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- jerols, on 10/11/2007, -2/+40I really like the idea of stacks. My desktop doesn't get too cluttered because all my downloads go to a specific folder but the majority of Mac users don't even know they can change where their downloads go and end up with extremely messy desktops. This will solve that problem for the most part. BTW, great article.
- betterth, on 10/13/2007, -17/+53Eh, I really disliked the bit about Windows. Why do you need to bash Windows in an article about OSX 1.6's dock? Even in the history, they explicitly say that Windows took from Apple and not vice versa, making it superfluous and only there for the intention of bashing Windows.
I have personally preferred the TaskBar to the dock, and it looks like Leopards dock might become the first useful dock I've ever seen on an Apple. It's not that the dock is a bad idea or ugly, I just have two major gripes with it. 1) Real-estate. The dock demands a huge amount of screen realestate and no program and can load within a certain padding of it. It also causes the desktop background to display even in a maximized app, which for some reason annoys me. 2) A double wide classic styled taskbar can comfortably fit 12 open programs, 6 quick launch buttons, and a system-task area of 12-16 icons at 1280x1024. With more programs, up to 20, I can still comfortably click and read each item. More comfortably than say, a dock of 20 wide apps. And it uses much less vertical screen estate, which especially crucial on a laptop.
I dunno I've just never been a huge fan, especially on screens without a massive resolution. The Macbook literally feels like 1/5 of the screen is the dock, which to me is just downright retarded. - DeeprBlue, on 10/13/2007, -9/+40The author wrote the article in such a way that every single sentence was packed full of potshots at the "competition" and self-gloating. I found it disgusting and I would really like to think that AppleInsider was better than that, but this has me questioning. Being the kind of fanboy that don't think their ***** stinks is really demeaning and insulting to those around them.
- adamriggins, on 11/03/2007, -5/+34Man, they have come a LONG way with the dock. Although it does look a bit silly if on the sides of the screen, I think the Leopard dock looks great.
- mpancha, on 10/11/2007, -4/+32aside from the pointless windows bashing, interesting read. Would have been a good informative piece had the Windows bashing bit been left out entirely.
- Goldspink, on 10/11/2007, -1/+22Dugg for the poetic description of icons in the Dock: "objects stuck in a translucent ribbon of icon flypaper"
- heyitsgarrett, on 10/11/2007, -1/+19"As an aside, allow me to tell you why Windows sucks and hasn't improved where Apple has.."
My personal computer is a Mac, at work I use a PC. I prefer Macs, but I don't see anything wrong with the Windows task bar. Apple fanboyism gets old fast. - Protoss, on 10/11/2007, -1/+16You can't browse subfolders? Last time I tried Leopard I could click through my music folder all from the dock.
- KZeni, on 10/11/2007, -2/+16Real-estate. Turn on auto-hide, and the dock is only there when you want it. And as far as it showing the desktop background instead of the underlaying window... it's never done that for me on tiger, I'm not sure what you're talking about.
The dock isn't used as a window management system. That's what expose is for. The dock is so you have your most commonly used applications and folders on there when you need them and to control the currently open applications. Even when you add more applications, the icons scale to fit on the screen, and then turn on the magnification to see the smaller icons with ease. - danfuturo, on 10/22/2007, -3/+17option + command + D
problem solved. - kiantech, on 10/11/2007, -2/+15how about who cares and release the damn OS now
- cave, on 10/11/2007, -6/+18The Leopard dock looks pretty at a glance, but it has too much visual and spacial inconsistencies for me to be comfortable with it for daily use. Hopefully Apple has added a function to return to the tiger dock. If they didn't, Unsanity will come to the rescue, I'm sure. Also, the author talks about how minimizing windows clutters up the dock. Who minimizes windows on OSX anyways, aside from brand-new windows converts? I only hide them (apple+h) and then if I wanna bring them back, click on their icon. Nothing else gets added to the dock this way.
- abrooks, on 10/11/2007, -2/+12Agree, hiding apps is the only way to go, as far as I'm concerned Apple could scrap the Minimise and 'Fit Window' buttons from windows, wouldn't make a difference to me.
What do you find inconsistent in Leopard, examples? - inspireology, on 10/11/2007, -5/+14As someone who uses both Macs and PCs, this is what I hate about Mac users (and some PC users occasionally). I cant stand the lack of an open mind or the constant implication that the Mac way is THE correct way and Windows (you may as well include linux users since they use task bars mostly) users are a bunch of uncultured morons living in some form of OS squalor. It is simply not true.
This article was a frustrating read. Speaking about windows was unnecessary and the criticisms were in themselves inaccurate. - tizz66, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9I quite often use the minimize feature for windows of the same app I want to get rid of for a while. For example, if I have a couple of projects open in textmate, I'll minimize the one I'm not using. Same thing with firefox windows too. It can be handy sometimes.
- mmzplanet, on 10/11/2007, -2/+11Theres a solution for that too... use expose as a hot corner. A quick flick of the pointer to upper right corner is very convenient to show all application windows.
- wedges, on 10/11/2007, -9/+18i used to be a windows user. i was a system builder and a gamer. while i miss the gaming aspects, i find windows to be cumbersome and almost completely unusable compared to my MacBook Pro and the Mac Pro tower I use at work.
and the taskbar is infinitely less productive than OSX's dock combined with fast switching and expose. - MicrosoftBob, on 10/11/2007, -1/+9And they *finally* added the apps folder to the dock by default.
- Jambi, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8As a long time Mac user, I agree. And in addition, this whole "if it comes from Cupertino, it must be good" attitude bugs me. The majority of people I've discussed Leopard with seem to think it's good because it's new, and criticize anyone who disagrees as being "afraid of change". Nonsense. Look at a new feature, and ask yourself "does it add anything to the user experience"? Some of the Leopard changes, such as greater Finder speed and stability, Quicklook, taking parts of web pages to use as Dashboard widgets and improved UIs on several apps (such as the DVD player) all offer greater usability to the end-user. But what's the point of the Dock changes, or the new Stacks tool, or semi-transparent menu bar? What advantage do these offer? Get off the "Apple rocks, Microsoft sucks" bandwagon and judge features by their actual merits (or lack thereof) guys.
- ucg1, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7The point of the dock is that you always click in the same place to get to your commonly used applications, whether you're starting them or switching to them. This saves time compared to the Windows taskbar, as you spend less time hunting for the app (to either start it or find its button in the task bar).
- ronnsprocket, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8agreed. the black triangles (white, in my case via cleardock) are only useful because they contrast the desktop image. I think that the dots under the icons should automatically contrast the desktop image. Would save me time in changing my triangle color everytime i change my desktop.
- InCider, on 10/11/2007, -11/+18The article did not state or even suggest that the Windows TaskBar came from NeXT or Apple. It said Windows (95) copied from both, but did NOT use the Dock, using a very different TaskBar instead. Your opinion is fine, but don't lie about the article in an effort to discredit it.
In reality, the Windows TaskBar was taken from IBM's OS/2, which delivered a superior TaskBar in ~1992 that's still better than Vista's.
Lots of Windows users such as yourself are trained to use the Start button and the TaskBar, and overlook its problems. You'll find the Dock confusing and frustrating because there's nothing to read, few menus to click through, and fewer absurd contradictions. We have no hope left for you. We can only work on training the next generation to get rid of their Microsoft brainwashing and adopt a computing environment that makes sense. Windows Mobile has fallen in the face of the iPhone, Windows Media to the iPod, and Windows Vista is going to be relegated to gaming PCs and web browser users, both of which can just as well be served by Linux and some WINE glue. In ten years there will be no Windows PCs. - davesawyer, on 10/11/2007, -2/+9Two things:
1) Placing the dock on the right side makes more sense to me for my Macbook. This way, I scroll less. I already have plenty of horizontal screen space with the widescreen. With the dock at the bottom, I lose vertical screen space.
2) Nevertheless, this dock business makes no difference to me. I use Quicksilver exclusively to launch programs. It's much more intuitive and efficient IMO. As I increase my reliance on Quicksilver, the dock becomes less relevant. Now I just let it auto-hide and stay out of the way completely.
That said, I suppose I could appreciate the dock more if I had an iMac or a larger monitor. - wedges, on 10/11/2007, -2/+8i'm looking forward to stacks, but i really wish they gave me the option of the dock appearance from Tiger. oh well.
- devindotcom, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Autohide is too slow, and provides no information on what apps are open, hidden, etc.
- ThinkFr33ly, on 10/11/2007, -7/+12Wow, you're a pompous ass.
- mym6, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Autohide is great, but is there anyway to define how quickly it responds? I find it's very slow to come up. Tooltips are the same in OS X, seems to take forever for a tooltip to popup.
- nunofgs, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5One complaint I have with the Stacks feature is that clicking a Folder while viewing a Stack opens the folder in the Finder. This is certainly not what I expect.
Here's an example. You can drop your entire home folder onto the Dock and it becomes a Stack. When you click on it, you'll see folders like: "Desktop", "Documents", "Library", "Movies", etc.
If you decide to click on one of them, in my opinion, it should readjust the size of the Stack "translucent window" and display the items inside the folder.
Not so. It just opens the folder in the Finder, making Folders inside Stacks completely useless for me. - pilot3033, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6The same people who put every application they have ever used into the dock.
