Hint: How to redesign the Leopard dock so it sucks less
Disclaimer: Leopard is still under NDA so I can't discuss anything that Apple hasn't already made public knowledge on their website.
The dock has always been one of those sort of 'live with it', rather than 'love it' features of OS X. Right from the start it's had pointless special effects like the magnifying icons, but in Leopard it really takes the biscuit. From the demo given by Steve Jobs at WWDC and from the public screenshots on Apple's website you can see how. It screws with developer's expensive and painstakingly created icons by adding not one, but two awful fake shadows, a reflection and a weird shelf look which doesn't fit in with the the actual perspective of any of the icons (as others have discussed). If all these failings weren't bad enough it now reflects windows dragged near it as well incase the cacophony of visual noise wasn't enough already.
Less is more
From Apple's products you generally get the idea that they understand the concept of 'less is more', just look at the iPhone with its super elegant, simple interface or the iMac or any of their other minimalist designs. Yet the Leopard dock shows none of this design subtly or elegance, trading it in for crass visual effects. So perturbed was I, that I decided to have a go at redesigning the dock. I set myself the following design goals:
- Create a clear separation between the app launcher and document shortcut features
- Allow for easier and more intuitive resizing
- More clearly identify active applications
- Happily coexistence with existing icon styles
- Improve the appearance of stack icons
- Avoid superfluous visual effects
And here it is:
I'm pretty happy with it and other developers I've shown it to seem to prefer it over Apple's offering. My hope is that through this exercise someone at Apple who has some sway over these things might at least reconsider some of the junk they've thrown into the dock. Failing that I guess we'll have a new acronym come October - FTFD. Finder lovers will know what that means!
posted by Rory Prior @ 9:26 PM
74 comments
74 Comments:
I almost wonder if the Dock shouldn't look like the Widget bar in Dashboard. Not as big, mind you, but the same general idea: a visually recessed area that lies "below" the desktop. One advantage of doing it that way would be that you could have the whole area around an icon have an effect when clicked/dragged, not just the non-transparent parts. Also, you could use different coloring on the background behind the icon to indicate "active", "hidden", or "not running".
The iPhone dock is already similar to the Dashboard widget area, although, with the iPhone, you have to wonder why there's both a Dock AND a widget list above it… Anyhow, I think it would make sense.
Looks good to me! I especially like the window-style resize indicator.
The trouble now though is that having shown these things off at WWDC it would be mighty hard for Apple to say "OK, we were wrong" and change the dock before GM day. I'm just praying for a System Preference to return to the old dock.
Wonderful - that's even quite attractive. I cannot stand the Leopard dock, and think that would be much of an improvement.
Stacks needs a lot of help, though. It's the worst part of the new dock - things that were relatively easy to do with the pop-up menus in Tiger now assault you with big blobs full of icons that take a long while to comprehend. I think it's so badly implemented they may as well give up on the feature until they come up with an interface for it that works with more than five or so items per "stack".
I'd be perfectly happy with a Leopard Dock without the reflections and grafted-on shadows and with a reasonable Stacks overlay. I actually quite like the perspective edges themselves, it's the rest of the fixin's I can't stand.
Like I told you, I'd like your Dock's resizing handle to not be diagonal, since that implies controlling, independently, two axis values, and you're just controlling one with the other one following when you're resizing the Dock. (Yes, some regular windows are fixed-ratio too and don't carry special resizing handles, but *all* Docks are fixed-ratio. ;))
Jesper in the end I decided it was better to go with something more easily recognisable as a resize handle. I don't think it matters too much that it resizes using a fixed ratio.
I'm back on Tiger for a couple days after using the Leopard Preview pretty much since WWDC. Maybe I'm the only one, but I don't think the new dock is too bad. To me, the Tiger dock looks like total garbage now... it's really flat, compressed, the icons just sort of float there without any base and look cluttered.
With the Leopard dock, I definitely like the perspective look, and the glowing orbs that show which app is open. And I'm not sure how exactly it works, but in my opinion, icons look a lot better in the Leopard dock. To be honest, I never noticed the extra shadows it added until someone pointed it out, and even then I wasn't bothered by it. Anyways, I think maybe the extra reflections and curved highlight thing across the dock add some extra clutter, and reduces the contrast between icon shapes, so they fit better together.
