How to avoid the Dock

[cos]

Much as I like OS X's user interface in general, I don't like the Dock.

• It's a clunky way to start programs, hunting up and down with your eye through a bunch of similar icons until you find the one you want ... or accidentally click one whose icon is similar.


• As a way of seeing what you currently have running, it's quite an eyestrain - not only do you have to identify the icons, but the only difference between what's running and what's not is the presence of that little dot.


• When you want to select a running program using the dock, it's really easy to accidentally click a few pixels off and start some other thing you didn't mean to start.


• It's a waste of screen space.

If use OS X and you're dissatisfied with the Dock too, here are my simple tips for conveniently avoiding it:

1. Start applications using Spotlight
   
   Spotlight is the full text search you get when you click the magnifying class at the top right. If you start typing the name of a program, the program will by default be the first match, and highlighted. Hitting enter opens whatever's highlighted. And the keyboard shortcut to get to Spotlight without clicking on the magnifying glass is CMD-Space.
   
   Put all these things together, and the easy way to start any application is: appname
   
   Usually you don't have to type the whole name. For example, I start Safari with saf
   


2. Application Menu Switcher
   
   A really simple utility that restores a piece of the Mac OS 9 interface that OS X did away with:
   http://www.vercruesse.de/software/asm
   
   Costs a little bit to register, but well worth it.
   
   Once you install it, I recommend changing one of the defaults. Go into System Preferences, and in the ASM pane, change the "Menu Title" setting to "Application Name".
   
   You'll get a menu at the top right, just to the left of the spotlight icon, that lists all currently running applications - and no others, just the ones that are running. The currently running app will be the menu name. Select any other app from the menu to bring it to the foreground. Unlike the dock, you can't accidentally start something unintentionally from here.
   


3. Hide the dock.
   
   Now you have:
   - An easy way to start any application with a few keystrokes.
   - An easy way to see what's running.
   - An easy way to switch to any of the running applications.
   
   Who needs the Dock now? Go to System Preferences, and in the Dock pane, check "Automatically hide and show the Dock". It'll still be there, but only appear when you push the mouse pointer to the edge of the screen where the Dock is. Now you can ignore it most of the time, and easily pop it up if you happen to want it.
   

Comments

[kirin]

Command-tab also still works for switching between running apps; you do still have to ID them by icon, and tab multiple times to get through the list, so it's not so great if you typically have a lot of things running. But if you have just a few it's probably faster than a menu. Also, I like the fact that after command-tab, while still holding command, you can tap Q to quit the hilighted app without bringing it to the foreground.

[penk.livejournal.com]

I frankly find the dock useful, attractive, and productive. The applications I use the most are all there, ones I don't use I simply remove.

To see a list of running applications and easily switch between them, use command-tab. No need for a third party app.

If you find it using up space, enable auto-hide. No more used screenspace. It just pops up when you need it.

If you find yourself clicking on the wrong icon, you have too many icons in your dock, or you don't have magnification turned up. Use that to make sure you're on the right icon.

I'm amused that you recommend the 'menu switcher' to switch running applications... is Command-Tab not sufficient to list all the running apps and hot-switch between them?

You might want to resize the dock down, or use auto-hiding,

[alandd.livejournal.com]

I mostly agree, but I find that magnification is the -reason- I occasionally hit the wrong icon. (Usually when screen sharing to my dad's computer 200 miles away. I'm not sure if it's the network lag, or the fact that I have magnification turned off, that's why I never have this problem on my own. Probably the lag.)

@Cos, I'm a HUGE fan of Spotlight, cmd-tab, etc. but what I like about the dock is being able to drag files onto folders (which I have on the right side) and apps. Hiding it + only having minimal icons (I have a lot, but they're all ones I use regularly) makes it very nice to use.

[cos]

I really really don't like cmd-tab, and almost never use it. I think it's because I feel so not in control with it, because it's a temporary popup that's controlled by the pressing and releasing of keys. Just looking at it causes you to switch apps; if you want it to be a no-op you have to actually think about it. Ugh! Yuck! I avoid the thing at all costs, and recoil when I accidentally bring it up.

