[gerardrj]

My dock has 5 permanent apps and one permanent "document".
The Apps are: Mail, Safari, iTunes, Aperture, TextEdit. I use these on a regular basis and want "one click" access.
The one document is a folder filled with aliases to the remainder of my most-used apps. I really don't understand all these 3rd party launchers people use. Two clicks and I can launch any app I want. A right-click on the folder in the Dock and a left click on the alias listed in there. Viola.
That "QuickApps" folder has 35 aliases in it for stuff ranging from AddressBook to Yahoo Messenger, from Activity Monitor to WorkGroup Manager. Stuff I want ready access to without much clutter. That gives me a total of 40 apps accessible with two of fewer "inputs".
It's pinned centered on the left edge so it's out of my way until I need it.
http://www.rathersim...Picture%203.jpg

[MCJ]

I struggled for a long time to make the Dock work for me. I found myself facing a conundrum: it was handy to be able to access my favourite apps from the Dock but as this list grew the Dock became hard to manage.
Eventually I developed my own system: I created shortcuts to the apps and ordered them into folders by function. Then I changed the folders' icons in "Get Info" so that these folders would be easy to distinguish. Then I dragged the folders into the Dock. So now my Dock consists of:

[*]The Finder
[*]Dashboard
[*]System Preferences
[*]Mail
[*]HP Director
[*] Trash
[/list]
And the following shortcut folders (shortcuts in brackets):


[*]Browsers (Firefox, Opera, Camino, Safari, Shiira, Charlotte)

[*]Messaging (Adium, Microsoft Messenger, Address Book)
[*]Games (Pangea Arcade, Scrabble, Nanosaur 2)
[*]iLife (iPhoto, iTunes)
[*]Word processors (TextEdit, RagTime Solo, Pages, MS Word)
[*]
[/list]
Finally I have another folder in my Dock called Downloads where I keep everything I have downloaded from the Web (at least until I can muster the inclination to delete the stuff /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif)

[majormunky]

Here's my dock, and yeah, I use most of em..
http://i2.photobucke...rmunky/dock.jpg
(Finder, NewsEditPro, Firefox 3 beta, Grab, Script editor, Indesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Text Edit, Mail, Acrobat 6, Distiller 6, Multiad Creator Pro, GraphicConverter, Safari, Firefox 2, Itunes, Remote Desktop, iChat, Quark 6.5, Ical, Cyberduck, Preview, MSN Messenger, Dashboard, 2 Applescripts (close all finder windows, open certain folder on server), Stuffit, AP Stockscap (OSX), Quark 4 (classic), NeoOffice, Taco HTML Edit, AP Stockscap (classic))

[icu400]

My Dock: (This is on my laptop, my desktop one is twice as large)
http://www.cs.utexas...nstoll/Dock.png
Whats missing:
Internet Explorer: I use firefox as my backup for things safari can't open.
Quicktime/DVD Player: launch automatically
Disk Utility: I actually launch it from the finder launch bar window on the left side of the finder window
Why its there:
Preview: sometimes i like to drag pictures to it to open
Textedit: most useful program ever
MS Office: because i'm too lazy to remove them from when I actually used them a lot in school
iCal: So that I can see what the date is (its usually left open)
iLife: I use those a lot
Image Capture: Easiest way to download video and photos from my mini digital camera that I use with my laptop
Watson: because it was the coolest program ever and I miss it a lot
VNC: essential to what I do with CS
Nvu: html editing
Transmit: coolest FTP ever
calc/xcode: for my programming classes
X11: ssh -X to linux/unix servers
Vent/TS: I have a lot of friends that use those
Starcraft: for fun

[icu400]

My Powermac's Dock:
www.cs.utexas.edu/users/cnstoll/Dock2.png
yes, i know
its crazy
but having it smaller (or larger if you prefer big icons) with less programs doesn't make me any more efficient
if I use these programs more than once every month then I can justify keeping them on here

[kellie]

I am a bottom docker. Here is my dock. I have:
Finder
Dashboard
System Preferences
Mail
iCal
Address Book
Safari
Firefox
iTunes
Connoisseur
MS Word
MS Excel
iPhoto
Photoshop Elements
Dreamweaver
Adium
Calculator
Second Life
iMovie
Tivo Decode Manager
I have nothing to the right of the divider except for the trash.

[khjalmarj]

I don't care for the Dock, for two reasons. (A) The icons are not labeled, unless you point to them, so you must remember what they stand for; (2) I can read! and prefer to do so.
But surgically removing the Dock is a bit risky. I took a different route, using KnockOutDock. So here's a picture of my Dock:
http://www.rowan.edu...tarium/dock.htm

Also included is a pic of Drop Drawers, the launcher I use. Much_ better than the Dock.
--
Keith Johnson
Edelman Planetarium
Rowan University
"Get the dinos into the barn, Martha: they're predicting asteroids tonight."

[heisetax]

Quote:

---

From left to right after Finder: Activity Monitor, Address Book, AppleWorks, Calculator, CopyWrite, Dashboard, Disk Utility, DVD Player, Firefox, GarageBand, Google Earth, iCal, iChat, iDVD, iJournal, iPhoto, iTunes, Keychain Access, LaunchBar, MacJanitor, Mail, MeetingMaker, Microsoft Word, NewsFire, Preview, Quicktime Player, Safari, System Preferences, TextEdit, and a Pages trial [expires today]. Rounding out the end of the Dock are my home folder and the trash can.
A few of the programs, like GarageBand, are there to remind me to use them before deciding if I want to keep them or not. Yes, my program icons are grouped alphabetically, because I'm weird like that. I've always kept my Dock on the bottom but the comment about placing it to the side for a 16:9 screen is intriguing, since I have a new MacBook. Maybe I'll try changing the Dock's placement this weekend.

---

You should try moving the dock to the side. I have mine on the left side of my 23" start-up display. To the right is a 30" display. Sometimes I put the dock there. I have it appear only when I go over to it.
I need to listen to the people here & put some organization in mine. Like some others here, I use DragStrip to launch my applications. I also have have DragThing for its Trash Can on the DeskTop & to use for launching after DragStrip ceases to work on my Mac. It has been years since it was updated, so no Universal version is expected in the future.
Because I do not use my Dock very much, it has grown very large & unwieldly. I should pare it down to System Preferences & a couple of others. I switch between running programs using a menu of open Apps that are displayed with a click of 1 of the 4 buttons on My Kensington Expert Mouse.
Bill the TaxMan