An open community 
of Macintosh users,
for Macintosh users.

FineTunedMac Dashboard widget now available! Download Here

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Dock Population
#6278 12/03/09 12:07 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 3
dkmarsh Offline OP
Moderator
OP Offline
Moderator

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 3

Here are some polls intended to help kick off a discussion of how folks use their Docks. Yes, I know that I've omitted any questions regarding use of the right side of the Dock, probably because I use mine very little, so don't know what questions (RE Stacks, etc.) might be relevant.

Note that the polls deal only with quantifiable aspects of Dock use. Please feel free to expound on how you keep your Dock organized, whether you think the Dock should be deep-sixed, or any other subjective issues that interest you.




How many applications are kept in your Dock?
single choice
Votes accepted starting: 12/02/09 11:48 PM
You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.
What's the balance between Apple and third-party apps?
single choice
Votes accepted starting: 12/02/09 11:51 PM
You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.
How often do you use the Dock to switch between apps?
single choice
Votes accepted starting: 12/02/09 11:55 PM
You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.
Where is your Dock?
single choice
Votes accepted starting: 12/02/09 11:57 PM
You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.
Do you have magnification enabled?
single choice
Votes accepted starting: 12/02/09 11:59 PM
You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.
(10.5 and later) What's the geometry of your Dock?
single choice
Votes accepted starting: 12/03/09 12:03 AM
You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.


dkmarsh—member, FineTunedMac Co-op Board of Directors
Re: Dock Population
dkmarsh #6280 12/03/09 12:34 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
Online

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
I don't use my Dock at all.

It's there, but it's all but invisible. cool smile


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Dock Population
dkmarsh #6281 12/03/09 12:45 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 7
Online

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 7
My dock has the applications that I most frequently use. Mostly, similar apps are located next to each other (for example, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Bridge, or MS Word and MS Entourage). I opt to hide the dock so I can have maximum screen area. BTW, you might want to add a poll to see how many users hide the dock vs. have it constantly showing.

I store my Applications folder at the right side of the dock. When I need an app that is not already in the dock, it's a lot faster to access it that way rather than going to the hard drive and clicking Applications (or using the Go menu, for that matter). It also makes it easier to install applications that don't have an installer or don't have an alias to Applications in their window; I simply drag the application to the dock Applications folder.

In addition, I keep three frequently used folders at the right side so that I can quickly add files to them.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: Dock Population
artie505 #6283 12/03/09 12:47 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 3
dkmarsh Offline OP
Moderator
OP Offline
Moderator

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 3

Does that mean you never open files via drag and drop? Or do you accomplish drag and drop in some other way...?



dkmarsh—member, FineTunedMac Co-op Board of Directors
Re: Dock Population
dkmarsh #6284 12/03/09 12:50 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 14
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 14
I also group similar types of apps and have my Applications folder and often-used folders (usually 2, but adding others temporarily as needed).

There's 3D?

ryck

Last edited by ryck; 12/03/09 12:52 AM.

ryck

"What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits" The Doobie Brothers

iMac (Retina 5K, 27", 2020), 3.8 GHz 8 Core Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 2667 MHz DDR4
OS Ventura 13.6.3
Canon Pixma TR 8520 Printer
Epson Perfection V500 Photo Scanner c/w VueScan software
TM on 1TB LaCie USB-C
Re: Dock Population
ryck #6286 12/03/09 12:55 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 3
dkmarsh Offline OP
Moderator
OP Offline
Moderator

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 3

3D v. 2D Dock comparison.

Here's a comparison which shows the difference a bit more vivdly.

Last edited by dkmarsh; 12/03/09 12:58 AM. Reason: added link


dkmarsh—member, FineTunedMac Co-op Board of Directors
Re: Dock Population
dkmarsh #6288 12/03/09 01:45 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
Online

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
Originally Posted By: dkmarsh
Does that mean you never open files via drag and drop? Or do you accomplish drag and drop in some other way...?

Other than unpkg, which demands d&d, I open pretty much everything with hot-keys, deal with command-O and double-click when necessary, and use QuickLook to avoid all of the above when possible; I'm kinda trackpadphobic/keyboardcentric.

(I was trying to make the point that it would be interesting to see the response to a "No Dock!" option in your survey.)

Last edited by artie505; 12/03/09 02:05 AM. Reason: Clarification and last sentence

The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Dock Population
dkmarsh #6289 12/03/09 02:21 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
169 apps at the moment...