The only icon that didn't really fit in was Numbers, which seems like it defies all of Apple's guidelines for icons, especially in terms of perspectives. Not really sure what they were thinking with that one.
Your dock is definitely an improvement over Tiger (especially the 2px lighter borders and rounded corners), but I think the glowing orbs and perspective look are pretty sweet too.
I agree with suitcase about Stacks... I think they could use some work... but I started to get used to them after a couple weeks, especially how wicked convenient the Downloads stack is. I'm not sure I like how a small stack curves though... it seems like it makes it harder to hit the targets with your mouse and read the text.
I love your new dock but consider this: icons OUTSIDE the dock?... is that serious?... having half icon outside the dock area would be nuts... they'll be over the status bar of my windows. Also, i'll keep clicking them trying to click something else... i think that's a huge flaw...
Mike I think a lot of the visual issues with the dock aren't always apparent, it's the same with the transparent menu bar - it's some what dependent on your desktop picture. It makes sense that after awhile you get used to these things but it doesn't really justify them being wrong in the first place. I think the dock being half height in Leopard does help distinguish between the individual icons which is one of the reasons I decided to keep that effect in my design.
I agree the Numbers icon looks totally weird, like something pulled from Windows XP or something. It would look much better if it shared the same straight on angle as the other iWork icons and used a metaphor rather than a spreadsheet document and graph. I get the feeling who ever used to be in charge of icon design and such at Apple has left the company or been sidelined.
Ronald - the same thing happens now if you drag a window's status bar behind the dock, it's still going to take up the same visual space on the screen whether it has a full height background or none at all.
It would also be nice if the frontmost active application had a different shape and color indicator beneath it. TinkerTool exposed a setting to color the front app's triangle blue until (I assume) the functionality was removed by Apple.
Semi-transparent icons for hidden apps are also useful.
Well, I'm a developer myself, but honestly, between all Dock designs, I prefer the current one. Why changes something that works well AND looks good?
Looks good! I don't expect Apple to significantly change the Dock before GM, but maybe your mockup has life as a Leopard hack. The spacing and resize handle are very nice details.
Jesper’s comment reminds me that Mac OS 9 supported horizontal-only and vertical-only zoom boxes. I noticed them used in a grand total of one (system-provided) app. The grow handle affordance remained diagonal, though.
I really think the Dock should be a background behind all of the icon. Anything else will put the recognisability of an icon at the mercy of the desktop background.
How would your screenshot look with a desktop background in a shade of blue? How would the green Coda icon look on the grass background?
Most good icons are designed to work against multiple background colours. Remember the icons need to work when viewed on the desktop itself and potentially against any colour or background picture the user may have specified for their Finder windows. A simple drop shadow or edge highlights usually do the trick.
One thing I've been wondering since I saw the announcement at WWDC: How does the new Leopard dock look when it's not positioned at the bottom of the screen? It seems to me that every discussion I've seen about the new dock (positive and negative) avoids the subject entirely. The whole concept of a 'shelf upon which icons sit' only makes sense when your dock is at the bottom of your screen.
Considering an extremely large number of the displays attached to a Mac these days are going to be 16:9, it surprises me that anybody would even consider giving up precious vertical screen real estate. If the fancy new dock forces me pin it to the bottom edge of my screen, it fails despite any redeeming features it may have.
To stay on topic - The mockup you've come up with is positionally agnostic and looks great.
I like it.
Looking forward to seeing what you will finally release. I'm definitely not a fan of the super eye candy of the current Leopard re-design of the dock.
Nice job taking initiative!
Keith: It looks no worse on the side of the screen, to me.
Having actually used Leopard quite a bit, I have to say that the new dock actually looks really good. I think most of the negative reactions are coming from screenshot/webcast analysis.
The stacks are quite useful as well, although more polish is needed.
No offense, but your dock looks like something from a half baked theme, not a viable dock replacement.
I think more people need to spend time with the developer preview before badmouthing it.
Anonymous: As an ADC developer I have the Leopard developer builds and I know exactly how badly it looks and works in them. I'm not exactly sure what your definition of a half baked theme is either, the point with this design is to skip all the pointless reflections and shadows in the Leopard dock to produce something works better. Are you a user interface designer? If so I'd love to hear some useful comments on how the design could be improved.
