4 ms·

A top or bottom dock (the default) doesn't make any sense since all screens are 16:9 or 16:10. So you must put it on the sides. Which side? The default is Right

by wazoox 16y ago

A top or bottom dock (the default) doesn't make any sense since all screens are 16:9 or 16:10. So you must put it on the sides. Which side? The default is Right, look at any OpenStep screenshot, damned heretics! I didn't even need thinking about it.

NathanKP 16y ago
I'm afraid that I don't see your point about a bottom dock not making sense because of the screen aspect ratio. As far as I am concerned it makes more sense to have the dock at the bottom precisely because the 16:9 aspect ratio means that the bottom edge of the screen is wider than the left or right edge is tall. This allows me to have a longer dock with bigger icons, and I just turn on auto hiding to keep it out of the way when I don't need it.
- wazoox 16y ago
  If you don't use autohide (I do, however), a bottom dock on a Macbook screen just eats up much too much screen height unless you're using microscopic icons. For this reason I keep my browser tabs on the side too.
  - jbrennan 16y ago
    My objection to that is almost all content (like a browser document) is going to vertically scroll almost always anyway, so what's another 50-ish points lost. Compared to placing the Dock on the left or right, where that eats up window tiling space. I'll take vertical scrolling over horizontal any day.
    - wahnfrieden 16y ago
      You shouldn't have to horizontally scroll with most content on a widescreen monitor if you have the window maximized (which is when your argument applies).
evilduck 16y ago
I keep mine on the bottom and hidden, it works fine. Average pointer travel distance to the bottom is always less than one of the sides in any standard resoution, so you can "fling" the mouse to the bottom quicker (just like the menubar). I also use OSX on a laptop the most, where moving my hand on an imaginary Y-axis of the touchpad is more natural for me than the X axis, which requires more arm movement since my fingers can't curl left and right. I'm probably not the average Mac user, but for me, the dock is more of a status bar for me to see download progress, which apps are still running, etc, so it doesn't matter what maximizes screen space. I don't use it to store icons to launch apps (Spotlight instead), and when first logging in it only contains the Finder, Trash and Downloads folder.
- wazoox 16y ago
  To be frank I hardly use the dock: I simply use it as a shortcut for the "Download" folder and to re-launch the three apps I'm actually using (Firefox, X11 and Songbird). I use it as a status bar on my Linux desktop (running WindowMaker) but I only ever click the email icon :)
- scott_s 16y ago
  I do pretty much everything you do, except I do have a few applications explicitly in the dock (Chrome, a Gmail SSB, Terminal, and iTunes). The reason being I often use the dock to switch between applications, and it helps for them to always in the same location. And no matter what I'm doing, these applications are always open.

by wazoox 16y ago

NathanKP 16y ago

I'm afraid that I don't see your point about a bottom dock not making sense because of the screen aspect ratio. As far as I am concerned it makes more sense to have the dock at the bottom precisely because the 16:9 aspect ratio means that the bottom edge of the screen is wider than the left or right edge is tall. This allows me to have a longer dock with bigger icons, and I just turn on auto hiding to keep it out of the way when I don't need it.

wazoox 16y ago
If you don't use autohide (I do, however), a bottom dock on a Macbook screen just eats up much too much screen height unless you're using microscopic icons. For this reason I keep my browser tabs on the side too.
- jbrennan 16y ago
  My objection to that is almost all content (like a browser document) is going to vertically scroll almost always anyway, so what's another 50-ish points lost. Compared to placing the Dock on the left or right, where that eats up window tiling space. I'll take vertical scrolling over horizontal any day.
  - wahnfrieden 16y ago
    You shouldn't have to horizontally scroll with most content on a widescreen monitor if you have the window maximized (which is when your argument applies).

evilduck 16y ago

I keep mine on the bottom and hidden, it works fine. Average pointer travel distance to the bottom is always less than one of the sides in any standard resoution, so you can "fling" the mouse to the bottom quicker (just like the menubar). I also use OSX on a laptop the most, where moving my hand on an imaginary Y-axis of the touchpad is more natural for me than the X axis, which requires more arm movement since my fingers can't curl left and right. I'm probably not the average Mac user, but for me, the dock is more of a status bar for me to see download progress, which apps are still running, etc, so it doesn't matter what maximizes screen space. I don't use it to store icons to launch apps (Spotlight instead), and when first logging in it only contains the Finder, Trash and Downloads folder.

wazoox 16y ago
To be frank I hardly use the dock: I simply use it as a shortcut for the "Download" folder and to re-launch the three apps I'm actually using (Firefox, X11 and Songbird). I use it as a status bar on my Linux desktop (running WindowMaker) but I only ever click the email icon :)
scott_s 16y ago
I do pretty much everything you do, except I do have a few applications explicitly in the dock (Chrome, a Gmail SSB, Terminal, and iTunes). The reason being I often use the dock to switch between applications, and it helps for them to always in the same location. And no matter what I'm doing, these applications are always open.