Yes I agree. Everyone I know who has looked at Leopard screen shots thinks the new dock looks very cool. I would also like to be able to get proper scroll bars in iTunes instead of the funny flattened grey ones. The blue scroll bars are one of the most visually nice things about OS X.
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Mac OS X Leopard 9A581's Dock Visual Tweaks
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Apple makes a DUMb move.
This last minute change is so dumb I am finding it very hard to believe Apple actually did it.
In the first place, there was nothing "wrong" with the perspective of the dock on the side because there is no accurate or sensible 3D perspective in the entire system. It's primarily isometric. At the very least, the perspective dock on the side has exactly the same amount of 3-D "realism" as it does on the bottom. If one argues that it's wrong on the side, one must also argue that it's wrong on the bottom. The entire GUi is "wrong" in this way in that light. There are no "lights" that create the drop shadows, no "proper" perspective anywhere, and as others pointed out previously, by the same logic all the icons should fall into a pile at the bottom of your screen.
Secondly, all this has done is introduce an interface inconsistency. That's just plain stupid. The only way around it is to let people choose between the two looks regardless of where their dock is. A good designer designs something based on strong heuristics or design principles, not on how many people whine the loudest about what. Anyone who has actually designed something can tell you that it has nothing to do with just taking a list of "wants" from the users and trying to implement as many as possible. We all know there are going to be a dozen shareware dock modifiers a week after Leopard is out anyway. Apple should have let those people define the "alternative" dock looks IMO.
Finally, when you start to cave into whiners and complainers you open up a Pandora's box of trouble as can be seen on this very thread. Not two seconds after it's done, you already have people wanting even more. Already there are posts whining about how they want the same look on the bottom, and what about those like myself (and others on this thread), that actually like the dock on the side and want the 3-D effect?
If it turns out that this is just an option for either the side or the top, then IMO it's a bit shameful of Apple to do it, but understandable. If however, as this article suggest, this look is only for the dock when it is on the side and cannot be changed, then it's the lamest, dumbest GUI decision I have heard of in a long time.
Me too!
This last minute change is so dumb I am finding it very hard to believe Apple actually did it.
In the first place, there was nothing "wrong" with the perspective of the dock on the side because there is no accurate or sensible 3D perspective in the entire system. It's primarily isometric. At the very least, the perspective dock on the side has exactly the same amount of 3-D "realism" as it does on the bottom. If one argues that it's wrong on the side, one must also argue that it's wrong on the bottom. The entire GUi is "wrong" in this way in that light. There are no "lights" that create the drop shadows, no "proper" perspective anywhere, and as others pointed out previously, by the same logic all the icons should fall into a pile at the bottom of your screen.
Secondly, all this has done is introduce an interface inconsistency. That's just plain stupid. The only way around it is to let people choose between the two looks regardless of where their dock is. A good designer designs something based on strong heuristics or design principles, not on how many people whine the loudest about what. Anyone who has actually designed something can tell you that it has nothing to do with just taking a list of "wants" from the users and trying to implement as many as possible. We all know there are going to be a dozen shareware dock modifiers a week after Leopard is out anyway. Apple should have let those people define the "alternative" dock looks IMO.
Finally, when you start to cave into whiners and complainers you open up a Pandora's box of trouble as can be seen on this very thread. Not two seconds after it's done, you already have people wanting even more. Already there are posts whining about how they want the same look on the bottom, and what about those like myself (and others on this thread), that actually like the dock on the side and want the 3-D effect?
If it turns out that this is just an option for either the side or the top, then IMO it's a bit shameful of Apple to do it, but understandable. If however, as this article suggest, this look is only for the dock when it is on the side and cannot be changed, then it's the lamest, dumbest GUI decision I have heard of in a long time.
Not if this is the only difference they've been able to find from the previous build.
If apple makes this dock a option for the bottom it would be really nice to see the silver border as a reflective border!
The scroll bars are fine... its iTunes thats the problem.
The scroll bars are fine... its iTunes thats the problem.
Now this I like!
I never minded the 3D shelf, at the bottom OR the sides, but it did take up a bit more space on the screen (unless you use smaller icons or hide the dock). This new side-dock looks like it takes about the same space as the old one. Nice.
The Dock belongs on the left, safely away from all scrollbars and accidental clicks, and leaving the vertical height of the screen fully available for scrolling long documents And hiding is great, but space at left and right is not at such a premium. I'd rather not hide: a visible dock shows me running apps at a glance, and allows me to click my most-used apps much more quickly than I can with a hidden dock.