Whenever we have these conversations, I sigh and cheer at the same time. I sigh because, ultimately, this is a minor issue. Even the FFTF changes are relatively minor compared to Windows.
I smile because this is what we're reduced to. Unlike a proper OS full of cruft and crap, we're complaining about the default theme of a UI component. OS X is so good that we complain about looks and minor functionality changes in the UI.
Top-notch work. If Apple doesn't take the hint from the plethora of anger & upset surrounding the new dock, maybe you could release this as a dock mod? Not quite what most would hope for, but I would download it on day one, even pay for it.
Thanks for your work, looks great.
Your dock looks good... very good, in fact. It looks as if Apple made it... natural progression, more usability. Now, if you only had a suggestion for their menubar too?
John the only thing that needs fixing with the menu bar is making it 100% opaque again, it doesn't really need a picture to spell it out ;)
Will your Dock replacement squirm around underneath the mouse cursor when something appears or disappears from it, causing my click to hit the wrong icon? 'Cause Apple's Dock did that today, and it ticked me off.
Agree with SuitCase about Stacks. They work for half a dozen files, but the loss of dock folder menus makes Leopard virtually unusable if you are accustomed to navigating large project folders (or a crowded Applications folder) from the Dock.
s/concaphony/cacophony/
Am I the only one who likes the dock on the right side of the screen instead of the bottom? Since the screen is much wider than it is tall, the dock on the side takes up less usable space and lets you make your document windows taller so you can see more of your document.
"No offense, but your dock looks like something from a half baked theme, not a viable dock replacement."
I'm genuinely not trying to be rude, but this was my impression as well. It just looks clumsy and unrefined regardless of its merits.
Grover - I don't object to criticism I just don't like sweeping statements. What's clumsy about it, what's unrefined? How would I make it look more refined in your opinion? That's useful feedback.
I'd love it if Leopard allowed us to avoid its dock altogether and allow us to use something infinitely more customizable, such as the venerable DragThing.
Interesting approach, but I have to say that I like Apple's implementation better (except for those unfortunate, odd-looking drop-shadows).
Your implementation, while simple and nicely designed, IMO makes the icons feel too floaty.
Honestly, I've been waiting for Apple to add some dimensionality to the Dock for some time now. It seems like a pretty natural progression, even if it's largely cosmetic.
Rory, it looks like a couple of Mac OS 9 Finder popup windows. It does not look like a modern design. It's something about those rounded corners.
Amazing, I wish Apple would use it. But Unfortunately I know they wont.
I'll remain anonymous so as to not claim having used a legal copy of Leopard.
However, I do want to say that I find your mock up quite appealing over the dock I've been using in Leopard.
One of my biggest problems with the new Leopard dock is it's angled edges. This is bad not only from a design perspective (and how it doesn't go along with Apple's standards), but also from a space-saving perspective. Having a relatively full dock, I need all the dock space I can afford, but being stuck to the confines of my laptop screen (and no external monitors), I find that angling the corners forces me to use the dock with its icons at a less than optimal size, and not be able to utilize screen space on the sides of the dock if I make it smaller.
It's something I'm having a hard time explaining, so it may not make much sense to a lot of you, but it's just a visual disaster in my eyes.
I agree also that most of the visual effects thrown in make the User Experience barf-worthy. The reflection is neat, but unnecessary. Also, the color and brightness, not to mention size, of the bright glowing running application indicator makes it nearly impossible to see which Apps are running, at least at a fast glance.
Now, everyone who's curious about the left or right-pinned docks, the speculation is right. It looks absolutely crummy on the edges of your screen... so bad, in fact, that I've been modifying my Tiger usage so as to not waste time on that when Leopard does come out!
The main reason it looks horrible, though, is because of the effects thrown in for a bottom-edge dock. The reflections of the icons from the left or right look worse than the reflections added to the bottom of the icons. And the lighting of the icons and dock itself is much more laughable when the dock is on one of the sides of the screen.
Overall I find your changes to the dock much nicer.
