News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

October 24, 2007

software

Leopard’s two-faced dock

Posted Oct. 24, ’07, 3:58 PM PT by Thomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen
Category | Software

Leopard! Leopard! Leopard! OK, I’m done. We’re really pumped up for the next big cat’s imminent release here at our virtual headquarters. Even more so now that Apple has sneakily addressed perhaps the biggest complain about OS X 10.5: the new three-dimensional dock, which looks quite out of place when positioned vertically. Many people, mostly developers and designers, have also spoken up to point out its weird shadows and excessive reflectiveness.

In an unexpected turn of events though, little birdies (bad, bad birdies) have reported that the final build of Leopard, the one no soul outside Cupertino is supposed to see until Friday, includes an alternative style. It’s much like the dock we know and love, but it’s translucent black with a thin white border. And apparently, it works as well on the bottom as on the side of the screen. Update: to use this style on the bottom, you actually need to run a simple Terminal command (thanks zeusbox!).

Two things are unusual about this move. First, Apple rarely changes things at the last minute because of the public’s complaints, as justified as they may be. Second, OS X rarely gives us opportunities to customize the visual part of the user interface (choosing between the blue or graphite color scheme has pretty much been the only option until now).

That said, I personally warmly welcome the possibility to choose, although I suspect I’ll enjoy the 3D dock, being a dock-at-the-bottom person myself. What about you?


4 Comments

Joel said:

The only reason I'm buying Leopard so I can get the 3d dock. no joke.

October 24, 2007 4:16 PM
zeusbox Author Profile Page said:

The glass dock is not gone. As you can see in the macrumors, the person is making the change from terminal. And maybe this is a hidden feature.

I don't mind to use the glass dock, because i have to design app icons to look good on standard interface.

October 24, 2007 4:19 PM
krye said:

I somehow knew they would include a "classic mode" for the dock.

October 24, 2007 5:14 PM
Anonymous said:

What's wrong with the 3d dock?! It seams like everyone is complaining about it! Personally it's one of the features that I most look forward to in leopard. I say that we should all just stop complaining and except the long overdue change!

October 24, 2007 5:40 PM

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