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Where do you keep your dock?

  • At the default position on the bottom of the screen.

    Votes: 102 53.7%
  • On the left

    Votes: 29 15.3%
  • On the right

    Votes: 8 4.2%
  • On the bottom, but hidden...

    Votes: 51 26.8%

  • Total voters
    190

mscriv

macrumors 601
Aug 14, 2008
4,923
602
Dallas, Texas
Not just on my 17" MBP, but on all of my macs the dock is on the bottom, with autohide and slight magnification. That's what works best for me.
 

Anuba

macrumors 68040
Feb 9, 2005
3,790
393
I keep going back and forth between bottom (with the hideous 3D replaced by black 2D as on the vertical dock) and left... it's in the way no matter where I put it, but I don't want auto-hide, so... the dock is nice but it's kind of irksome to have both a dock and a menu bar stealing space from content. I like it better in Windows where the two are combined (to a degree) as one taskbar. In Windows I accept it the way it is (as do 99%, only some rare specimen move the taskbar to the top), which tells me they've made a good design choice. In OS X, I keep changing the layout without finding the ultimate happy spot, which suggests to me it's a flawed solution, albeit good looking.
 

sesnir

macrumors 6502
Sep 21, 2008
366
287
I keep my dock on the right... I never need Safari to extend all the way across the screen horizontally, but vertically there's always a need for more room. It just makes sense.
 

Anuba

macrumors 68040
Feb 9, 2005
3,790
393
how does one make the taskbar at the screen bottom appear 2D?

Open Terminal and enter

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES; killall Dock

This means that you say no to glass (you get semi-translucent black instead). The "killall" part is to restart the dock with its new appearance.

If you don't like the result, just write

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean NO; killall Dock

to return to the 3D dock.
 

mox123

macrumors 6502
Jul 18, 2007
259
1
Chicago
Open Terminal and enter

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES; killall Dock

This means that you say no to glass (you get semi-translucent black instead). The "killall" part is to restart the dock with its new appearance.

If you don't like the result, just write

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean NO; killall Dock

to return to the 3D dock.

Awesome! I do like the 2D look better
 

TheSpaz

macrumors 604
Jun 20, 2005
7,032
1
Awesome! I do like the 2D look better

Take a look at my image again. It's not the normal 2D Dock. It has a glass bezel around it (like the menus) instead of just a white line. It also has triangle indicators for running apps.

attachment.php
 

mox123

macrumors 6502
Jul 18, 2007
259
1
Chicago
Take a look at my image again. It's not the normal 2D Dock. It has a glass bezel around it (like the menus) instead of just a white line. It also has triangle indicators for running apps.

attachment.php

Hmm. How come in my 2D version I still have the shining blue ball as indications for running apps? My dock doesn't have the triangular indicators.:confused:
 

wayland1985

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 16, 2008
551
27
Hmm. How come in my 2D version I still have the shining blue ball as indications for running apps? My dock doesn't have the triangular indicators.:confused:

Because his is a custom made dock. You're just running a hidden Mac OSX dock.
 

looman9635

macrumors member
Jun 5, 2009
76
0
hull, england
I'm a PC but...

I use rocket dock on my pc (dont worry im hopefully getting a mac soon ;)

i have it on the bottom, centered with magnification and autohide.
 

dubhe

macrumors 65816
May 1, 2007
1,304
10
Norwich, UK
Since reading this thread I have moved to the left-side. I suppose it makes sense, the aspect ratio of screens has evolved to the wider design, whereas before with a traditional screen it made sense to be at the bottom, now it is more economical to be at the side :)

Oh, and autohide takes too much time to pop up, so I don't use that feature.
 

wayland1985

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 16, 2008
551
27
As nice as it is to have the dock on the right (where I get the most screen real-estate), I still tend to default to the bottom position. For some reason my eyes dart to the bottom for my status updates (new mail, new IMs, etc).

But, I have found after starting this thread, that by making the dock as small as possible, I have gained quite a bit of extra space, while still having a useful-for-me location.

I mean, I can't see how many emails I have waiting, but at least with the red dots I can tell they're there! :D
 

TheSpaz

macrumors 604
Jun 20, 2005
7,032
1
How did you do that?

I got the Dock triangles from Max Rudberg's Dock (maxthemes.com) and I got the glass border from MacThemes forum (macthemes2.net).

I'm on my iPhone right now. I can't remember exacty what the glass Dock is called. Just try searching MacThemes.
 

EndlessMac

macrumors 6502
Aug 20, 2009
281
0
I prefer my dock on the bottom with the auto hide feature because I want as much screen space as possible. I did try the dock on the sides but I couldn't get used to it and with some applications with floating toolbars I like to position the toolbars on the sides so the dock just got in the way.
 

andrew upstairs

macrumors 6502
Feb 3, 2009
348
6
Downtown Los Angeles
I keep my dock on the right... I never need Safari to extend all the way across the screen horizontally, but vertically there's always a need for more room. It just makes sense.
I'm the opposite. I keep it on the bottom because I need more horizontal space than vertical space in my browser.

On my 17" I used to keep it hidden on the right, but with my 15" I keep it on the bottom.

Never with magnification.
 

xlii

macrumors 68000
Sep 19, 2006
1,867
121
Millis, Massachusetts
I'm curious to see where MB(P) users keep their dock. I've traditionally kept mine right at the bottom, but I'm wondering if there's a benefit to moving it to one of the sides, so you can use more screen space???

Let me know where you keep yours!

I keep my dock right next to my yacht
 

ndstrenge

macrumors regular
Aug 29, 2008
146
0
Open Terminal and enter

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES; killall Dock

This means that you say no to glass (you get semi-translucent black instead). The "killall" part is to restart the dock with its new appearance.

If you don't like the result, just write

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean NO; killall Dock

to return to the 3D dock.

I just did this and lost my stacks window. (Actually, I always had my dock on the left, so I don't know if stacks ever opened in a translucent window from the bottom since I upgraded to SL.)

Now I'm stuck with the old leopard-style stacks and can't drill in. Anyone help?
 

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