The Dock is probably the most noticeable new feature of OS X. When you turn on your Mac, the Dock (a row of buttons) is displayed across the bottom of the screen. The function of the Dock is to combine a number of earlier operating system version features into one powerful tool for accessing applications, documents, and folders. The Dock is completely customizable to your needs. You can even make it go away if you want to!
The Dock is divided into two sides. The Divider is the thin white line. Application icons reside on the left side (or top portion if docked on the side of the screen), and everything else resides on the right side (or bottom if docked on the side of the screen). The two different sides of the Dock are important in that if you try to add a folder to the application side, for example, the Dock will refuse to accept it.
The Dock makes it easy to open applications, documents, and other items you use frequently. To view the name of an icon on the Dock, pass your cursor over the Dock item and notice that the name pops up to view.
Some items on the Dock have a small triangle below or beside them. This triangle indicates that the application is up and running, although it may be in the background where you cannot see it. To open an item in the Dock or to make it active on your screen, click once on the icon (no double-clicking required). This is how you switch between applications when you are working. If you would like to hide the active application and switch to another application all in one shot, hold down the OPTION key as you click on the icon you want to make active.
If you click and hold down the mouse button on a Dock icon, a pop-up menu for that item appears. This menu is hierarchial — for example, if you keep holding down the mouse button on a folder icon, you can use the sub-menus to mover further into the folder hierarchy.
You can customize the Dock to suit your working needs. You can add applications, documents, or folders that you frequently use. To add an item to the Dock, drag its icon to the appropriate side of the Dock.
To remove an item from the Dock, drag its icon off the Dock. It will disappear with a 'poof' animation. When you remove something from the Dock, you are not affecting the original item in any way.
If you open an application that does not normally appear on the Dock, its icon will appear on the Dock as long as you have the application open. As soon as you quit out of the application, the icon on the Dock disappears.
To place an item in the TRASH, drag the item to the Dock over the TRASH icon and release the mouse button. To empty the TRASH, click and hold down the mouse button on the TRASH icon and select EMPTY TRASH from the menu.
To eject a disk (CDs, DVDs, etc.) drag its icon to the TRASH.
Setting Your Dock Preferences
The Dock Preferences allow you to do the following:
- Change the size of icons in the Dock
- Set the icons to be magnified when you move the pointer over them
- Place the Dock on the right or left side, as well as the bottom of the screen
- Hide the Dock
- Control whether icons in the Dock move when you click them
From the APPLE menu select DOCK, and use the sub-menu to select:
- Turn Magnification On
- Turn Hiding On
- Position On Left
- Position On Right
- Position On Bottom
- Dock Preferences
When you select DOCK PREFERENCES from the sub-menu, the SYSTEM PREFERENCES open, with the DOCK pane displayed.
You have the following choices:
DOCK SIZE: To adjust the size of the Dock, move the slider to the right (larger) or left (smaller). As you move the slider, you can see the Dock size change. When you add icons to the Dock, the Dock itself shrinks and automatically accommodates the new items.
MAGNIFICATION: If you turn on magnification by placing a check in
the check box, the icons in the Dock will get bigger as your cursor passes over them. Use the slider to control the size of the magnification.
AUTOMATICALLY HIDE AND SHOW THE DOCK: When you turn on this feature by placing a check in the check box, the Dock will not appear on your screen until you place your cursor in the area of the screen that the Dock would ordinarily appear, then it pops into view. As soon as you move your cursor away from the Dock, it disappears again.
POSITION ON SCREEN: Click once in the desired radio button to choose the Dock screen location — Left, Bottom, or Right.
MINIMIZE USING: This option allows you to choose between the GENIE EFFECT and the SCALE EFFECT — these occur when you click on the MINIMIZE of a window.
ANIMATE OPENING APPLICATIONS: By default this is turned on and when you click on a Dock item, the icon bounces until the item is fully open. If you don't like the bouncing, simply turn it off here by clicking once in the check box.
Here is one little last trick you can use with the Dock. It is a quick way to change the size of the Dock. Move your cursor over the Dock DIVIDER, when you do so, the cursor changes. When it does, click and hold down the mouse button then drag along the Dock to change the Dock size!
Written by Teresa Hagan
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