I'd like refinements to it overall, but I can't place my finger on exactly what it is I don't like. It's a 8 out of 10 in my book.
This is an improvement over the Leopard dock as far as I can tell from the screenshots and movies I've seen. I don't really see it as an improvement over the current doc. I do like the half height background, just don't see it as amazing. However if Apple decides to take it, or a variation, over the "shelf" in Leopard then I will be happy. Or less grumpy.
The looks of the new dock really aren't my biggest concern. I actually have a very small dock, parked at the bottom of my screen and shoved all the way to the right thanks to Tinkertool, the only tweak I've actually kept since my migration from OS 9. I have four folders of grouped applications and all of 7 actually applications directly in the doc. I have no idea how the stacks interface will work with my setup. I only hope that the standard right click will open a list like the current dock and that a left click will have the new stack interface.
I think your dock is simple and as you say more in line with Apple's minimalistic design
Your dock is an improvement over the Vista version in Leopard, but it needs is to extend all the way to the edges of the screen so that the corners aren't wasted as they are now. It also needs icon alignment options — left, right, centered, and justified.
I second hamza. If Apple doesn't fix this before release day I would be very grateful if this could be released as a mod. It looks great, and IMHO certainly makes more sense than the exsisting Leopard dock.
Now the million dollar question -- will you come up with a hack that changes Leopard dock because rest assured Apple won't do it.
I don't think the dock looks bad. I like that it has a different, more extreme perspective because the active window now pops out further.
Perhaps the vanishing point should be modified to provide the same perspective as the icons are supposed to, but I don't know if that would actually look better or worse. With the Leopard dock, icons still DO stand out, and I dont' think i would have really noticed that their perspective was different to the dock's anyway unless Stuber had called it out.
As for your dock design, making a complete separation of the Application and Document sides, the providing only one resizer (and one that implies two-dimensional resizing for an operation that has only 1 df). And I do think it's flatness will be lost when an active window is behind or even near it: which will look like the frontmost? Will they look like they live in the same layer? (i.e., won't your dock look like just another window?)
My initial reaction to seeing the new presentation demonstrated was a "huh?", but after using it and then going back to Tiger, I was surprised at how flat and indisstinguishable the elements were. I MUCH prefer the more obvious active window in Leopard, and I think the dock maintains a proper distinction from that new, more obvious active window.
Your app/folders gap - well done , adds clarity to the dock structure - and the resize handle? - OK that looks familiar too. But the most glaring omission is - you are still leaving the trashcan in the dock at all. It needs to be anchored, like it used to be. The Apple menu doesn't slide around, and neither should the trash. Bad user interface design - bad, bad, bad.
Your app/folders gap - well done , adds clarity to the dock structure - and the resize handle? - OK that looks familiar too. But the most glaring omission is - you are still leaving the trashcan in the dock at all. It needs to be anchored, like it used to be. The Apple menu doesn't slide around, and neither should the trash. Bad user interface design - bad, bad, bad.
I like this idea, although you should probably use the opaque black background seen in many new Apple apps. (The new translucent menu bar should also feature the same black background shade.)
I quite like this, especially the spacer, and the flattening of the icons. I've been committed since the beginning of OS X to having the dock on the left edge of the screen, so the shadow business in Leopard caused me some concern.
Honestly, I have never liked the emphasis on photorealism and visual depth in the UI since the OS 9 to OS X transition. I certainly appreciate pretty, but the addition of visual detail, wherever it's imperfect, just offers more opportunities for the brain to be confused. What I want from my UI is the most direct possible visual-stimulus-to-action pathway through my own brain. Shadows that violate the appearance of real objects just add noise to that pathway.
Honestly, I prefer both the Tiger & Leopard docks to this:
1. The dock starts halfway down for no reason – On leopard; this works in conjunction with the angled edges & the shading to great effect; but in this case it seemsrather pointless on it's own, and detracts from the icons rather than complementing them)
2. The dock's sides are uneven – A minor point, but an annoying one; the addition of the resize widget means that the right side of the dock has a larger gap between the icons and its edge than the left. This would be especially annoying as the dock would consistantly appear not-quite-centred on the screen.
