Why do so many distros and DEs come with docks by default? Is it just a strategic move to attract macfag babyducks...

Why do so many distros and DEs come with docks by default? Is it just a strategic move to attract macfag babyducks, or is there some functionality to it that I'm not seeing?

Seems like terrible UI design to me. Clashes with window borders, you have to manually fiddle with what programs it displays, vastly less information conveyed (how many instances are running, window titles of those instances), clearly can only contain a small number of programs and launchers like albert are better at quick access anyway. I always disable it.

t. windows babyduck

I actually like my dock, it auto-hides when I use an application and only pops up when I move my mouse along the bottom border. It shows how many instances are open with the blue dots and right clicking those gives you the option to select an instance.

The start bar is pretty much a dock, except with a 'drawer' and a system tray. Otherwise, they can do exactly the same things.

The biggest difference is that its content must respect its top border so it can share it with apps and have them sit flush. You're right in that it's silly to have apps spill over the border as that fucks up your layout calculations and necessitates a margin (for osx at least) or hiding.

In this case, Windows has decided to be pragmatic about the matter and the start bar is superior due to being more flexible.


That sounds exhausting. I prefer hover, personally.

Curiously, running multiple instances is not allowed on the Mac (at least not without some Terminal trickery). You have a program running, and try to run it again? No, sir! The system just throws you back to the program that was already running. And it actually makes sense, from an usability sense, as it enforces the distinction between program and window. You may have a program with a thousand open windows, but it is still one program, one instance.

Well also the dock shows a predefined set of icons even when they're not running. I guess the windows 98 quicklaunch was similar, but those were shortcuts that created an instance, they didn't then start to represent the app itself.


Well, sounds retarded in typical macfag fashion but that actually explains why macs have it. If you have that model of course a dock would make sense.

I can see docks as being more user friendly: they usually have bigger more detailed icons and interact with the user via animations in ways most panels don't. For a younger or older person they do seem more inviting. I remember when I used to "rice" my windows desktop years ago before I switched to linux, and I gotta admit without the start bar and having only a small auto-hide dock in the left hand corner my desktop looked clean and sexy as fuck. No icons or anything, just a small floating bar if you hovered over the corner. Very space efficient.

What I can't understand is why the fuck you'd need both. Xfce and others like it ship with a docking application at the bottom and panel at top. Why? Why would I want to go all the way to the bottom of my screen, open a program, and then manipulate it with a bar at the fucking top? Why not put everything in the panel? Unity has a similar problem, it has a side dock bar, but then a panel at the top. Not only that, but the panel is old mac-style where all program menus are on the panel instead of on the window. Fucking why?

Docks confer no significant benefits aesthetically or technically. They are enabled by default purely for grandpa installs where screwing around with options will only cause the sludge brained boomer to reject the product altogether.

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It's like having your icons on your desktop, but they're easily accessible when you have windows open. Also there are a few more features.
Personally I prefer a bar along the bottom, like Windows since 95. It's smaller, window buttons show more info and it looks neater.

The Unity dock on Ubuntu I really don't understand why anyone lets it run taking up so much precious screen real estate all the time. I first saw it being used with Terry A Davis and that anyone would use a UI this way was the most baffling part of the video for me.

I use cairo dock since it's very customizable and light on resources. You can either rice it up or boil it down to your liking.

I much prefer a bar like windows 7, with icons only, grouped windows, and programs possibly pinned as in quicklaunch. Completely subsumes tabbed windows, works well with putting the taskbar on the side of the screen, and allows more programs/windows on the bar at once.

So it's like shoving a bunch of crap in from of your application while your desktop does nothing.

Since Vista, you can pin shortcuts on the Windows start bar also, and these are used when the app is running as well. Its very docklike in nature. You can also drag icons about since 7 like a dock too.

"user friendly" shit doesn't matter when you've used a computer for over a week, it's like training wheels, people need to use their heads.

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Thanks dock

It's all in the family.

I like my dock. Well, plank actually. I think it's kinda sexy, also my wife finds it easier to use my computer. I don't dual boot.

Some things are very hard to figure out by trial and error. If OSS devs would drop the attitude and just provide some 5 minute "quickstart" tutorial fit for normie consumption OSS would spread 10 times faster. Don't even need to gay up your UI, just fucking handhold a little to show how basic tasks work so there's incentive to climb the rest of the learning curve.

Normies struggle with handholding, especially with things like Linux where "free" already means "ads and crap that doesn't work" in their mind. They won't even give it a chance before saying "fuck this can I have my Windows 10/Mac OS back".

Microsoft tried to reinvent the wheel with Windows 8 and it failed for that very reason. No amount of tuts and pointers kept people from simply installing ClassicShell.

Make it work like an OS they're familiar with (either Windows or OS X) and they'll get used to it a lot easier.

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I'm sure for some people it really fits in to their workflow, but I'm also betting most users just wanted the huge icon to show his friends his obscure choice of software.


tl;dr: they're for tech hipsters

They're much prettier and arguably easier to "keep clean" than having icons all over your desktop.

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dmenu/rofi/et-al have a massive discoverability problem that minimalist installs of arch never actually acquire.

if the average user is retarded and doesn't even learn the hotkeys, how the fuck are they supposed to remember like 40 commands to function on a glorified commandline?

Because plebs would rather use DEs with docks over good DEs such as KDE

I like it, sue me.
Perfectly reasonable music application.
The only browser that works properly with hardware acceleration and actually works with HiDPI. I don't like Chrome, I'd rather use Firefox or Chromium or Midori, but they just don't work. Got any browser that works well on a 2800x1440 screen with Elementary OS?

Novell Netware is best dock. I actually wrote a clone of this. I added a toolbar for quick launch icons too.

I've installed Chromium now. And somehow it now supports hardware acceleration, the DPI size is correct and top bar is properly configured. Amazing.

Non factual pleb opinions, discarded.

it's objectively bad ui design

Holy shit. That was on every computer at my high school and I hated it. What do you like about it?

There was been something called a launcher in Mac OS since System 7. The launcher was a very basic dock, in that it was a permanant window from which you could launch applications. I never used it as I preferred to use the Apple menu.

Ok look, that distro is a piece of shit, elementaryOS, it's so reduced to the basics that its almost unusable. On the other hand, spotify is a logical way to save money on music. Your right with chrome, you might as well just hand out your personal information.

Most normalfags drop Linux because the pretentious sacks of fat installing it for them won't install non-free components.

You ease them in, faggots. Then when they are ready you drop an autism bomb on them.

This is why I prefer to install linux mint or elementary OS with all non-free bullshit enabled from the get go. Also, take some time to make them familiar with their new environment. Show them how it's done without treating them like a toddler.

Think different ;^)

But seriously, it's to escape "Windows". Most normies (to whom these really shitty looking DE's are designed for) think OSX looks neat, but don't want to use it, or don't have the hardware for it. This makes the distros with docks look appealing.

Think of it this way, there are two main desktop consumer operating systems. One uses a taskbar, the other uses a dock. What other options are there? Trying to reinvent the wheel has led us to Unity. I'm not saying DE's can't be improved, I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy of asking your question. If a DE doesn't have a dock, it has a taskbar. More DE's out there with taskbars too.

Personally, I think the dock is fucking stupid, because I can never tell just at a glance if the item is active, inactive, windowed, or minimized. Shit's fucking annoying.