[mediahound]

putting your dock on the side like this;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mediahound/45576417/

is better since monitors are more wide than they are tall. so you have less space to spare for the Dock on the bottom than you do on the side. Doing this gives you more space for document and browser windows and less scrolling you have to do.

just my opinion but it works well!

[TETENAL]

I have it on the right side on my iBook and on the bottom at my desktop computer with Cinema Display (even though the screen is wider there I like the Dock at the bottom more). So there is no single "better" way. It depends.

[RevEvs]

agreed.

Always have had my dock on the side.

[Jens Peter]

i have had my dock on the right for a couple of years... Since 10.2 I think. I like it that way, but I know many that can't use their macs unless the dock are at the buttom of the screen.

[CharlesS]

I like the Dock on the right as well. I just wish the Finder would know enough not to stick icons under it.

[Randman]

I keep the dock at the very left-hand side of the bottom, but I have it set to hide when not in use. Love the extra screen space, even on a PB17.

[rickey939]

I have it set to the left on every Mac I use.

[qnxde]

right side and pinned at the bottom.

[OreoCookie]

I have it on the bottom. Tried it on both sides a few times, but didn't like it.

[SpaceMonkey]

I prefer the Dock on the bottom, because to get any perceived space-saving benefits of placing it on the side of my Powerbook screen, I'd have to make it so small that it would lose some functionality for me. Or I'd have to turn on the magnification feature, which I dislike.

[Eriamjh]

I've had mine on the right for a couple years now. I prefer it there.

[paul w]

I've tried it on the left, the right, but it always seemed to get in the way of other stuff like tools and palette menus and such.

The bottom the best solution for me (plus it allows for a longer dock).

[fisherKing]

i always had mine on the right...until recently.
find it's better (on my 12" pb, anyway), for apps like logic, which benefit from a wider screen.

the dock's a nuisance, a waste of screen real estate. still...i like it...

[leperkuhn]

I had it on the bottom since the public beta. I just moved it to the left and I'm loving it.

[SMacTech]

MIne is on the right, pinned at the bottom.

[jam8]

My question is, if you set your dock to "hide" when not in use, then what difference does it make in its location in terms of screen space?

I keep mine on the bottom, hidden! It's perfect that way.

[Horsepoo!!!]

Like many here, I've had the dock on the right side also...pretty much since 10.1. I'm still one of the few unlucky people with a small 17" CRT running at a sad, sad 1024x867...vertical space is very precious to me. I'm also unlikely to accidently hit icons on the right side of the screen considering a lot of the action happens on the left and middle (menus in the top left of the menubar and windows opening on the left side).

I'm gonna tolerate this crappy set up for another year and a half I guess...waiting patiently for the Macintels and prices on large, widescreen LCDs to dip even lower.

[Weyland-Yutani]

I have it on the bottom, hidden, on a 12" PB. I never could really get used to having it on the side, althogh it does save screen real estate.

cheers

W-Y

[chris v]

I have one on the bottom, one on the left, and a process dock (running apps only) on the right. DragThing is cool that way.

[jay3ld]

bottom-right and i got it set to small as possible though plist file...

[kcmac]

Bottom and hidden.

[ghporter]

Right-middle works great, particularly when using Word and similar apps; when the window is maximized (and the Dock is set to be fairly small) we still have plenty of space to see what's behind the foreground window.

[SirCastor]

Mine's set at the bottom, pinned to the left. I think that's the most UI appropriate. It grows only in one direction, and commonly used icons stay in one spot for Muscle memory.

[kcmac]

How do you pin it to the left on the bottom?

[Millennium]

Left/bottom here since the 10.0 days. I'd have preferred to have it right/bottom, but unfortunately desktop icons don't respect the Dock and so it ends up obscuring the icons and/or their names.

[teszeract]

I like to move my dock around. Sometimes on the left, sometimes at the bottom. Sometimes on the right. You never know where its going to be next.

[Tesseract]

User name theft!

My dock is on the right, hidden, with magnification on. It's not pinned.
I tried it on the left, but as a right-hander it's more natural for me to swing the mouse to the right to reveal the Dock. And I have to look down to see it if it's at the bottom, whereas I don't have to move my eyes as much to see it on the side.

[Mr. Blur]

Originally Posted by kcmac

How do you pin it to the left on the bottom?

Grab a copy of the freeware TinkerTool and choose "bottom, start position" in the dock options. Of course this can be done with the terminal as well but if there is a freeware gui app that works well why bother. TinkerTool does all sorts of other cool stuff too and is definitely worth the download.

I keep mine on the left in the top position on my desktop with 2 monitors. On my laptop, I keep it on the right pinned to the bottom.

[Lateralus]

I'm into that whole balance thing, so I keep my dock on the bottom.

[mindwaves]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

I like the Dock on the right as well. I just wish the Finder would know enough not to stick icons under it.

My thoughts exactly.

[Sage]

Ditto – I keep it pinned on the right. In fact, I keep most of my windows left-aligned, not fullscreen, so that I can monitor my desktop and background processes (for example, I put my Safari Downloads window and my Mail Activity Viewer in the “gap” between my windows and the Dock). Works great.

[CaptainHaddock]

I keep mine on the bottom for three reasons:

1. There's more room for icons before it starts scaling them.

2. I need screen width more than I need screen height. The more uncluttered width I have, the more documents I can put beside each other. Reducing my screen's effective width by putting the Dock on the side wouldn't do.

3. Aesthetically, I like the balance of a Dock in the center and no icons on the desktop.

[teszeract]

Originally Posted by Tesseract

User name theft!

Me here first bub. Saw u quite a while back, then thunk to myself, and that's why the spelling is really important. I found my tesseract in Heinlein's story . You?

