Winstep Nexus dock 10.3 released

[JcRabbit]

The Winstep Nexus dock is a FREE, stand alone, version of the Nexus dock that is part of the Winstep Xtreme suite of applications, although it has no support for multi-docks, multi-level sub-docks, and system tray icon configuration, unlike its bigger 'cousin' in Winstep Xtreme.

(The screenshot above displays Nexus with icon reflections enabled at 75%, widened separation between icons, the dock background set to 100% transparent and icons set to opaque. Icon reflections can also be animated so they appear to shimmer on the surface of the water. The wallpaper can be downloaded from HERE)

Download the final release of Nexus 10.3

Every feature you?d expect from a dock, including widgets, mouse-over effects, skins, drag-and-drop, and even others not available in most other docks, such as live icon reflections, in-dock system tray, Vista Aero Glass effects, and much more. Completely customizable, Nexus has thousands of backgrounds freely available online and is fully compatible with skins for all 3rd party docks.

Major hightlights of the 10.3 release: in-dock system tray, ability to customize the images of the dock control icon and the clock, recycler, cpu, net, ram and email checker widgets, option to open context sub-menus on mouseover, major reorganization of right-click context menus in order to make them more consistent between different item types and make it easier to add new items to the dock, amazing new set of weather icons by Teknofrik (Style 2), full and seamless integration of native Nexus and 3rd party dock skins (no longer separate), option NOT to flip dock backgrounds for docks located at the top of the screen, ability to specify the folder used to store screenshots taken by the Capture Desktop command, and much, much, more!

Live Icon Reflections:

Dock System Tray:

Automatic Glass Blur effect for semi-transparent dock backgrounds (Vista/Win7):

Watch Nexus in action:

On YouTube click on the HD button for a 860x480 pixel, high definition, version of this video.

Nexus Features:

?Fully compatible with Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7 and all 64 bit versions of Windows.

?Live icon reflections.

?Dock magnification, swing, bounce, afterglow and many other incredible mouse over effects.

?Water ripple, fluid surface, fluid reflections and many more dock animation effects.

?Automatic Vista glass blur for semi-transparent dock backgrounds.

?System tray and running applications displayed on dock.

?Running application indicators.

?Adjustable icon spacing.

?Dock auto-hide and auto-collapse to take up as little screen space as possible.

?Built-in clock, weather, recycler, fortune cookie reader, email checker, net, cpu and ram meter docklets/widgets.

?Over 80 useful internal commands (Show Windows Start Menu, Capture Desktop Screenshot, Hide Taskbar, etc?).

?Ability to prevent maximized windows from overlapping the dock.

?Supports drag & drop of virtual file system objects (My Computer, Control Panel, etc...).

?Completely customizable - thousands of backgrounds freely available online.

?Fully compatible with skins for all other docks.

?Full drag & drop support with extremely easy to use and intuitive User Interface.

?Multi-monitor support.

?Multi language support.

?Includes Update Manager to look for, download, and automatically install new versions.

?... and many, many, other incredible features!

Winstep Website: http://www.winstep.net

Registration: FREE

You can download Nexus from HERE (17.7 MB).

Nexus is fully compatible with Windows 2000, XP 32/64 bit, 2003 Server, Vista 32/64 bit and Windows 7 32/64 bit.

Supported languages: Catalan, Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Farsi (Persian), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brasil), Russian, Spanish, Swedish.

[LiquidSolstice]

What is better about this than, say, RocketDock? What would I be gaining besides having the System Tray in my dock, however useful that may be?

[JcRabbit]

What is better about this than, say, RocketDock? What would I be gaining besides having the System Tray in my dock, however useful that may be?

Besides the fact that RD hasn't seen a new version in two years and development on it has probably stopped, while Nx is in (very active) development?

Ok, where do I start? Perhaps with the least important, eye candy (but I'm not going to make an exaustive list):

1. Nx has live icon reflections. RD doesn't. I would say that is a big one right there.

2. Nx has Magnify, Flat Magnify, Zoom, Bounce, AfterGlow, Rock and Swing mouse over effects. RD only has Magnify and Flat Magnify.

3. Nx is able to automatically glass blur semi-transparent dock backgrounds under Vista and Windows 7. RD can't.

4. Nx has cool fluid effects, such as animated icon reflections (very nice with semi-transparent dock backgrounds, makes the icons appear as if they are reflecting on water), animated backgrounds (very nice for backgrounds like Nx-Lawn, where the grass looks like it's blowing in the wind) and Water Ripple (makes the background act like a liquid container with spreading circular ripples whenever you click on it).

