The Dock - Leopard vs Tiger

Zoolook · Oct 29, 2007

OK, OK, this is a cheap shot, but as The Dock is virtually synonymous with OS X itself, I think this is a worthy subject in its own right.

These screen shots are from Arstechnica, saved me doing them from 2 MacBooks...

My beef is the same as the reviewer on ARS, which is that the 'preview' default on the dock icons makes them look ugly and unintuitive.

Applications Folder (Default) Leopard

Is that ugly or what? What's more there is no way to over-ride this, without using a hack.

Downloads Folder next to a Disc Image in the Dock (Leopard). Can you spot the difference?

?

So, Tiger

vs Leopard

Anyone prefer the bottom image?

This is not a Leopard bashing exercise... but neither am I some guy fresh from Vista asking 'why is it not the same'? I've been using OS X for almost 2 years (10.2 and 10.4) and this strikes me as rather an odd change.

Comments?

Original Article here

http://arstechnica.com/apple.ars

mshale · Oct 29, 2007

Yeah, that was one of my slight disapointments of 10.5. However, I believe it is possible to change them w/o using a hxie; however, I do not know how

Edit:

from about.com

Customize the look of applications, documents, folders, and more by changing their icons. Here’s how:

To select the icon you wish to use:

Click on the icon you wish to use
Click on Finder – Edit – Copy
To change the old icon to the new icon:
Click on the icon for the application or file you wish to change
Click on Finder – File – Get Info
In the Get Info window, click on the icon you wish to change
Click on Finder – Edit – Paste
These sites offer free icon sets for you to get started:

Macbillboard.com
Lots of great folder icons, free for personal use.

Maybe it's not exactly what I thought...

mathogre · Oct 29, 2007

I know. I thought the original two stacks looked ugly - documents and downloads. Then I created a couple stacks of my own. One is for work related applications, and the other is chat related. When they're fanned, they look fine! When they're in the dock, they look messy. Given I need to click on it anyway, I'd like a single icon that is informative. For my chat stack, an iChat-like icon would be fine. For work, a ball and chain O:)

would be appropriate.

baggss · Oct 29, 2007

I suspect some enterprising 3rd party developer will come up with a way to put the folders back in there without making a stack. Until then, I can live with it.

RONE · Oct 29, 2007

they look untidy

Zoolook · Oct 29, 2007

I don't mind the Fan/Stacks, I mind the default icon being an actual application. I'd rather a generic image, since you have to click on it to reveal the app anyway,

Bruki · Oct 29, 2007

I really do like Stacks & I know its early days but I must say at the moment I prefer Tiger

PowerBookG4 · Oct 29, 2007

I like stacks, and I am sure in time we will figure out a way to make a default icon appear instead of one of the icons that are in the doc, but for the most part I am happy with leopard and I like the new way to resize the dock.

Kash · Oct 29, 2007

I like the Stacks feature, but I agree, the folders look FUGLY. That was the one thing I noticed in the preview shots. I don't mind the translucent menu bar, but those darn folder icons!!

And yea, I wish the Applications folder would have the Applications icon on it rather than show the Address Book. I keep thinking to myself why I have my Address Book in the dock...

I like the shelf and reflections though

PowerBookG4 · Oct 29, 2007

its not that its one icon, its actually a stack which is why i guess they called it that.. look really closely make the dock huge and turn imagination on.. you can see other icons behind the one you mainly see.

dtravis7 · Oct 29, 2007

I do like the older Icons in some ways on the dock, but otherwise love the new Dock and Stacks. Maybe down the road they will add a feature to let us change them.

MACGIRL34 · Oct 29, 2007

I love this:http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82472

Zoolook · Oct 29, 2007

MACGIRL34 said:
I love this:http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82472

It's pretty, but doesn't address the issue of folder icons being unintuitive. I am sure it's only a matter of time before it's addressed.

bobtomay · Oct 29, 2007

Yep, that was my first complaint....

Here is a picture of my current Dock in Leopard.

Applications - Games - Documents - Downloads

dtravis7 · Oct 29, 2007

bobtomay said:
Yep, that was my first complaint....

Here is a picture of my current Dock in Leopard.

Applications - Games - Documents - Downloads

Ok, how did you do it? Looks good.

bobtomay · Oct 29, 2007

Am no programmer myself, so until someone comes out with an App to do it.....

Move the icon you want to be in front into each folder you have in the dock.
Rename that icon "1", the number 1, it will now appear in front of all the other icons.

The problem is, we now have "stacks". Each one of those is a stack of all the icons within that folder. The first icon (alphabetically) within each folder is the one that will be in front. And it puts #'s before letters, that's why I used the number "1". Also, if it's icon is smaller than any icons behind it, you'll also get a peek at them around the edges.

bobtomay · Oct 29, 2007

the two pic's above, they're showing of Leopard -
The first one is because the first item in the downloads folder is a disc image.
The second one, is not an icon of the folder that was moved to the dock, but the first item (in that case, it happens to be a folder) within each of those folders.

mshale · Oct 30, 2007

bobtomay said:
Am no programmer myself, so until someone comes out with an App to do it.....

Move the icon you want to be in front into each folder you have in the dock.
Rename that icon "1", the number 1, it will now appear in front of all the other icons.

The problem is, we now have "stacks". Each one of those is a stack of all the icons within that folder. The first icon (alphabetically) within each folder is the one that will be in front. And it puts #'s before letters, that's why I used the number "1". Also, if it's icon is smaller than any icons behind it, you'll also get a peek at them around the edges.

could you post those icons, or a link to where you obtained them?

Zoolook · Oct 30, 2007

bobtomay said:
the two pic's above, they're showing of Leopard -
The first one is because the first item in the downloads folder is a disc image.
The second one, is not an icon of the folder that was moved to the dock, but the first item (in that case, it happens to be a folder) within each of those folders.

Sure, I know that, but not clear on how this changes things. No single application should be representative of my application folder, I, and I suspect many others users, would rather have a generic symbol.

As for the download folder, many downloads are going to be disc images, as almost all Mac app and patch downloads are.

I realise the pics are 'worst case' scenario, but really honestly, does anyone think this visual representation represents a 2 year leap over Tiger? For me, it's ugly and confusing and I have to say, I DO like Leopard overall.

fleurya · Oct 30, 2007

Well, as we all know, Stacks is pretty much a dressed up folder of items in the Dock. I always used folders in the Dock and liked it much better when it could handle multiple folder levels. Meaning, when you right click on the folder, you get a nice, clean, straight listing of what you have and settling on a folder brings up yet another list of what's in there and so on. I could get to a file or application so much faster that way.

Now, I can't have folders of folders or more items than a grid can handle without having to use Finder, which is what I was trying to avoid by having a folder in the Dock to begin with. I think the grid layout looks nice, but I haven't liked the look of the fan since I first saw it. It just looks odd and wrong to me on an overall layout where everything is pretty much straight and parallel/perpendicular.