Without meaning to take away from the excellent suggestions above, might I suggest a little dock organization?
The dock is designed to hold your "top dozen or two" favourite apps, not every single app you own. Instead of trying to cram them all into the Dock, try pulling most of them OFF the Dock till you get down to just your Top 20 or so favourites.
Then, on the right side of the dock, drag your Applications Folder down into the Dock. Now, click and hold on the Applications folder icon. Oh look! Every app you own, arranged in alphabetical order, which can be opened with literally a single click!
I have gone further than that and put some of my similar apps into their own folders (within the Applications Folder) such as Audio Apps, Video Apps, Online Radio, Adobe, iWork and so forth.
Then I drag those folders down into the dock. Click and hold to get instant access to your most used GROUPS of apps.
And yes, Stacks (once configured to your taste) in Leopard and Snow make this even MORE cool and efficient than it is in Tiger!
Give it a try.