3. Bad blending: A little more subjective than the others, but i feel that your dock looks would look better were it either: more transparent, or not transparent at all; and if it kept some of the the saturation of the desktop behind (in photoshop, that would be done by combining a lower opacity dock with one one 'Soft Light' mode)
I'd be most happy if Apple removed the dynamic shadows & window reflections (icon reflections are A-ok), fixed the angle of the dock, and changed the HIG (so that ALL icons were drawn with the 'shelf' perspective. And mabye added in your active app indicators
No comment. You're definitely right.
I think your divider gap needs to be wider. On a dock of greatly reduced size (because some of us have a lot of applications to fit in there) that thin gap would virtually disappear.
Rounding corners doesn't instantly make something an improvement...
and the resize control is way too intrusive to say most users do it once and never again
Rory,
I disagree with some of the comments. I think your mockup looks great compared to the Leopard one. And I've been using Leopard daily since the WWDC build arrived through the post. The visual separation between the two sections of the dock and the resize handle are excellent.
The biggest issue with the Leopard dock, for me, is the dynamic shadows. When the dock is on the right of the screen, the app that I am developing looks terrible.
The one thing I would change on your mock up is the open / active application markers. Personally I don't like the look of those, but its all a matter of taste.
Zwilnik - Leopard is full of rounded corners (e.g. on menus) that used to be square, better get used to it ;)
Fred Farkle - Yes having the trash in an anchored position, or off the dock entirely or in it's own anchored dock would be great. Like I said though the emphasis was on fixing the Leopard dock rather than all the failings of the dock.
Paul J Wakjer - To me the blending looks pretty much the same as Tiger, it's seems like a pretty minor point. I don't think 10 pixels extra width on one side of the dock will create a noticeable imbalance - take this from someone who works with graphics all the time, it's really easy to make something look centred when it's off by quite a bit! Starting the dock background halfway is partly a concession to the current Leopard style, but I also think it helps make the icons pop out a bit more, some icons can get a bit lost in the current murky semi-transparent dock at smaller sizes.
Tony - There is no reason why the divider gap needs to get proportionally smaller as the dock shrinks, or if it does it can retain a sensible minimum distance.
Looks great. I hope Leopard at least has an option to use the old dock (from 10.0-10.4).
I'm not a big fan of your redesign either. I admit, I think the Leopard dock looks pretty cool which offsets some of its drawbacks. (And other visual changes in Leopard concern me more—stripes in list view... the new dark window look... and definitely the menu bar.)
After thinking about it for quite a while, I think you may have retained the thing I question most about the Leopard dock—the icons sticking half out of it. And related, you removed the back shadow which may help the icons to pop off whatever is behind them (although honestly it probably doesn't make much of a difference). Anyway, I suppose the icons are slightly more distinguished sticking out, but I also think it adds a certain clutter which I find bothersome, unlike the shadows and reflections which don't really distract me. The squareness of the Tiger dock allows it to stay out your focus while you work more than an irregular icon city-scape. I haven't used Leopard for any length of time though, so maybe I'd get used to it.
To respond to some of your design goals... there's always been a clear enough separation between between the apps and doc side, imo, and why exactly does it really need to be clear anyway? I don't see it as a problem. Also I don't think resizing needs to be prominent. The dock shrinks as needed, and resizing is something you'll likely do once (shrink it down) and never have to touch again. It's not a frequent action.
Anyway, I'm more concerned about functionality of the dock. Most think the dock isn't that great, but it's also very hard to figure out exactly should be done to make it better. I think it actually does its thing reasonably well. Still, It needs something... but what?
And that brings me to Stacks, the one new functionality feature. Well, actually it isn't very new. Stacks are almost exactly same as putting a folder in Tiger's dock, only they display the contents MUCH worse. Tiger folders can show many more items, let you scroll through the overflow easily, and also let you navigate sub-folders. Stacks seem to be a total step backwards which is quite a shame. Maybe if the icons of the contents were shrunk way down....
Zwilnik - Leopard is full of rounded corners (e.g. on menus) that used to be square, better get used to it ;)
I'm using Leopard, and I don't understand this response. There are many fewer rounded corners than before. if you're referring to the ubiquity of HUD-style windows, well, those don't look like Mac OS 9 Finder popup windows.
