Is there a freeware dock that can do this?

[luckyme632k]

I currently have a quicklaunch toolbar docked on the left side of my screen (see screenshot below). I'm very happy with it function-wise, but it isn't very pretty. The last time I tried any docks (ObjectDock, MobyDock, etc.), I didn't like that they either overlapped or were hidden behind maximized windows.

I don't like Aways on Top because it gets in the way of other windows. I don't like the autohide feature because I'm always accidentally bumping it. I don't want to have to make it semi-transparent, either.

I'd like to have a dock that can reserve its own portion of screen space, that other windows can't overlap. That's the main thing I like about the quicklaunch toolbar: it's always visible, no matter what other windows are maximized.

It's been a long time since I've looked at any, so maybe this feature exists now in one of them?

Thanks for any input. :)

Edited July 5, 2006 by luckyme632k

[acedriver]

rk launcher can be set to be always on top

[Jase]

yz dock, Moby dock, object Dock and RK Launcher can all do this ;)

[5Horizons]

Use any of the dock programs out there, and use Hawkeye Shellinit to set desktop margins so that maximized windows won't use the space along the side. You only have to run the the app once and the settings are done, it doesn't have to be running in the background.

[thagame]

i like rocketdock

http://www.punksoftware.com/rocketdock

RocketDock is a smoothly animated, alpha-blended application launcher that is similar to ObjectDock. RocketDock renders quickly like MobyDock, has the visual sharpness of Y'z Dock, and the stability that neither seem to possess.

It is compatible with every dock skin format we are aware of. In fact, if you have a skin that doesn't load properly, send it to us, along with a screenshot of what it should look like and we'll see what we can do about integrating the format...

Features:

Compatible with Y'z Dock, Mobydock, and ObjectDock skins

Basic ObjectDock Docklet support

Unicode compliant

Simple drag-n-drop interface

True multi-monitor support

Supports alpha-blended ICO and PNG icons

Items zoom on mouse over

Auto-hide

Popup on mouse over

Layering options

Horizontal and Vertical offsets

Fully customizable

Runs great on slower computers

Supports many languages and can easily be translated

And best of all...its FREE

Supported Languages:

Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Farsi, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sinhalese, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian

[luckyme632k]

Sorry all, I should have specified that I don't like Always on Top because it makes the dock overlap maximized windows. That's in the 1st paragraph, but I didn't specify the AoT setting. I'll correct the original post.

@mx3: I tried HawkEye ShellInit a long time ago, but some windows ignored the settings. Is this still true?

I've just installed ObjectDock Basic, cuz it states "Docks can now reserve the edge of a screen so that windows cannot cover them." However, I can't seem to find this setting in its config, and it's not listed in the Basic/Pro feature comparison chart. Is this in fact a Pro feature?

Thanks again for all the suggestions. :)

[Blazkowicz]

free launch bar is a quicklaunch replacement, has more functionality but it maybe won't be prettier (try it anyway it's a free 522K download)

[MaJoR]

Rocketdock is my vote by far. It can autohide, be on top, equal, or desktop level. It has a simple drag and drop interface, and, to be blunt, it is just gorgious.

[luckyme632k]

Hey, everyone, thanks for all the suggestions!

I'm going with ObjectDock, because I might upgrade to the Plus version at some point.

Thanks again :)

[johnnycake]

that's not a dock

it's built right into xp

try unlocking your taskbar

drag the quicklaunch out of the taskbar, right click it - view - large icons

then drag it onto the side you want it to be on

EDIT:

oops.. ignore me. I didn't read your post :p

[phend-one]

RKLauncher is pretty damn good. It's a free dock. One of the best docks in my opinion.

[luckyme632k]

i like rocketdock

Well, I used ObjectDock Basic for awhile, then RocketDock, using HawkEye ShellInit to reserve screen space. Here's my opinions, if anyone's interested:

ObjectDock: Tons of docklets available, but OD Basic itself is a bit slow (on my system, anyway). If I haven't used it for more than a few minutes, there's a noticable pause before it will expand when I hover the cursor over an icon. Very annoying.

RocketDock: A *much* better performer that OD Basic. Also many more settings and it's totally freeware. However, while technically it can use them, some OD docklets I tried didn't work in RD. Hopefully this will improve as RD matures. Overall, I have to agree with thagame that RD is better than OD Basic. (No way I'm gonna buy OD Plus just to test it. :p )

I'm gonna try RKLauncher next, see how it works on my system. Thanks again for all the help, everyone :)

[Michael1406]

Actually, the topic poster gave the reason I stopped using dock programs, they don't reserve their own screen space. Never heard of RocketDock either, new?

[Quactaur]

hsi shellinit is the way to go. Unfortunately a few programs disobey the rules (firefox is one). I've never tried reserving horizontally though, give it a try and see what it's like.

[vertex]

...and use Hawkeye Shellinit to set desktop margins so that maximized windows won't use the space along the side...

This app is a cool tip, haven?t heard of it before:DD

[luckyme632k]

@Quactaur: I've noticed that some sites do the same thing to my Maxthon. Possibly they're running scripts to resize their windows?

@vertex: Here's my cheap trick to quickly reapply the Hawkeye script. Works pretty well:

On the Taskbar, I placed a copy of the shortcut to the script that's in my Startup folder. Fortunately, Hawkeye scripts don't constantly run in the background, so there's no performance hit when I reapply it.

The icons to the left of the "seperator" are vb scripts to min/restore all windows except desktop items (dock, widgets, etc.). The icons to the right open menus via ShortPopUp, because I don't care for tabbed docks. Hope this helps. :)

BTW, I'm sticking with RocketDock until RK Launcher is at least at version 1.0 (currently 0.4 beta). RKL does look promising, tho, and I might switch to it if it has better docklet support than RD.

Edited July 10, 2006 by luckyme632k