Dockbar

concord · March 4, 2004 8:53PM

There is neat little utility in development that I wanted to bring to the board's attention. It's a taskbar-like replacement for the dock which is being discussed on MacNN boards right now.

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?threadid=203773

Very cool by the sound of it. It continues to bug me that Apple could come up with something as inelegant as the OS:X Dock, and this is the best solution to it I've heard yet.

Cheers,

C.

ghost_user_name · March 4, 2004 9:49PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Concord

It continues to bug me that Apple could come up with something as inelegant as the OS:X Dock, and this is the best solution to it I've heard yet.

Wow, you think that's more elegant than the Dock? A static, name-truncating, entirely opaque block that wastes enormous amounts of screen with whitespace?

Um, yeah.

I guess if you're desperate for a copy of the Windows taskbar, that would be the perfect solution.

/me has flashbacks to GoMac. :shudder:

silentechoes · March 4, 2004 10:06PM

You didn't like GoMac Brad? I loved it. I Hated going to the little running app bar in the top right. I also hated dragging it down into a floating window..

Anyways I happen to think the dock is perfect. It does exactly what its supposed to.

concord · March 4, 2004 10:08PM

Quote:

Wow, you think that's more elegant than the Dock?

Uh, yeah.

Text-based buttons which you can pick out at a glance vs. vigourous mouse-scrubbing on the Dock...

No contest.

Quote:

A static, name-truncating, entirely opaque block that wastes enormous amounts of screen with whitespace?

Staic is good (muscle memory). Opaque is good (I *loathe* the transparency that you can't turn off in OS:X). Waste of space? It *hides* if you want it to - just like Win Taskbar or the Dock.

Quote:

Um, yeah. I guess if you're desperate for a copy of the Windows taskbar, that would be the perfect solution.

As much as like OS:X, the Taskbar is better by far than the annoying Dock. Hmmm... now which of those Adobe Creative Suite icons is InDesign again... Which of those open files is the Illo I'm looking for... etc, etc.

Cheers,

C.

silentechoes · March 4, 2004 10:19PM

I still think the dock is far better than this program. The only thing I don't like about the dock is the inability to keep running apps separate from non running apps so its easier to see what I have running at a glance than looking for an arrow.

If you have your dock setup the way you like it then you should already know where the icons are in it with out having to look for them. Unless of course you have an ungodly amount of apps in your dock like my dad.

Simple solution to that, Make a folder with aliases of all your apps in there, and throw that in your dock. Boom Simple clean solution and your apps will have their names right next to them an such. Far better than having another App using up more RAM more space and more CPU cycles.

So how does this new task bar alert me when I get an IM? How does it alert me when I get an e-mail..? Oh..

Sorry the dock is just way better than this app.

All in all if you really want a dock replacement all of my praise goes to drag thing for being a great replacement.

torifile · March 5, 2004 6:58AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Concord

Uh, yeah.

Text-based buttons which you can pick out at a glance vs. vigourous mouse-scrubbing on the Dock...

You can't make out the colorful icons in your dock? You think text is more quickly recognizable than images? You're wrong. (And I'm not talking about what you *think*, I'm talking about what's been shown repeatedly in scientific studies.)

The windows taskbar has some benefits, but nothing that the OS X dock doesn't provide. Are you the author of the program?

ipodandimac · March 5, 2004 8:56AM

the dock with the auto-hide feature an app called transparent dock (i think thats the name) the dock can look beatiful.

concord · March 5, 2004 7:13PM

Quote:

You can't make out the colorful icons in your dock? You think text is more quickly recognizable than images? You're wrong. (And I'm not talking about what you *think*, I'm talking about what's been shown repeatedly in scientific studies.)

The Dockbar (and the Taskbar for that matter) have both icons *and* text. And personally, I find text that much quicker to pick out and clearly, I'm not alone. Like most men, I navagate best by addressess and not landmarks.

The dock is pretty, but not very productive.

Quote:

The windows taskbar has some benefits, but nothing that the OS X dock doesn't provide.

How about static placement of icons so you can develop muscle memory? How about text for those icons so you can recognize them at a glance. Especially when programs decide to change their icons in a new version - Adobe CS anyone? And doubly so for when you have a multitude of open files, webpages and documents which you can never tell what they are by their icons. How about a static trashcan you're not having to "chase" it around the dock trying to drop a file in it.

Quote:

Are you the author of the program?

Nope, just a fix I've been long waiting for.

Cheers,

C.

silentechoes · March 5, 2004 7:30PM

Most of your arguments can be fixed by learning to use the dock and getting it setup the way you want it...

The rest don't earn enough weight with my to justify CPU cycles and RAM and HD space to a program that does the same thing my dock does.

And if I don't like the dock? Dragthing is a far better alternative. At-least dragthing will show you your minimized windows...

jwill · March 5, 2004 7:50PM

Well, Windows switchers could find something like this useful.

I actually liked GoMac as well. The Dock is just fine to me. I would definetely give this thing a shot if I had the chance to.

dave k. · March 6, 2004 8:57AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Concord

There is neat little utility in development that I wanted to bring to the board's attention. It's a taskbar-like replacement for the dock which is being discussed on MacNN boards right now.

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?threadid=203773

Very cool by the sound of it. It continues to bug me that Apple could come up with something as inelegant as the OS:X Dock, and this is the best solution to it I've heard yet.

Cheers,

C.

The DockBar is very similiar to Lornhorn's concept taskbar add-on. As linked here (refer to the right hand side):

http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/art/lh4051/art2.htm

I guess if you have a wide screen LCD this would be useful.

defiant · March 6, 2004 11:37AM

I'd have no use for something like that.

I do all my 'managing' around with two things: a keyboard and LaunchBar.

And btw, I almost never drag any file to the trash. I always use the keyboard for that... cmd-delete and it's in the trash, then cmd-shift-delete and it's emptied.

VoilÃ*. No need.

tfworld · March 9, 2004 10:20PM

Quote:

[i]So how does this new task bar alert me when I get an IM? How does it alert me when I get an e-mail..? Oh..[/B]

Actually... I will be developing a plugin that hopefully does this exact thing! It will even show over screensavers.

Oh and thanks for the good things said here. I didnt know we were being talked about here until my wife pointed it out! For those that like it thank you and I hope you use it. For those that dont, why gripe? Just dont use it and be satisfied with the dock... Oh and it will be changing a lot!

silentechoes · March 10, 2004 1:51AM

Quote:

why gripe? Just dont use it and be satisfied with the dock

Because its AI thats what we do?

Really though with out the people that don't like it you would never get the constructive criticism you need.

Good luck I hope everything works out for ya.

talksense101 · March 10, 2004 7:01AM

It is good to have different solutions available to you. But Expose + the Dock is better than the taskbar from the longhorn alpha. It is a different user experience.

silentechoes · March 10, 2004 7:21AM

I have not tried this yet, but for make sure you multithread this app. I have a dual processor machine so I am not used to slow downs when launching multiple apps at the same time but with drag thing not only do I get a slow down drag thing will beach ball until its done launching the app.

Make sure the same thing does not happen with this.

tfworld · March 10, 2004 7:47AM

Quote:

Originally posted by SilentEchoes

I have not tried this yet, but for make sure you multithread this app. I have a dual processor machine so I am not used to slow downs when launching multiple apps at the same time but with drag thing not only do I get a slow down drag thing will beach ball until its done launching the app.

Make sure the same thing does not happen with this.

Well seeing as how I have a beige G3 and there is not slow down... I dont think it will be a problem!

The screen size will not be adversely affected. It may take up 112-120 pixels in width and the height of the screen.

Dockbar

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