Aside from that, I must point out that In general, a response that ends in "better get used to it" doesn't really contribute to the discussion. I could say the same about the Leopard dock.
This design aside, I'm beginning to suspect the people who actively dislike the new Dock and the transparent menubar are simply getting old and crusty, like the Mac OS 9 people who bitched endlessly about Aqua when it first arrived. Aqua did receive refinements, but it never turned back into the Mac OS 8/9 Platinum theme as some wished for at the time. I'm wondering if these are the same people who complained back then.
There are valid things to complain about in OS X that are still major problems in Leopard -- indeed, the Finder is still one of them. To concentrate on the menubar and Dock seems extraordinary fluff-picking, even assuming there's some validity to it -- and I'm not convinced, even theoretically. I don't buy the angles argument, nor do I want a checkerboard on my desktop.
Zwilnik - my dock design doesn't even remotely resemble the old Finder popup folders feature which placed tab like things on the edges of the desktop when you dragged a Finder window past the bounds of the screen. All the menus now have rounded corners, as you mention all the HUD stuff is rounded, stacks uses rounded corners, toolbar buttons are in rounded capsules etc. Not sure where you're looking!
I don't think it's a yearning for things to stay the same and being 'crusty', it's wanting them only to change for the better and not for the sake of trying to compete with Vista in terms of who has the most gimmicky eye candy. There are plenty of other concerns with Leopard I agree but sadly I would be breaking my NDA to discuss them - at least things like the dock design are public knowledge.
My first judgement of the new menu bar when I saw the screenshots/casts was sucky. Now, after having used it for more than a month, I find myself really liking it. I've tried it with multiple backgrounds, and it's opaque enough to look good.
I guess you got lucky with your choice of backgrounds, a few of the pictures I've tired have made it quite hard to read certain menu items. Anything with strong changes in contrast towards the top of the image seems to cause it problems (e.g branches against a bright sky). Try the Zebra strip background Apple supplies. I'm sure it's one of those things you can learn to get used to, but I'd rather they just fixed it (just making it more opaque would probably be sufficient).
Oh another great one is the Zen Garden desktop - the whole menu is practically illegible on that.
your solution is beautiful. i would pay for that dock, if I could avoid that awful leopard shelf.
later,
joerg
Grover - I don't object to criticism I just don't like sweeping statements. What's clumsy about it, what's unrefined? How would I make it look more refined in your opinion? That's useful feedback.
One need not be a pastry chef in order to know that the cake tastes like poo, do they? Now let's be clear, I'm not saying your design is poo, but when I look at it, it "feels" less elegant than either the Tiger or Leopard docks. At the time, I really didn't analyze it much more than that.
I should point out too that I'm not necessarily defending the Leopard dock either. The whole perspective thing does seem a bit "cool for cool's sake." Though it really doesn't bother me all that much. The reflections are a nightmare though.
The thing that pokes my eye the most is the resize handle. The four diagonal lines have never really struck me as being all that visually attractive, but they're especially rough on a semi-transparent element like the dock. It adds a lot of visual noise and looks rather as if that end has been chewed on by a stray puppy. I clone-stamped that out of your image and find the whole appearance much improved to a point where I probably wouldn't have commented in the first place. I just don't think it's a necessary element. How often does one manually resize the dock? Surely not often enough to require a constantly available widget.
While I'm here though and really thinking about it, I think the corner radius is also a bit large. It seems to be made to match the corner radius of Finder windows, but they look a bit awkward on such a small element as the dock.
I do like the larger division between apps and docs visually, though it turns them into two separate elements (an apps dock and a docs dock) which may or may not be an issue.
Overall, it seems as if you started with the Leopard dock, made a list of things you didn't like, and changed those elements (shiny indicators become half-circles, perspective dock gets flattened but remains half-height), instead of starting with the Tiger dock and making improvements from there. Personally, I'm not so sure that the dock needs a visual overhaul. I'd be happy with ClearDock-style options in system preferences (opacity, color, triangle color) and for hidden apps to indicate that with their icon. Come to think of it, add those to the menu bar as well and we've take care of a lot of people's complaints with Leopard.
Just my honest opinion. Again, it not my intention to offend and I thank you for your desire to have a conversation through your blog.