In any case, cmd-tab acts differently enough that it's not a good replacement. ASM is much much more usable, unless you have a well-established cmd-tab habit already.

If you find yourself clicking on the wrong icon on the dock, it just means you've used the dock often enough that probabilistically, it'll happen. I have never found any dock arrangement that makes it not happen. It doesn't matter how big the icons are when some of them look so similar. And no possible combination of things I typically have running and things I very often want to start is ever going to not be "too many" by your metric. It's just a sucky concept to combine both of those; looking at what you have running should remain separate from deciding to start something new.

If you like the dock, feel free to ignore all of the above tips, since they're not for you :) IMO the Dock is awful, but I don't care to convince people who like it. I'm writing for the many people who don't like it, and the even larger number who've just never considered it but would find live easier if they avoided it.

P.S. I've always hidden the dock, as you can see from this post.

[cos]

I keep the folders I want to drag stuff into along one side of my screen anyway; no need to put them on the Dock, it doesn't make dragging things into them any easier as far as I can tell. You're right about dragging stuff into apps - that's the one thing I still use the (hidden) dock for. Only if the app's window isn't there on the screen to drag into.

[alandd.livejournal.com]

I also keep some folders on the screen, but they're often blocked by full-screen windows...

[pir.livejournal.com]

I run most everything from QuickSilver, which is free, brings things up faster than spotlight (spotlight's autocomplete is slllooowww), I can typeahead and it will deal and I can easily set defaults for things (like if I want typing 'it' to be ssh to my machine called itty rather than itunes). I also have it run shell scripts for me via Launcher. I use it in very minimal mode in the menu bar and don't push it's features much, it can do a lot.

I don't use things like application switcher or command-tab, I put different things on different virtual desktops and switch between them that way. Also works better for me because a lot of what I'm doing is in xterms anyway so I can't switch between them by application.

The dock is something I use occasionally (adding a recent apps stack to it was useful for me) but I have it autohide to get out of the way most of the time.

[sparr0.livejournal.com]

My problem with the Dock, as present in OSX and Ubuntu, is that the apps that I start the most often and the apps that I have running the most often have little overlap.

Fortunately the solution in Ubuntu is easy. Run in Ubuntu Classic mode. Problem solved. Dock gone, taskbar restored.

[dr-memory.livejournal.com]

You forgot step four: for the love of god install DragThing.

(I also like to install Witch as well, but that's optional and to a certain extent duplicates the functionality of DragThing's window dock, but Witch lets you assign cmd-tab to something actually useful, which I like.)

alt-space

[drwex]

the key combo alt-space will jump you into that search box and let you launch things that way.

And there's a PC program (free) called launchy that also maps alt-space and will let you do the same thing on most known versions of Windows OS.

Launchy is one of the first things I install on any new PC.

Re: alt-space

[cos]

Are you talking about Windows in this whole comment, or was part of it meant to refer to OS X? If it's all about Windows... does Windows have the Dock? *somewhat confused cos*

Re: alt-space

[drwex]

Windows suffers from the same problems as Mac OS does in terms of being unable to find the program you want to launch at that moment, regardless of the source of clutter. Launchy duplicates on Windows the convenience of alt-space launching that comes native on Mac OS, bypassing both the dock and the Windows mechanisms, which are equally clunky.

[lindseykuper]

I also use Quicksilver on my Mac -- can't live without it. I pin the Dock to the lower right corner of the desktop and make it automatically hidden.

[cos]

I didn't know about Witch, I may try it.

What I really want and haven't found for OS X yet, is a way to set up a quick keyboard toggle between two different windows belonging to different apps, and a quick key come to go to the most recently selected window before the current one. For example, when doing a presentation or teaching a class, I may want to quickly switch back and forth between a terminal window and a PDF, without screwing around with the mouse, or going through an intermediate step where some other thing (like a window list) shows up on the screen, or accidentally selecting the wrong window.

I can't tell from Witch's web site whether it'd let me do that, though it hints that it might.

[dr-memory.livejournal.com]

That is precisely what Witch will let you do. Whatever you set as the Witch activation key will cycle between the two most recently focussed windows.

[cos]

Sold.