Yes, the dock is terrible - I autohide it to avoid problems. Newer versions (I'm still on 10.9) use a more two-dimensional dock which would be well suited to 'f

Yes, the dock is terrible - I autohide it to avoid problems. Newer versions (I'm still on 10.9) use a more two-dimensional dock which would be well suited to 'framing' the main window area, at full-width, much as the global menubar does. Then I'd be able to have my ideal setup - dock permanently visible (but probably quite short), and ability to have windows fully maximised, in-between the global menubar and the dock.