I hope Apple will give us the possibility to choose between the old and the new dock.
I like the leopard dock look. Not sure about reflections, but I think it will be no big deal. I mostly keep the dock hidden anyhow.
I like being ABLE to put the dock on the left or right, but each time I have tried that, I have gone back to having it at the bottom within a few days. It just seems to BELONG at the bottom. When you hide it, you have it where it belongs and also out of the way since it's not something you use all the time anyhow.
I don't have the beta yet. To me, the menu bar looks to be the most difficult part (hard to read it). I like the way the active window appears to float higher than others away from the screen.
My $.02...
Personally, under Tiger, I have a transparent dock; so all the silly visual effects don't show up. Hopefully, Leopard will allow the dock to be hacked in the same way.
Richmond Mathewson
I prefer minimalist interfaces myself, so your version wins hands-down Rory. :-)
What are Apple playing at with the Leopard Dock?
This looks like something Microsoft might have shoved in with Vista. It's nasty, un-elegant and crass.
Just because you can do something (and now have the computing power to do it!) does not mean you should!
John
Will you develop this as an alternative to the new dock once Leopard is released, Rory?
Graham, I'd like to but there are a few significant technical hurdles - getting dock icon badges and dealing with minimised windows. Those two functions are tied into the existing dock.
Seems to me there are 2 kinds of people responding to this:
1. Developers/Pirates with the non-final (call it beta) release of leopard.
2. People who have just seen the screens/movies on the web and have an opinion (that's me).
To number ones I say:
Wow, you guys are DEVELOPERS and a lot of you seem to resist change...irony Pirates - I'd keep quiet if I were you...LOL.
To number twos I say:
Judge it for yourself when it comes out.
Now I fit into number 2, so I want to have a play with it comes out in October (though probably November, because an "October" release probably means 31st October one minute to midnight).
Just looking on the web I'd say it looks nice. In fact I think the whole new look is nice...I don't think the changes are too crazy (unlike Vista...talk about a mad woman's breakfast). BTW I generally will turn off special effects to get more performance. I like simple design too (I actually LIKE the new Adobe fonts - LOL). I just think the new design doesn't deserve such animosity. BUT I'll have to take a look myself.
I think that perhaps there is or, will be, a way to turn off some of the visual effects if you don't want them. Like in the current dock, you can change:
- Dock Size
- Magnification (turn it off if you don't like it)
- Position etc.
I guess you can/will be able to, turn off reflections, shadows etc. Of course I can't be sure, but I hope we can (so more people can be happy). Maybe tinkertool will be able to "fix" it. If it needs fixing at all.
I also would like to see how the general public views the product when it comes out. I think most people will LIKE it. Most people are not developers or keenly into Macs like us. They like a bit of "eye-candy". I suspect more people will change their views when they try it for themselves (maybe me included...maybe I'll agree with all you guys).
Stealthy Ninja the whole new look of Leopard *is* largely an imitation of Vista. You don't think someone at Apple sat down one day and said 'gee wouldn't the menu bar be easier to use if you could see the desktop picture through it? Wouldn't the dock make more sense if it reflected everything on it?'.
You're kidding yourself if you think you'll be able to turn any of this stuff off without some serious hacking, Apple has never historically let you turn off eye candy and Leopard doesn't change that at all right now.
Seriously, I would take your design over the Apple monstrosity any day.
I don't suppose you have a link to download this version do you? I much prefer this...
The Apple Leopard Dock looks like it was designed by a 10 years old or a moron or Steve Jobs in 3D Studio or Bender.
Let's see here. A song in iTunes is 99 cents, and that provides about 4 minutes of pleasure each time the song comes up in whatever playlist it fills.
Your changes to the Dock don't have to wait for their 4-minute opportunity to shine. They affect the interface (and arguably usability) of the computer 24/7.
From a purely economic standpoint, I'd very willingly throw you a few of my hard-earned dollars if you'd be willing to share your secrets.... as of 6pm tomorrow, of course. :-)
Anonymous Apple has fixed the dock in the public release of Leopard, it now has a non-3D appearance with a simple transparent black background when on the sides of the screen and I hear it's possible to use this appearance on the bottom too using a hidden preference.
<< Home