Customizing the Dock

[LovelyLici]

Hi all!

I'm new to the Mac Forums and new to the world of Mac. I got my MacBook (mid-2009, white) 2 days ago, and I'm still trying to figure things out.

One thing I'd like to do is customize the dock. I'd like to get rid of that mirror underneath the icons, or change the colour of it. I read somewhere that the colour could be changed, but can't seem to find it now. I downloaded CandyBar (the free trial) and I have not been able to figure out how to use it. I ended up a bit frustrated and ready to delete the application by the end of the night last night, but I don't know how to properly delete apps either. Lol. So I still have CandyBar and the same ol' dock with the white-ish mirror beneath it. Anyone know how to change it?

[Jamie-Jamie]

Without third-party apps, you're stuck with that glass Dock unless you want to use the terminal. It's not that bad, though! Try this, and don't worry, if you type something wrong, it won't break anything...

That said, don't go trying random stuff at the Terminal!

Open Terminal in Applications > Utilities

Once it's open, type this at the prompt:
defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES

Press Return, then type:
killall Dock

Press Return. The Dock will slide out of sight, then pop back up as a smoke-gray rectangle. To reverse the effect, put this into Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES

Then once more:
killall Dock

That will return the Dock to its factory setting. I don't have any experience with CandyBar or anything like that. I sometimes feel odd that I like the glass Dock!

[joshbrez]

Hey there LovelyLici. Welcome to Mac-Forums, and congrats on the new Mac.

You mentioned two things here: not knowing how to delete apps and customizing the Dock. Let's tackle the first one.

To delete an app in OS X, simply delete it from the applications folder (i.e. drag it to the trash or select it and press ⌘-Delete). In most cases, including CandyBar's, that's all you need to do!

Now, for customizing the Dock, CandyBar is a very useful program. To use it though, you've got to download some new icons/docks to use. A good free source of them is Iconfactory : Home.

Also, you can remove the 3D effect in the Dock completely, making it 2D, by entering the following command into the Terminal:

$ defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES; killall Dock

[firesidedog]

I have candybar and somewhat regretted it. To get your dock and it's icons back to original they have a "thing in the upper right hand corner to click to restore your original setting.

[MacJenny]

I use Dockulicious.

Dockulicious - Browse and submit your own Leopard docks!

[toMACsh]

Wow. You might want to get used to the Mac for awhile before you start tweaking it. There's no end to the threads here wherein people are trying to recover from such adventures.

[joshbrez]

Wow. You might want to get used to the Mac for awhile before you start tweaking it. There's no end to the threads here wherein people are trying to recover from such adventures.

I wouldn't be too alarmist on this count. Theming with CandyBar is non-damaging, as anything done with it can be undone. I own a license for it, and have played with it countless times, to no ill effect.

However, it is good advice to be careful with the Terminal. Don't type random things into it unless you know what you're doing.

[Chef_eam]

I use Dockulicious.

Dockulicious - Browse and submit your own Leopard docks!

I tried using that and it does not work for me. I drag the downloaded dock (.zip file) to the app and nada.

[Doug b]

dock library

I've been using it for quite some time now.

There's also a much easier way to go back to a 2D dock, as well as kill two birds with one stone. Download Onyx. It is an maintenance tool for OS X which also allows some minor tweaks to the GUI as well as some Finder stuff. It's a recommended tool by many people on this forum and I've been using it for 2 years. I run it about once a month or less just to clean things up a bit.

[Dragonhunter]

I've used LeopardDock to change my dock around a bit.

[LovelyLici]

Thank you all for your help. I'm going to try my hand at this when I'm a bit more alert and more likely to follow instructions properly. Hahaha.

toMACsh - Don't worry. I have every intention of keeping things as they are as much as possible in order to learn and be able to easily search for answers to my questions. There are just a few things that need to be to my liking like the desktop and screensaver. The dock thing is actually bothering me to the point that I need to move that mirror. What bothers me most is that it reflects text and images from open windows. GRRR. Lol.

[toMACsh]

toMACsh - Don't worry. I have every intention of keeping things as they are as much as possible in order to learn and be able to easily search for answers to my questions.

That's a good strategy. Good luck to you!

[trump425]

Wow. You might want to get used to the Mac for awhile before you start tweaking it. There's no end to the threads here wherein people are trying to recover from such adventures.

I had a rather fun adventure right after I got my Mac. I decided that it would be a good idea to log in as root and rename my main account's applications folder among other silly things. Needless to say this was a TERRIBLE idea and took me around 4 hours to fix.

Cheers.