[Anubis IV]

I keep mine hidden and on the bottom for a few minor reasons.

1) I'm comfortable with it already. That's key.

2) At one point, putting it on the side would have meant SMALL icons, and that would've been annoying since I don't like magnification any more.

3) The whole notion of a bouncing icon makes little sense when it's on the side (though, I've turned bouncing off, but still, the notion that it should be bouncing remains).

4) I tend to use all of my corners and sides for various things, and as it has worked out, it's very comfortable to keep it on the bottom since I have DragThing docks on the right side and hot corners that activate the screen saver and Exposé on everything but the bottom right. Putting the Dock on the left side, which would be my first choice after the bottom, would mean that I'd have to be more careful with the mouse since I might land on a corner and do something.

So yeah, I don't think my choice of placement is superior or anything (as I might with some of my other conventions), but it works well for me.

[Gee4orce]

I find the left works best for me - that way it keeps out of the way of Finder icons and scroll bars...

[Zadian]

I have my most important folders on the right side of the screen since System 7.5. With Mac OS X 10.0 those folders moved into the Dock and it was a logical step to move the Dock to the right.
Since Mac OS X 10.0 i have the Dock on the right and pinned to the top (start).
For me it's the ideal position for the Dock.

As i use the Desktop only for temporary items nothing gets hidden below the Dock. I don't let the Volumes mount on the Desktop, this way the right side of the screen isn't already occupied with things.

[Tesseract]

Originally Posted by teszeract

Me here first bub. Saw u quite a while back, then thunk to myself, and that's why the spelling is really important. I found my tesseract in Heinlein's story . You?

I was thinking of L'Engle's version, actually.
And April comes before October, I think.

No harm done though. Just don't put the screensaver icon in your sig!

[Simon]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

I like the Dock on the right as well. I just wish the Finder would know enough not to stick icons under it.

I'd like to second that opinion!

[bbales]

Originally Posted by Horsepoo!!!

Like many here, I've had the dock on the right side also...pretty much since 10.1. I'm still one of the few unlucky people with a small 17" CRT running at a sad, sad 1024x867...vertical space is very precious to me. I'm also unlikely to accidently hit icons on the right side of the screen considering a lot of the action happens on the left and middle (menus in the top left of the menubar and windows opening on the left side).

I, too, still have a 17-inch CRT (but I don't know the resolution). Always had the dock on the right because, if I recall correctly from years ago, web pages got in the way of the dock being on the left.

I just started doing my daughter's school newsletter, and after fighting through open pallettes and toolbars and the like for the past week, I'm ready to throw out the CRT and invest in a nice, big flat panel. Unfortunately, my wallet doesn't agree. The CRT is nearly 5 years old (an Apple studio display) and it's hard to justify just dukmping it when it still works. But boy, do I want something else...

[SirCastor]

Originally Posted by kcmac

How do you pin it to the left on the bottom?

In the terminal:

defaults write com.apple.Dock pinning start

Then kill the dock and it'll start up again. It's really an improvement in the functionality IMO. I think they ought to include it outright. As Mr. Blur said, it's possible with Tinkertool. But where's the fun in that?

[kcmac]

Originally Posted by SirCastor

In the terminal:

defaults write com.apple.Dock pinning start

Then kill the dock and it'll start up again. It's really an improvement in the functionality IMO. I think they ought to include it outright. As Mr. Blur said, it's possible with Tinkertool. But where's the fun in that?

Thanks. If I end up not liking this, how do I revert back?

[kcmac]

Originally Posted by Anubis IV

I keep mine hidden and on the bottom for a few minor reasons.


4) I tend to use all of my corners and sides for various things, and as it has worked out, it's very comfortable to keep it on the bottom since I have DragThing docks on the right side and hot corners that activate the screen saver and Exposé on everything but the bottom right. Putting the Dock on the left side, which would be my first choice after the bottom, would mean that I'd have to be more careful with the mouse since I might land on a corner and do something.

That's why I like the bottom, hidden as well. I make my dock small enough so that it doesn't get in the way of the corners. Keep magnification on.

[Todd Madson]

Mine has been on the side for four years now. Yep.

[osxrules]

My dock's a bottom-dweller. I've tried it on the sides but I don't like it. One reason is the desktop icons being there but mainly because I find it easier to move my mouse left and right than up and down so I find I can move through the icons quicker.

It's also to do with the balance thing. It matches well with the menu bar at the top. On the side, it just feels like it's in the wrong place. I wonder if the preference has got anything to do with the type of person you are e.g. if you are more artistic or more technically minded.

[jmiddel]

I have my dock also to the right, very small icons, only 1/4 inch wide, which also allows me to park almost 50 items there. To me having it there seems intuitive because I reach more easily for things to the right with arm and hand, so mousing right just follows easier than left or bottom. The latter is to me incredibibly annoying, it always get in my field of vision when reading or working in full screen docs. But I agree with the folks who like it balanced, which is why I don't pin it to the bottom, I like it floating centered.

[pliny]

I used to have my dock on the right side but now consider myself more of a dock on the bottom type person. From time to time I think wistfully about those dock on the right days.

I would NEVER put my dock on the left. That is sick.

[SirCastor]

Originally Posted by kcmac

Thanks. If I end up not liking this, how do I revert back?

Same string, different ending

defaults write com.apple.Dock pinning middle
kill it.

It should work fine.

[nredman]

i usually have it on the bottom but i think i am going try it on the right for awhile

[andreas_g4]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaddock

I keep mine on the bottom for three reasons:

1. There's more room for icons before it starts scaling them.

3. Aesthetically, I like the balance of a Dock in the center and no icons on the desktop.

Exactly my thinking.

[moonmonkey]

Left.

Thats where grownups have it.