---

The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth. - Niels Bohr
Re: Dock Population
crarko #6293 12/03/09 03:13 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 3
dkmarsh Offline OP
Moderator
OP Offline
Moderator

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 3

Gee, only 2 new Dockworthy apps in three quarters of a year?!

I guess the Touch is siphoning off excess capacity. laugh



dkmarsh—member, FineTunedMac Co-op Board of Directors
Re: Dock Population
dkmarsh #6296 12/03/09 03:59 AM
Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 16
Moderator
Offline
Moderator

Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 16
I use the Dock primarily as an application launcher and switch between apps and/or windows using Exposé unless the app is hidden or the window minimized. In any case the number of apps on my Dock is misleading because one of those is Overflow an application and document launcher that I currently have configured with 9 categories and up to 20 apps/files in each.

Only those apps I use several times each and every day such as Mail, Safari, iCal, AddressBook, Parallels, Overflow and a few others are on the Dock itself, but of the 234 apps and utilities on my system, all but a relatively small number of very seldom/never used ones are accessible and launched through the Dock and Overflow.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Dock Population
dkmarsh #6300 12/03/09 07:34 AM
Joined: Sep 2009
Offline

Joined: Sep 2009
Originally Posted By: dkmarsh
Yes, I know that I've omitted any questions regarding use of the right side of the Dock, probably because I use mine very little, so don't know what questions (RE Stacks, etc.) might be relevant.

Stacks vastly enhanced the Dock's utility for me. Since 10.5 introduced them, i always have these four Stacks on the bottom of my (right-side) Dock:

• frequent folders
• frequent apps
• frequent files
• frequent searches

They are all configured thusly: "Display as folder (so i can use a distinctive icon to quickly identify the stack)" and "View content as grid" (for nice big icons to click or easily navigate via letter or arrow keys)"

Sure, i use Spark (and FastScripts) for shortcut keys to many things... but there are only a limited number of letters (and numbers) to use for ctrl-shift-shortcut launching. (That's probably why so many loved Quicksilver -- e.g., type ps for PhotoShop). But Stacks really made the Dock a more useful "launcher" (i.e., including dozens of frequent folders, docs and searches) for my money.

--

BTW... for anyone wanting to try that, here's my approach:
While the "searches" stack is simply made by dropping the ~/Library/Saved Searches folder on the dock... the folders, apps and docs stacks are all synthesized by creating folders full of aliases (a la Launcher from System 7.5). Here's an abbreviated peek into the hierarchy:
Code:
myStacks/
	links_to_apps/
		Dictionary@
		LittleSnitch@
		:
		:

	links_to_files/
		Sven Porst on Time Machine.rtfd@
		process substitution tricks.rtf@
		:
		:

	links_to_folders/
		macosxhints@
		var-Tmp-@
		:
		:


The names ending with / are folders (so it's one folder there with three subfolders). The names ending with @ are aliases (actually i use Unix symlinks to save tons of space, but they don't "self-heal" like Finder aliases do). The "myStacks" parent folder could go anywhere (though somewhere in the home folder is advisable). We could even hide it by starting its name with a period.

Finally, give each of the three "links_to_*" subfolders a distinctive icon and drag them to the dock (individually). Populate with aliases as needed.

Last edited by Hal Itosis; 12/03/09 06:29 PM.
Re: Dock Population
dkmarsh #6370 12/04/09 10:34 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Originally Posted By: dkmarsh

Gee, only 2 new Dockworthy apps in three quarters of a year?!

I guess the Touch is siphoning off excess capacity. laugh


I've probably trashed a few from there as they broke under OS upgrades. smile


---

The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth. - Niels Bohr
Re: Dock Population
dkmarsh #6416 12/06/09 01:24 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
Moderator
Offline
Moderator

Joined: Aug 2009
My Dock is modified using Leopard Transparent Dock.

The right side holds customized templates for AppleWorks and Pages and frequently used folders which contain a picture named, for example, 0 Rainbow Apple.jpg.


Back up everything you can't afford to lose: documents, mail, movies, music, photos, and other data and settings.

Moderated by  alternaut, cyn 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.4
(Release build 20200307)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.4.33 Page Time: 0.036s Queries: 53 (0.025s) Memory: 0.6851 MB (Peak: 0.8388 MB) Data Comp: Zlib Server Time: 2024-03-28 12:24:20 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS