Submission details
Dock: let users set the orientation
My dock is on the left side of the bottom of the screen - it's not centered. This option can only be activated via some "geek tools" like TinkerTool. Why isn't this a standard option of the Dock?
In my opinion it's much easier to use, because if I open apps that are not in the dock, the dock size will change. If it's centered, the position of all other icons in the dock changes.
That's annoying. If the orientation is at the left side, newly opened apps or minimized windows "extend" the dock to the right side.
Let the user set the dock orientation: left/beginning, right/end, center.
Low
Low
Not fixed
Discussion (8 comments)
How would this complicate things for the enduser?
Doesn't setting the desktop background image of your desktop also complicate things? I mean, if you choose the wrong background, maybe you won't find your mouse cursor anymore ... Hey btw why don't we cancel the support for using others than apple's apps? It's so complicated .. firefox, entourage, smultron - install, remove, delete. How should a normal user understand that? I'm not a quantum physicist!
I know that such little things are not that unique selling proposition for Mac OS. But it's the sum of many of such tiny features that makes users happy - imho.
(Don't let yourself get confused by my sarcastic hecklings ... ;-))
Power Users can do this via the Terminal, and you can also do it via the Secrets prefpane (search for Secrets.prefpane).
Since Secrets is free and you can do it via Terminal, I doubt it'll be implemented and can't see any reason why - given the above - that you'd want to if you were Apple.
Hey thanx, exactly what I was looking for.
So many tiny little features that make you unhappy, but that the general user doesn't care about, but sees tiny checkboxes everywhere. Confusing - and let me tell you: people don't like to think about what they are for. If they aren't abvious, they're useless.
jasper, what is your problem? You're obviously not the average user, because EVERYTHING is confusing to you. Windows takes up over 90% of the desktop computer market and is FULL of confusing settings and checkboxes. Nobody complains about that, they just ignore them if not needed. But the beauty of Windows is that if you don't like something, you can change it easily, and believe me people do exactly that every day!
Users tend to ignore things that they don't understand. If they click something they shouldn't have, there are internet forums and computer consultants who they can pay to come and fix whatever they broke.
Not including useful options just because one person in 100 would be confused by them is a terrible idea, it'll be the death of Apple if their OS becomes virtually unconfigurable. A properly configured OS can increase productivity tenfold, but having default 'baby' settings for every single user slows down the power users.
I think the main problem is to please both the amateur and the power user and to let them know about all the features the user might be interested in. The only way to do that is to offer the functionality for power users but make them accessible through a well documented preference pane on the one hand and through many configuration assistants (Wizards in Windows terms) on the other hand so that everyone is happy!
jasper wrote on November 8, 2008, 8:33pm
That's your opinion. From a GUI side of things this would complicate it for the regular user. The choice they have right now is enough. Sorry, but this is not something consumers have been waiting for.