Handle Ten OS X Docks in Different Spaces

very good
key review info
application features
  • Up to 10 Different docks;
  • (6 more, see all...)

If you thought Leopard's Spaces feature was cool, wait until you get a load of Dock Spaces from developer Patrick Chamelo. This truly useful app can equip you with as many as ten different Docks, each customizable to your liking. Whether you want 3D or 2D Docks, one with 20 icons, with another holding just a web browser and an IM app, Dock Spaces will assist you, and even better as a Leopard Spaces user.

While there are multiple applications that allow Mac users to modify the looks and the works of their Dock, none offers the many advantages of Dock Spaces, from a functionality point of view. For power users, the ability to switch through ten different Docks (with all ten being available in four different desktops) is something like workflow heaven. Best of all, this utility app is completely free to download and use for as long as one wants. So, here's what you get to do with Dock Spaces, once you've dragged it into your Applications folder, with its icon appearing in the menubar.

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The first thing you need to do is define how many Docks you need. Don't worry, if you later realize that you might need more than one, or two Docks, just add more whenever you feel the current setup doesn't cope. The maximum allowable number of Docks is 10. After creating, say... three Docks (which you can also name), you can start customizing each one to your heart's content. For example, if I want my primary Dock (“New Dock 1”) to be something like a default configuration for my launcher, I just set my current Dock to the Alt + 1 hotkey (preferably, since CMD + number is generally used as a keyboard shortcut for Leopard's Spaces). As for Docks two and three, I'm going to juggle with the settings a little.

First of all, I need to throw out some of the icons (apps) I won't be using in Dock 2.

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Later, I'll replace those productivity apps with games. This way, as soon as I finish work using Dock 1, I'll just hit Alt + 2 and start playing the many different titles I have installed on my Mac. Yes, PC users, Macs do play games... Now, I need to determine the behavior of my new Dock.

Dock 2 Config.

Bouncing icons – no check; Lock contents – check; Icons transparency – check; Automatically hide and show the Dock – no check – I want Dock 2 to work pretty much the same as Dock 1, only with totally different apps and files ready to be launched; Dock Style – we're keeping things 3D for now; Allignment – Center, the natural choice for most users; Position – Center; Show Active Corners – no check – don't like them, don't use them; Show Expose button – no check.

OK, so that was Dock no. 2 – pretty basic setup. But what if I need to immediately switch from work and gaming to a whole new world of instant messaging, e-mailing, blogging, etc.? This has to be a separate world – all those notifications popping up everywhere, friends buzzing me to answer and comments flowing in on my blog waiting to be approved... these distractions can't be had with Docks 1 and 2. So, I need a third Dock. In fact, I'll put Dock no. 3 in a different Space altogether. So, here's what I do.

Dock 3 Config.

First, I replace all the games and work apps with my favorite IM, twitter and to-do apps, e-mail client, a couple of different web browsers, etc. Then, I hit up the Dock Spaces Preferences.

Bouncing icons – check – this time, I need icons to bounce to see when something's up, pronto; Lock Contents – no check – this “world” is always subject to change; Icons transparency – no check; Automatically hide and show the dock – no check; Dock Style – 2D – with this much going on, I don't need any extra glare; Alignment – center; Position – left – somehow, constantly bouncing icons and updates seem less annoying on the left side of my screen; Show active corners – no check; Show Expose button – check.

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Now, to set Dock 3 to appear in a different Space, I go to the Preferences again, and choose Smart Setup – the tool dedicated to automatically set the spaces configuration for each Dock. Here, I can select the number of columns and rows I need, and that's it! I'm ready to start exercising my “triple personality.”

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Additional options include different menubar icons for the app, the ability to set your own hotkeys, use a preferred notification system (e.g. Growl), put the Dock Spaces icon right in the Dock, and set defaults for newly created Docks, such as “New Dock is a copy of current,” or “New Dock is empty.”

Before you go, be sure to note that there are currently two versions of the software available – one beta, one stable. The beta seems solid enough to rely upon (currently at version 2.20) and, most importantly, adds “hotkeys” (among other cool features). Hotkeys are really a must for apps like Dock Spaces (it's a mystery to me why the app didn't offer it in the first place). Unfortunately for Tiger users, Dock Spaces is only available for OS X 10.5 Leopard. The app is a Universal Binary.


The Good

Dock Spaces is completely free and enables the use of ten different Docks across four Spaces. What more is there to say...? If you like using four different desktops simultaneously, but would also like to employ a different Dock in each space, this piece of Mac freeware is just what your need. The same customization level applies to each space, so feel free to alter each Dock in accordance with your exact computing necessities.

The Bad

Casual users are prone to getting lost in Spaces, should they enable one too many Docks. Moreover, upon returning to one particular space, users may find that some of their Finder or application windows are gone, while the respective apps are still running. This can only be fixed by quitting and restarting those apps.

The Truth

Apps such as Dock Spaces can also add more hassle to users who can easily settle for the default Mac OS X configuration. However, power users will undoubtedly make good use of this tool, which acts as a “separator” for the many tasks they run on their Macs.

More screens are available just below.

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user interface 4
features 5
ease of use 3
pricing / value 5


final rating 4
Editor's review
very good
 
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