5. With Nx you can control distance between icons. With RD you can't.

6. Nx allows you to colorize dock backgrounds. RD doesn't.

7. Maximum icon magnification in RD is 128 pixels. In Nx it's up to 256 pixels.

8. Nx can optionaly display a 3D dock background such as Leopard at the top of the screen without force-flipping the background (i.e. icons still magnify up).

Now (oh boy) in terms of functionality, in no particular order:

1. Nx is 100% Windows 64 bit compatible. RD says it isn't (although, truth be said, it seems to work fine under 7 64 bit, at least at first sight)

2. Nx can float freely on the screen. RD is always tied to one of the screen edges.

3. Floating Nx docks can collapse to a single control tile, thus taking as little screen space as possible without being tied to a screen edge.

4. You can launch Nx items via keyboard shortcuts.

5. You can activate Nx via keyboard shortcuts as well as screen edge and corner mouse bumps.

6. Nx can display running tasks in normal or grouped mode. RD can only minimize to the dock.

7. Icons of running tasks can be fully customized and you can set what appears in the tasklist and what doesn't.

8. To customize the icon of an item in the dock, all you need to do is drop an ICO, PNG or TIF file on it.

9. The Nx weather module/docklet gives you a 5 day weather forecast and detailed weather information.

10. The Nx Email Checker module works with multiple POP3 and IMAP accounts and supports SSL encryption.

11. The Nx Net Meter module allows you to see current active connections and which applications are using them.

12. You can browse the container folders of shortcuts in the dock (and folders in the dock) via right click context menus, and even manipulate folder items directly from the menus.

13. Nx right-click context menu can optionaly show you every option Explorer would show you if you right clicked on that item (Open With, Send To, etc..).

14. When docked to a screen edge, Nx can prevent maximized windows from overlapping it - it also respects screen space reserved by the Windows taskbar and other toolbars, which means you can dock it to the bottom screen edge and it will not overlap the taskbar.

15. Nx supports sound events and sound themes. The built-in clock module can also optionaly announce the time every hour in female or male voices.

16. Nx has an automatic update manager which automatically searches for, and installs for you if you tell it to do so, new upgrades.

17. Nx allows you to fine tune between memory usage and performance.

18. Nx gives you access to over 80 useful internal commands, from hiding the taskbar to hibernating to capturing screenshots of your desktop to closing your CD-ROM door... you catch my drift. Just right-click on any dock icon -> Insert New Dock Item -> Internal Command for a complete list.

19. Nx allows you to specify if context sub-menus open on mouse over or only when you click on them.

20. Nx can show you document and video files as thumbnails.

Look, I could keep at this for hours. Nx is much, much, more advanced than it looks at first sight - it has the benefit of 10 years+ development on Winstep applications behind it, and Winstep's attention to detail.

Furthermore, the version of Nexus in Winstep Xtreme also:

1. Allows you to have as many docks as you want.

2. Allows you to categorize items into sub-docks.

3. Sub-docks can be nested and have an infinite number of levels.

4. Allows context menus to be skinned according to the global theme.

5. Allows you to customize system tray items (or will, currently still working on this).

And that's just the dock system. I'm not even going to mention the WorkShelf and NextSTART components of Xtreme.

[LiquidSolstice]

Whoa.....easy there, no need to get so agressive, I was insulting the app I was asking its benefits, that sounded almost arrogant. Anyways, will give it a shot.

[JcRabbit]

Ooops, sorry, didn't want to come across as arrogant or agressive, although in retrospect I see how it could have looked like that. :(

People are usually very resistent to change and tend to stick with what they have already. From the POV of an application developer with an app (Nexus) that is a relative newcommer on the block (although Winstep itself has been developing customization applications for over 10 years) it can sometimes be a bit frustrating to see how people look for excuses NOT to change even when presented with something which is obviously better.

To give you just an example (Nexus has an uninstall survey), I've had people uninstall Nexus after using it for probably 5 minutes claiming that the auto-hide animation was slow (!). It's not, it's just smoother than the auto-hide animation in RocketDock. Not only that, in Nexus Preferences you can actually change the speed of the animation to be as fast (or as smooth) as you want it to be (same with the speed/smoothness of the magnification effect, for instance).

