How to: Customize the dock in Leopard
Even in its default configuration, Apple’s OS X 10.5 (aka Leopard) is as beautiful as it is easy to use. That doesn’t mean, however, that Cupertino’s operating system opus can’t be tuned and trued to be just like you want it. Now, when it comes to dock, you can do it without without cracking your system folder or using the command line.
Right out of the box you can configure the position and behavior (See Apple’s Mac 101: The Dock) of the dock in Leopard, including size, position, minimizing effect, animation, application icon magnification on mouse over and whether the dock hides automatically (⌘ + Option + D).
Dock Library
Dock Library is an application that takes the headache out of managing styles for your Leopard dock.
Download styles from sites such as LeopardDocks.com or LeopardDocks.net. Once downloaded, there’s no need to expand or unpack the file, just click “Add Dock” to add it to Dock Library.
When you have some styles in your library, you’re a simple click away from changing the look of your dock. No hunting through hidden system directories, just select the dock you want and click “Set Dock.”
Download Dock Library 0.6 here (1.3MB).
You can also give the dock an entirely new visual appearance using the older, more manual methodology, which offers the old school charm of actually one’s hands dirty (so to speak).
Gotta some nifty OS X user interface hacks or resources up your sleeve. Do share…
See also:
— LeopardDocks.com
— LeopardDocks.net
— How to: Desktop pictures for your Mac (Blorge)
— Common Usability Terms, pt. VI: the Dock, Mac OS X; Criticism (OSNews)
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