical structure to display information:



    1: the icon shows what program is running

    2: the title shows which document a button represent (if there are multiple windows open from the same program. Titles are in the format: "document name - app name")

    3: the thumbnails show a small version of the window (by hover over the button)



    And one very useful thing about the Taskbar is, that you can minimize a window by just click the equivalent button a second time.



    For me, the Dock (and the window management on OS X in general) is the most important reason, why I will not switch over to Mac. My hope was, that Apple would improve the behaviour of the Dock with Leopard but instead they just put more features on top of it (like Exposé before).



    The Dock's behaviour is too realistic (> docking) compared with the (IMO) powerful concept of window entities in the Taskbar.



    Think of what would happen, if Apple would replace the Tabs in Safari with a Dock-like bar?! The Taskbar in Windows is like a Tabbar for the OS.
  • Reply 32 of 145
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hdasmith View Post


    For me, the new stacks is almost a step backwards. I use the dock in much the same way as I used the Apple menu in OS 9, placing a folder in the dock, holding down on the folder allows me to browse through all the sub folders without loading a window. Stacks looks like it's going to force me to open a sub folder in a window which I don't want. I need lots of sub folders for all my stuff otherwise my folders are just a mess.



    As for organising the applications folder, I've found a good way is to have a folder within the applications folder for all apps not made by Apple. When the apps folder is in the dock, it makes it very easy to find the app I'm looking for.



    Stacks is a visual disaster, as I've said ever since the idea was introduced. It's like a Dagwood sandwich overloaded with unnecessary clutter.



    As for me, XMenu is still my favorite way to organize my apps because it's simple and direct. Don't like the dock either.
  • Reply 33 of 145
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    Some Leopard shots show a folder in the Dock.



    So you CAN still put folders in the Dock AS folders, rather than as Stacks? (How do you choose whether a folder shows as a folder or a stack?)



    Presumably, if you can still put folders AS folders in the Dock, then you can still right-click them to navigate the full hierarchy, and no functionality has been lost.



    Any confirmation that folders can still be in the Dock as folders? The article didn't mention it but did have a picture.



    (And thanks for the great article series! I'm amused by the people who say the perspective on the icons don't match each other. Did they ever? Some were always squarely face-on, and some were slightly tipped back. That's still the case. And both perspectives just look like something propped up, like a plate-holder on a shelf, which does not bother me at all. Floating icons won't bother me either, when I get my Dock on the left where it should be, away from scrollbars!)
  • Reply 34 of 145
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by coolfactor View Post


    Create a mock Applications folder and put it wherever you want. You can even copy over the icon from the standard Applications folder so it looks the same. Then create subfolders in there, however you please. Lastly, put aliases (ie. shortcuts) inside those folders for your applications.



    - you don't need to move any of the real applications

    - you can "organize" your applications however you please

    - drop the mock Applications folder into the Dock to have a popup menu



    Now, with all of that said, Spotlight is still the easiest way to launch your apps.



    1. Cmd-Space

    2. Type a few letters from app's name "itu" ==> iTunes

    3. Press Return.



    Apple is pushing "search" instead of "organization". You can see this trend everywhere.



    Using Spotlight to launch apps is insane. Especially if you've external HDs. Waiting for them to spin up while using Spotlight makes me want to tear my hair out every time.
  • Reply 35 of 145
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JohnnyKrz View Post


    Actually, this is my BIGGEST peeve with OS X. In the Classic OS, you could put apps wherever you wanted. Each application had an ID that was used to locate it rather than a path. You could make aliases and move the original, it would still find it. In OS X, you CAN put most things where you want, but especially Apple apps won't be found in a subfolder of /Applications - when being called by other applications or Software Update. And yes, Adobe's new Window's-like approach to the Mac is very annoying as well and if you move Adobe folders from their default location, it will have to 'fix' itself which Photoshop has never been capable of doing properly on my system. What has happened is that my /Applications folder is very messy and I've given up on Apple ever allowing me to organize things the way I want them again.



    Google "XMenu". It's solved my problems.
  • Reply 36 of 145
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    Using Spotlight to launch apps is insane. Especially if you've external HDs. Waiting for them to spin up while using Spotlight makes me want to tear my hair out every time.