Of course, if I did change the animation to the fastest setting, then a different group of people would uninstall Nexus complaining that the animation was choppy. Can't win. :rolleyes: :D

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

Looks nice however, no thanks

[JcRabbit]

Looks nice however, no thanks

Any reason in particular? :)

[bolerodan]

This is awesome. Thanks a lot. I'll be checking out this new version!

[giannisgx89]

Better than any other dock and the best of it, it is FREE!

ObjectDock 2 beta is out the stardock want us to pay even for their beta dock, no thanks...

[fix-this!]

ill stick to objectdock but thanks.....only 14 posts since 2002? jeez man come around more! :laugh:

[JcRabbit]

To each it's own... Ah, but 3,411 posts on the Winstep forums. ;)

[Avlor]

Will definitely have a look, as one thing that bugged me in RD is no System Tray option. Otherwise I'd get a complete replacement of my taskbar with Rainmeter + Dock. If this one delivers, I'm switching? :)

[JcRabbit]

Will definitely have a look, as one thing that bugged me in RD is no System Tray option. Otherwise I'd get a complete replacement of my taskbar with Rainmeter + Dock. If this one delivers, I'm switching? :)

It delivers. :yes:

[Roguefoxx]

I don't think you sounded arrogant whatsoever in your response there JcRabbit. You more than answered a question that was asked and I would think LiquidSolstice should be a little more appreciative of the time your post may have taken to respond. If anything he sounded sarcastic while asking what your dock had over RocketDock.

Thanks for all the good info. Gonna give it a try.

[Avlor]

Okay, I've tried it out over the weekend.. Mixed feelings.

First, the whole settings menu is not as responsive as I would like it. I understand it's not the menu you're using the most in everyday life, but still I found it a bit annoying when it lags a second before switching to another page. Another thing is that you have to 'Apply' all changes, it doesn't switch on the fly, even the dock position.

Second, I could not replicate even the initial setup I had with RocketDock. I'll give it another shot tonight, but I'm not sure I can achieve it. One of the critical points is that I can't move the dock off the screen (set a negative screen edge offset). I might post on Winstep forums to get more feedback on this.

Finally, the tray functionality is what I was after... Ideally I'd like to have an arrow so I can open the tray to see what's going on, without placing any icons on the dock. However, when I set my Win 7 to hide everything in that small window you can trigger by clicking on the arrow on taskbar, the arrow on the dock disappears entirely. If I leave one or two icons with "icon and notification" setting, I get a blue arrow I can't change. Since my setup is BW, that's kinda unacceptable.

Overall, I guess I'll have to experiment some more, but for now, I'll stick with RocketDock for its simplicity.

[ahmz]

Looks pretty cool, was tempted to try it but I don't really find a use for docks, especially since the new Superbar.

[JcRabbit]

First of all, thanks for taking the time to report back. :)

As a foreword, given what happened in a previous post, please do not take my response as me being arrogant or agressive - I'm just defending my point of view. :D

First, the whole settings menu is not as responsive as I would like it. I understand it's not the menu you're using the most in everyday life, but still I found it a bit annoying when it lags a second before switching to another page.

I assume you are talking about Nexus Preferences, not the actual right-click context menus?

If so, the only tab that might lag a little bit is the Themes tab because it has to construct a full real-time preview of the theme first (now, isn't it nice that you are actually able to see how a skin will look like before applying it?).

Another thing is that you have to 'Apply' all changes, it doesn't switch on the fly, even the dock position.

It's just another way of doing things - each method has its advantages and disadvantages. Given enough good arguments for it, I don't see why I wouldn't be willing to change this eventually.

But think hard about the disadvantages first please.

To give you a quick example: Nexus is able to 'reserve screen space' when docked so maximized windows won't cover it. How much space is reserved depends on the size/height of the skin, and each time you change it any open windows on the desktop are moved automatically by Windows so they too do not overlap the reserved area, and desktop icons and other toolbars are adjusted as well. Not only does this take time, as would you really like to have this happen whenever you are just browsing existing themes? I think not.

One of the critical points is that I can't move the dock off the screen (set a negative screen edge offset).

I actually added that ability when I first implemented the edge offset slider, but I was in a hurry at the time and changed it back when I run into problems. If you explain to me why this is so important, I might be willing to spend the time getting negative edge offsets to work properly. :)

Finally, the tray functionality is what I was after... Ideally I'd like to have an arrow so I can open the tray to see what's going on, without placing any icons on the dock. However, when I set my Win 7 to hide everything in that small window you can trigger by clicking on the arrow on taskbar, the arrow on the dock disappears entirely.

