Where's your Dock?
Apple's most recent Pro Tip teaches us how to move the Dock with a simple click and drag (here's the abbreviated version: shift click on the Dock dividing line and then drag the Dock to the left, right, or back to the bottom of the screen). I'm not sure how that qualifies as a Pro Tip, but I am sure it is news to some people.
It did get me thinking about where people keep their Docks. I'm a traditionalist myself, I never feel at home unless the Dock is at the bottom of my Mac's main display. Where do keep your Dock? Let us know in the comments.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Spike said 12:07PM on 12-07-2006
Right hand side.
seems apropriate as all my apps seem to default to the left hand side of the screen, the dock auto hides as well so it doesn't get in the way.
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Rudi said 12:11PM on 12-07-2006
I keep my dock on the right-hand side of the window, with the end pinned at the trash end. That way, the icons seldom move - good for muscle memory.
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Herbert West said 12:13PM on 12-07-2006
Left and auto-hiding.
On the bottom it uses up too much space (width only 800px screenheight) and gets in the way of buttons.
On the right are scrollbars (which i don't use often, but when id do, the dock gets in my way :>)
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Luke Marvin said 12:14PM on 12-07-2006
I use the left side.
I only have a 12 inch iBook so my windows are always maximized. Having the Dock on the bottom or the right meant it would pop up everytime I went for the scrollbar in Safari. (Granted, two-finger scrolling made it a non-issue, it's just habit now.)
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mkuker said 12:16PM on 12-07-2006
If you have a widescreen display, it makes more sense to have the doc on the side. I have mine on the right.
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uncle jerry said 12:17PM on 12-07-2006
I have a two screen set up and keep my dock hidden on the far left. That way I don't hit it on accident. Used to keep it on the bottom but since I like to use my apps in full screen (and expose to switch between them), it was always popping up when I didn't want it to. Hidden on the far left is the best for me.
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Andrew Brough said 12:17PM on 12-07-2006
Seems to me that I cannot get this to work on a Mac Book pro! Shame
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Josh said 12:21PM on 12-07-2006
Dock is on the bottom middle. Tried to use it on the bottom lef/right but just didn't feel right.
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my_name_is_tudor said 12:21PM on 12-07-2006
Bottom right hand corner.
I have mine empty (apart from the Finder and the trash), and have removed the little 'arrows' from appearing - so now I know if an app is running by seeing if its in the dock at all, rather than in the dock AND with an arrow. I use quicksilver for all my app-launching activities, so I don't need to dock as a launcher, but rather an indicator of whats running.
I've also got rid of the background of my dock.
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SPower said 12:22PM on 12-07-2006
At the bottom, with size set to maximum and autohide on. That way, I get more dock real-estate than when it is on the side, and the gorgeous OSX icons are a big as possible (and they get bigger when I kick something from the dock) when I go to the Dock, but autohide means I don't lose screen real-estate. Dock magnification makes me feel sick!
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Kamran Kazempour said 12:25PM on 12-07-2006
Left Side Auto hide.
Force of habit from my 12" PowerBook days But it seems to make the most sense for me. The Red, yellow, and green Close | Minimize | Resize buttons are on the left side so you naturally close one window and I need another. Why span the length of the screen.
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Chris E boy said 12:27PM on 12-07-2006
like to keep mine on the bottom since i put stacks of icons in it and i use a widescreen display.
I drag the applications icon to the right of the folder so ive got easy access to it.
ive also got a "browsers" dock icon so i can right click to get a list of browsers and a "parallels machines" dock icon to do the same with my virtual machines.
for some reason, i have to put both appzapper and system preferences on the far left of the menu (just to the right of the finder icon), i guess thats just what im used to.
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camkerr said 12:27PM on 12-07-2006
I dont use one, I keep it auto hidden at the bottom but rarely go down there, I just use Quicksilver for everything.
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Wheels said 12:28PM on 12-07-2006
Another vote for the right side, since it's where most of the OSX action is - drives mounting to the desktop, and where most downloads show up on the desktop. Plus, like Spike, all my apps seem to like the left hand of the screen, so the dock is seldom in the way. It was always in the way at the bottom of screen, and to auto hide it down there was an aggravating factor with my wonky coordination.
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stevievep said 12:36PM on 12-07-2006
since you asked...i use the left / autohide option also.
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Stacey said 12:37PM on 12-07-2006
Left-side, auto-hide, no magnification.
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Bill I said 12:38PM on 12-07-2006
Mine is auto-hiding in the bottom right hand corner. OnyX FTW!
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This is Me said 12:39PM on 12-07-2006
Right-hand side of the screen. There, I can keep it "open" and it doesn't get in the way of anything.
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cstar said 12:42PM on 12-07-2006
Left auto-hiding.
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jls said 12:44PM on 12-07-2006
TinkerTool to pin it under my Spotlight menu...
Quicksilver to launch apps so my dock "grows" as I open more stuff...
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