The Dock pro/contra thread

[Mat]

I am creating a new thread for discussing the Dock. I really belive it is a huge step back. So here is why I think so:

First the Dock broke with the spacial metapher completely. It is mixing up program icons for launching, running applications, programs themselves, aliases, files, opened windows of the same and different programs, and special things like the trash.
So it is making things more complicated, it is unclear what it shall exactly be, and a kind of "doing everything, but nothing 100% stringent".
I even belive it is killing users independence. For example I know people having several applications running at the same time and wondering why the performance of the computer goes down massively, ... (EDIT: because the programs are just in the Dock, and all windows are closed, they don´t get anymore that the program itselve is running).

Than there is the problem that the UI of the Dock is crazy. It is simply wasting the space at the bottom of the screen. Either it has the entire high wasted (even the unused space left and right of the dock) what is especially nonsense at 16:10 screens (and not many people move it left or right side of the screen), or you configure it to move away, but then it comes out every time you move the mouse near to the bottom, ...
It is nasty. Especially with programs like XPress where the main toolbox is below the window. I for example move fast to the bottom and then the last few centimeters exactly to the right tool.
And you cannot use the computer completely without it. Or at least nobody could tell me where the "real" trash is then, ...

It is even possible to bring yourselve into a "deadlock". If you move a window (again like the small xpress toolbox) into the "space" of the dock, you cannot use it anymore as the Dock always moves out over the floating pallette. A huge design fault in my opinion (note, I just used Docks up to 10.5.8, perhaps it is better now?).

Then there is the ugly fancy animation all the time. I see it as completely unnecessary to see icons wobbeling around, while the application starts. As well the "close" animations are just using computing power, ... well I belive this thing got only produced to be fancy and "new" and to increase the new sellings. But from a user perspective it is ugly and indifferently.

    totaly crazy User interaction and huge faults like the senseless Dock. The Dock for example is a real Disaster regarding usability.

wtf. the dock is way better than the OS9 program menu ever was (except that you can not move it into a seperate window.)

Hmm what does "better" mean for you? I am not sure that you really used the program switcher with all its possibilities. For example you can use it exactly "just with Icons" at the bottom of the screen for program switching. If you use it with holding ALT down, switching is an incredible fast workflow, and you get the entire program with all it´s opened windows, and do not need to open/close every window.

worst of the OS9 program menu is that it is an extension, so it can not be restarted when it crashes.

  That is perhaps a treu point. But I never got it to crash, so that the finder istselve is still working. Did you?

if you want to see something really shitty, try windows 8. there you can not even open documents by dragging them on a program icon in the task bar.

Haha, I didn´t know this Crazy!

EDIT: after reading the posting again, I got that I need to write more positive postings about my Mac usage, otherwise it is possible to create an image "as the guy who is only on his personal crusade against X"  :-p

[GaryN]

EDIT: after reading the posting again, I got that I need to write more positive postings about my Mac usage, otherwise it is possible to create an image "as the guy who is only on his personal crusade against X"  :-p

Finally! Something I can agree with! I just knew that if I kept reading I'd find some common ground…

[Mat]

It may sound hard, and perhaps because of my bad english a little bit rude like I wrote it. But I really think that my analysis is not that bad.

Of course everybody is free to like the Dock. There are even mathamticians or physicians whom I belive that typing unix commands and this extra abstraction layer is suited to the way they are thinking and how their brains are working.

[GaryN]

Mat, I've got to admit I just don't get you. Going back to your "serious OSX bashing" post and even before, you seem to have a deep hatred of all things OSX that are there to make it possible for the average user to operate the Unix-based OS without ever having to type a command line. This design philosophy is and always has been at the very root of the Macintosh OS. It is what makes the computer accessible to the masses and is arguably absolutely what is responsible for the success of the Mac.

All of this:

Than there is the problem that the UI of the Dock is crazy. It is simply wasting the space at the bottom of the screen. Either it has the entire high wasted (even the unused space left and right of the dock) what is especially nonsense at 16:10 screens (and not many people move it left or right side of the screen), or you configure it to move away, but then it comes out every time you move the mouse near to the bottom, ...
It is nasty. Especially with programs like XPress where the main toolbox is below the window. I for example move fast to the bottom and then the last few centimeters exactly to the right tool.
And you cannot use the computer completely without it. Or at least nobody could tell me where the "real" trash is then, ...

It is even possible to bring yourselve into a "deadlock". If you move a window (again like the small xpress toolbox) into the "space" of the dock, you cannot use it anymore as the Dock always moves out over the floating pallette. A huge design fault in my opinion (note, I just used Docks up to 10.5.8, perhaps it is better now?).

Then there is the ugly fancy animation all the time. I see it as completely unnecessary to see icons wobbeling around, while the application starts. As well the "close" animations are just using computing power, ... well I belive this thing got only produced to be fancy and "new" and to increase the new sellings. But from a user perspective it is ugly and indifferently.

Is adjustable - to your liking quickly and easily in system prefs and always has been. Not to mention the plethora of free or almost free utilities (TinkerTool, Onyx, Cocktail etc) that allow you to virtually wipe the dock out of existence if it bothers you so much.

This is also part of that "design philosophy" - allowing users to customize and tweak their interface as they like it. Again, without even having to type a single line of code.

What's not to like about this? Have you really never figured out how to move the damn thing out of your way? I don't believe that. I don't believe you can actually use a fairly complex app like Xpress and yet not be able to make your Mac workspace more comfortable for your purposes.

Am I missing something?

[Protools5LEGuy]

I started using OS9 dock by hate/accident.

I was tired of all those OSX posts about "What's on my dock?" and when I discovered A-Dock I wanted to show them that OS9 was capable of wearing a dock.

The time has passed and I am used to it. Also to Greg's browser http://macos9lives.com/smforum/index.php?topic=1838.0. With both any OSX user can understand a OS9 machine. The GUI, at least.





There is some beauty on a MacOS 9 dock.

[Mat]

I don't believe you can actually use a fairly complex app like Xpress and yet not be able to make your Mac workspace more comfortable for your purposes.

Am I missing something?

Perhaps you are missing, that it is not my Mac if it runs OS X. So it cannot be "my Mac workspace"! Seriously, beside some months at the job, I never used it, and I never liked to learn all the possible "workarounds" for things that Mac OS 9 is doing better. And I hope you all agree, a Unix-system cannot be used seriously without commandline. Yes, you can run applications and use the standard desktop, but every deeper activity needs the command line in the end.
That means I have no machine running X and I will not because of all the drawbacks X would bring for me. Yes, perhaps there are possibilities like working without a Dock (BTW, please tell me exactly how!), but what for should I learn how to switch to a system to make it lookalike like my current system

Of course I know Gregs Browser, A-Dock and several others that make 9 working in some points like X, but as I think it is a bad user interface, I don´t use it. There are even possibilities to run full blown Unix Systems as a Mac OS 9 program (kind of the other way round X does). Good for those who like to work with Unix but I don´t use it.

Finally, I would be glad, not only to discuss about me, but also about my arguments why the Dock is crap. I started this thread because of IIOs initial statement at the other thread which compared the Dock and the program switcher. So I wanted to explain why I truely belive that the Dock is bad interface design, and other philosophies are a lot better.

[Protools5LEGuy]

I use A-Dock as I could use aliases in the desktop for launching apps, but I prefer to have all launchers in the dock and auto-hide it.  That gives me a cleaner desktop on both OS9&X.

But the truth is that it is easy to use as app switcher/manager if the mouse is on the bottom on the screen and you are faraway from keyboard.