The bottom dock looks cool, but I'll file it away with the Genie effect (I prefer the nice fast Scale) and magnification: fun, but it's more productive for me not to use them.
Agreed. My only objection to the 3D shelf was a little waste of screen space. Visually I like both styles.
Offering a choice in BOTH locations would be nice, but not important to me. There is a choice--that's the main thing.
I do believe this is true, as Daring Fireball hinted at it a couple days ago.
I never minded the 3D shelf, at the bottom OR the sides, but it did take up a bit more space on the screen (unless you use smaller icons or hide the dock). This new side-dock looks like it takes about the same space as the old one. Nice.
The Dock belongs on the left, safely away from all scrollbars and accidental clicks, and leaving the vertical height of the screen fully available for scrolling long documents
And hiding is great, but space at left and right is not at such a premium. I'd rather not hide: a visible dock shows me running apps at a glance, and allows me to click my most-used apps much more quickly than I can with a hidden dock.The bottom dock looks cool, but I'll file it away with the Genie effect (I prefer the nice fast Scale) and magnification: fun, but it's more productive for me not to use them.
Agreed. My only objection to the 3D shelf was a little waste of screen space. Visually I like both styles.
Offering a choice in BOTH locations would be nice, but not important to me. There is a choice--that's the main thing.
I do believe this is true, as Daring Fireball hinted at it a couple days ago.
Which is all fine and dandy for power users, but I would still be somewhat pissed if the Dock wasn't polished for those who don't use their own launcher.
Praise the Lord ...Holaluya(sp).... now if I can only turn it off on the bottom as an option.
Call me plain
Call me plain
I bet if you took a survey, that 95% + of all Apple owners would be users of the dock.
Even if I am off by an astoundingly, ridiculously, impossibly HUGE amount, ... it's still self-evident that more people use it than don't.
*less* choice now actually
By doing this, Apple has actually reduced your choices. You always could use it on the side, but now you are forced to use the ugly plain version if you do.
Uh, ... who exactly was "forcing" you to use it on the bottom? It was your choice all along.
By doing this, Apple has actually reduced your choices. You always could use it on the side, but now you are forced to use the ugly plain version if you do.
Agreed. Sorry to say, but Quicksilver is not for novice users, and I think people forget that. The dock is really easy to understand, so it serves a good purpose. And I like how quickly I can not only launch and switch apps with the dock, but also see what's running just by looking down. It works really well on multiple levels.
Well, you can't really disable either the dock or the start menu in windows. Might as well use it.
Although it's true the start menu in windows is really seldom used. Maybe a little more in Vista since that spotlight thingy is buried in it. I like the dock, it shows you what's running and lots of apps give you nice info right in the dock icon like Mail (number of unread mails) and iCal (the actual date) or Activity Monitor (Mine is set to CPU history), eyeTV (red dot when it's recording something)... All things that you can see right there without having to click something. Icons in the dock can bounce if they require your attention, which is way better than having an annoying popup window getting in your way. I think the dock is a pretty powerful and useful tool. It's like Windows' desktop and start bar unified into one neat bar so you can have your desktop as temporary place for anything. I love putting my stuff there so I can neatly put it into folders later.
Good to know, although how is this "much faster" than clicking an icon on a dock?
-Zadillo
I'm aghast at the response to this minor GUI change! I have to admit I'm struggling to see the 'big deal' so to speak... I would have preferred something a little more functionally substantial perhaps.
Seriously?
Does this honestly make THAT much of a difference, the visual appearance of the dock?
Nice!
Now if someone can hack it (haxie or otherwise) so that it can look like this on the bottom, I will be ecstatic.
Not that it bothers me, per se, but how difficult is it to have a setting in Dock Prefs that offers this level of control? Simple toggle boxes. Or more iPhone "ON/OFF" sliders. Whatever.
Since moving from 9 to X, I feel I have less control over my environment than at any time I have used a Mac (since '91).
Maybe I'm just snippy about the Rockies ticket fiasco...
I can't believe that enough people complained that Apple decided to change it. Good for Apple to listen to to customers. I didn't ever think the side Dock was bad on Leopard.
That's the first screenshot I've seen of the 3D dock on the side.
I think the 3D dock looks better on the side than on the bottom! It's almost too bad Apple did this. It would have been better to make 2D/3D dock a preference for all positions...