[Big Mac]

Why can't the Dock be more configurable, after 9 years of OS X? I know about the hidden defaults write options, but I'd really love for Apple to give us a much more flexible Dock platform. Why can't we have multiple specialized Docks, for instance? I'd like to have a separate Dock just for minimized windows? I ask because I previously preferred having my Dock on the right side of the screen and pretty large, until I realized that more than a few docked windows screwed up my workflow by shrinking the Dock to being far too small. I now switched to having it on the bottom, pinned to the left, and now I, but if I could I'd want to have separate docks for different assigned functions. If Apple can't deliver that, it should open up the API so that a third party app like DragThing can properly replace the Dock.

[ibook_steve]

You do realize that in Snow Leopard, minimized windows don't take up any space in the dock if you turn on Minimize windows into application icon, right?

Steve

[Big Mac]

I wasn't aware of that because I'm on Leopard much more than SL. I'd still like more options, but I guess that improvement is better than nothing.

[lpkmckenna]

I'd prefer the Dock to be more than left side/right side. I'd prefer organizing folders on the left, then apps, then Docklings (like TimeMachine or Dashboard), then minimized windows. Moving the Trash out of the Dock and into the Finder sidebar would be great too. I'd love much larger Stacks windows too, with larger icons also.

[D1STORT1ON]

Have you checked out Drag Thing?

[lpkmckenna]

I've tried DragThing, but it just adds more docks instead of fixing the Dock. It was cool but not quite what I wanted.

[Big Mac]

Same here. Of course, it can't replace the Dock because Apple won't open the APIs.

[P]

Sure it can replace the Dock. What it can't do is replace PART of what the Dock executable does, which is really what you're after.

The Dock itself may not have been enhanced terribly since 10.1 or so, but while the Dock used to be the only possible shortcut for all sorts of features, there are now many other features that take up part of what the Dock used to do. My Dock today is basically an app launcher, with the occasional minimized window and a few folders which are holdovers from the Tiger days - and the trash. It used to be my main launcher for all sorts of things - shortcuts to folders, applications, etc. Expose gave me back my desktop, so that's where most everything is. Spotlight is a launcher. You could argue that Spaces removes or at least decreases the need for minimizing windows. By removing one requirement after another, the Dock regresses to a launcher for current and often used apps. It works well for that - well enough that the Win 7 taskbar copied that behavior.