Although I haven't tried this yet, I'll admit that this is a 'bug', in that I never expected anyone to actually hide *all* the system tray icons (kind of makes you wonder what is the point of having a system tray on the dock, then). As it happens with all reported bugs, it will be fixed in the next release (comming sooner than you think).

Have you tried setting the dock to display all system tray icons in grouped mode?

If I leave one or two icons with "icon and notification" setting, I get a blue arrow I can't change. Since my setup is BW, that's kinda unacceptable.

So, let me see if I got this straight: you're refusing the convenience of being able to dismiss the Windows taskbar entirely and having the system tray on a dock simply because the tray expansion arrow is blue?!

Sincerely, it seems to me that you're being a bit too picky. Nexus is NOT RocketDock, after all, and it has a huge amount of features that make it well worth the time taken to get used to the different interface, etc...

This said, there's no reason why I can't add a way of changing the blue tray icon in the next release, if that is so important. :p

Looks pretty cool, was tempted to try it but I don't really find a use for docks, especially since the new Superbar.

In my opinion, the Superbar is nothing more than a crippled dock. A very, very, crippled dock that doesn't have 1/10 of the features a real dock has. For some, that is good enough.

[Avlor]

Ok, here's my setup on the screenshot

I have the dock icons close to the edge of the screen, closer than the default dock setting. That's why I need a negative offset.

As of the arrow and hiding icons, I don't frequently use the tray, so I don't need it constantly visible, but would like to have access to it, via an arrow or some other toggle.

Btw, just DLed the full Winstep and it does the trick by turning on and hiding the taskbar and leaving the tray floating. But then it's not that easy to get the properties =))

I hope that makes sense, I'm not bashing Nexus, it has some fantastic features, so keep it up? :)

[JcRabbit]

Btw, just DLed the full Winstep and it does the trick by turning on and hiding the taskbar and leaving the tray floating. But then it's not that easy to get the properties =))

CTRL+F12 for NextSTART Preferences, CTRL+F11 for WorkShelf Preferences (you can change those in the General tab of the Preferences screen for both programs). Hope you're running the 10.3 beta and not the older 9.5.

I hope that makes sense, I'm not bashing Nexus, it has some fantastic features, so keep it up? :)

Thanks! Very nice desktop, by the way - now I understand why you want everything 'gray', that blue tray expansion arrow must stick out like a sore thumb. :blush:

[anarkhy]

looks good, will try it.

[JcRabbit]

looks good, will try it.

Let me know what you think - user feedback is important. :)

[Avlor]

Just a quick question over here, can NextStart hide windows taskbar without replacing it with its own? Can't seem to find that option anywhere..?

[JcRabbit]

Just a quick question over here, can NextStart hide windows taskbar without replacing it with its own? Can't seem to find that option anywhere..?

If you're running 10.3 (and, if you are not, you should! ;) ), there is a BIG checkbox right at the top of the Taskbar configuration tab in NextSTART Preferences: 'Allow NextSTART to replace the Windows taskbar'. Disable that and then use WorkShelf to hide the Windows taskbar (General Preferences tab).

[LiquidSolstice]

As interesting as this was, I'm afraid I just don't find it usable. The dock itself works alright, I suppose. I feel it's much slower compared to Rocketdock.

See, here's my situation.

I don't need live reflections. Why would I want them when the dock is hidden most of the time?

I don't need or want my taskbar replaced.

I don't need access to 80 commands from my dock.

I don't want access from my dock to shut down/restart/log off my system.

I could go on, but I'm only giving my opinion here, and in all honesty, what you've done here is the same as me asking for a fly-swatter to kill this annoying fly, and you instead handing me an anti-aircraft tank with rocket launchers, heat-seeking guided missiles, turreted machine guns, a gps, air conditioning, and a coffee maker.

It's just overkill, and it doesn't quite overkill good at that.

Sorry, won't be using it. At least, not right now. Thanks anyway.

[Inklin]

I quite like the look of this Nexus dock, I just took it for a quick spin and it works pretty well apart from a few little bugs.

one bug is setting the taskbar (superbar) to hide in the nexus settings to use the button within the dock for the start menu, I noticed that when the start menu pops up from the dock and I hover over the right panel of the start menu, the buttons turn white one by one as I hover over them. This could just be the theme I'm using for windows 7, but I can't see why.

I love how customizeable the dock it though, great work!