    How is it insane if your apps are on your main HD, the way they are for most people?



    (On an external that isn't used enough to stay spinning, a delay to spin back up is inevitable. Avoiding Spotlight won't prevent it, it will just happen to some other app-launch operation. If this happens often, I recommend putting that particular app in the Dock.)



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TiAdiMundo View Post


    I think most of the people here don't see the concept and power of the Taskbar. It is the whole OS! You can reach everything from it and see always (!) every running task. This isn't the case with the Dock. So with the Taskbar it's easy to operate in full screen mode while you can switch to or start every other task. No need for an Exposé-like feature or additional menus.



    OS X's Dock does show ALL running apps, even hidden ones. Always. And right-clicking one will show you ALL its windows EVEN if the app is hidden. At least you CAN hide an app for a time if you want your Dock simpler, unlike the Taskbar which doesn't give you that option. And thus, Macs OS X doesn't rely on Quitting stuff to keep your environment manageable. That's the beauty of Hide--and yet you don't have to use it if you want everything always visible like Windows. It's always your choice.



    As for Exposé, it's far better and faster than the Dock OR the Taskbar: it can be triggered any way you like (middle mouse button, a key, corner gesture, Dock icon) and you instantly see the whole window for ALL windows, instead of having to mouse over taskbar items one at a time or read a bunch of tiny text labels. I couldn't live without it. I desperately miss Expose when using an older Mac or a Windows machine.



    I do recommend you stick with Windows though, as you have certain habits that may make it difficult to learn the strengths of something new. You already know the benefits of the Mac platform, and you know they aren't worth it to you (or don't plan to give the new workflows a real chance) so I respect your choice to stay away from Macs.
  • Reply 37 of 145
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Booga View Post


    I've been using Macs since 1988, and MacOS X since it was called Rhapsody Preview Release 1. *You* sound like the kind of Apple bigot that makes the rest of us look bad.



    In Windows, almost all the installers let you pick where you want the app installed and in what group in the Start Menu it should put the links. After that, an amazing thing happens-- updates still work! Unlike on MacOS X, where if it's not in the /Applications folder it doesn't exist, Windows will actually track the location and handle updates and uninstalls correctly.



    There's a lot of great things about MacOS X, but this isn't one of them.



    Not entirely true. I install many apps in different drives with no problem. Updating is fine.



    Apple, for some reason seems to want us to put most everything in the apps folder on our startup drive, but you gererally don't have to.
  • Reply 38 of 145
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    Using Spotlight to launch apps is insane. Especially if you've external HDs. Waiting for them to spin up while using Spotlight makes me want to tear my hair out every time.



    That has nothing to do with Spotlight. I have apps on several drives. They way I pick them results in the same drive activity no matter what.
  • Reply 39 of 145
    sabonsabon Posts: 134member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TiAdiMundo View Post


    I think most of the people here don't see the concept and power of the Taskbar.



    Power...Taskbar ... military ... intelligence ...



    The Windows Taskbar is the 3rd worst part of Windows. Just so you know, the Registry is #1 and DLL #2.



    The Taskbar is horrible. I could go on for days about this without repeating myself but I'll stick to the number one reason the Taskbar sucks.



    Reason #1) No matter what you do, the icons in the taskbar will not be in the same order each time you login unless you very specifically launch things in a certain order AND hope that explorer doesn't crap out causing it to close and reopen and pick a random order to place the items in. The fastest way to open a program is using muscle memory where the icon on the Dock is always in the same place EVERY time no matter how many times I reboot or even if you have to restart the Finder.



    Reason #2) I can't stop myself from adding this. You can't reorder the programs in the taskbar. What moron thought this was a good idea? I'll refer back to #1 which this is all about.



    NOTE: OS/2 had a "Taskbar" before Windows did. OS/2 2.0 came out years before Windows '95 did. Their "taskbar" is still years ahead of the Windows one. Even the one from 1992.
  • Reply 40 of 145
    It ain't that important but... correct me if I am wrong, but I think the Launcher already appeared in Sys 7.5 (and not in MacOS 8 as stated in the article)?
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