However, I tend to minimize windows if I only want to put them away for a second or two, and I do it pretty rarely now because of exposé. Now it's usually just for video files that I'm watching. When I need to do something else quickly, I minimize it, and keep an eye on it in the dock (as it keeps playing). - altf13, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Well, I was genuinely interested until the Windows bashing. I really hope the Mac community (at least the vocal part) learns to grow up sometime soon.
- skidooer, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5The desktop concept is such that only the files you are working with sit there. Like paper on your physical desk. When you are done with it you will file it away to a more appropriate location. As long as you stick to this workflow the desktop will never become messy.
- tablelegs, on 10/11/2007, -5/+10Should be an option to have the black triangles and not the glowing dots.
- betterth, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Gotcha. I assumed that was the point because I'm used to having my open programs listed on screen. I like expose, but I hate having to push a button just to see whats open.
- pwrstick, on 10/11/2007, -3/+7Leopard dock resembles Sun's dock:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/12/leopard-dock-re ... - geoffp, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Actually, I think the article made really good points about the efficient use of space, and how the Dock really can (and often does) combine the functions of Windows' quick launch bar, task bar, and system tray.
It's not without its share of problems. As you say, organizationally, it's sometimes questionable, although there are never "control panel icons" in there, just sometimes an icon for System Preferences, which is an application like all the rest on the large left side of the Dock. The Trash fits in nicely with other folder aliases on the right side, since the Trash is itself just a folder. I do object to minimized windows being stuck right next to those, though. Doesn't fit.
By and large, I tend to prefer the Windows taskbar until I have more than 4 or 5 windows open, which is always...so I guess I prefer the Dock. - darkcooger, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Same situation - Mac at home, Windows at work. I prefer getting at my open windows with Expose because I can identify them by looking at them rather than trying to read the title of the window in the taskbar. I don't have a problem with the taskbar, though (but I do use ObjectDock and hide the taskbar completely now).
- ptFoe, on 10/17/2007, -2/+6AWN is better
- danasghar, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I guess to each his own, but I for one love the dock. I can readily put the applications that I use on a regular basis so they are at my fingertips and moments notice andunlike Windows I dont have to go back to the desktop or go routing through the start menu. I can be in the middle of using an application, move my mouse to the bottom of the screen...my dock appears and i go from there. Move my pointer away and the dock disappears. For me its fantastic. It can be moved and resized as well. Its beautiful and im really looking forward to stacks.
- natenovs, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4yeh, like with this
http://www.stardock.com/products/objectdock/ - windmillninja, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Good thing I'm already used to keeping it on the bottom. That just doesn't seem like it would look right riding the left hand side.
- skidooer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Either Cmd+Click the folder or hold down the mouse button for a while and what you seek will appear.
- Karmavs, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3In this particular case, taking up space is okay - because stacks are only visible when you're using them. Making them larger means larger targets for the mouse, which is a win for useability. It means larger icons, which is a win for aesthetics…
And about Pathfinder: Yes, PathFinder has more features (some would call this 'bloat'…) But which one is better for your average Mac user? The one with 4 different drawers, a double sidebar, a double bottom bar, a built in terminal, in-line permissions editing… or the one that is fast, is easy, and stays out of the way? A file manager should do as little as possible (in a sense) - it's there only as the path to other programs. It shouldn't try to be the other programs at the same time (text editor, terminal, activity monitor… different apps? nope, available inside every pathfinder window, cluttering up the interface) - mym6, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Hey great, thanks so much. I was reading the article about Apple's Dock in Leopard and it struck me, if I am ever chased by a leopard I'm going to need new shoes! Thanks for targeting your ad so smrtly.
- blocguy, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5Aye, apparently they can't get drivers to not work yet.
- digid, on 11/10/2007, -0/+3the new dock looks retarded on the left side of the screen. I'm a fan of the dock on the left to maximize my workspace. Why squeeze all the apps into smaller vertical space when monitors have so much more horizontal resolution?
- wiihuck, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3they're not better than that.
- natenovs, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4but quick launch is the same thing. only it takes up less space. to each his own, of course, and you can like what ever you like, but seriously, there's no difference between the dock and quick launch.
- neodorian, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Be prepared to be buried. I mentioned AWN and it didn't go over so well. Kinda silly in a thread discussing the merits and detriments of different docks and taskbars.
- the_snitch, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3care to elaborate?
- astrosmash, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Some more history:
NEXTSTEP 4.0 Beta (unreleased), Dock with stacks: http://www.shawcomputing.net/resources/next/softwa ...
WIndows 95 Beta: The task bar is basically just a simple dock that contains only Application shortcuts.
http://toastytech.com/guis/chic58.html -
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