Gnome-Do Docky - how does it compare?

[pbpersson]

If this topic has already been discussed you can just point me to the thread - I could not find it.

These dock things - eye candy that is supposed to also make you more productive - I have long envied people who used them. I once looked into AWN but the instructions were somewhat involved. I don't want to spend my life on my computer - it said something about I had to configure for AWN every application I ever wanted it to recognize and that was when I lost interest.

One of the main reasons why I wanted to try Jaunty was to see Gnome-Do Docky in action and when I saw it I was so impressed that I installed it on my Intrepid machine as well. There is very little setup time involved and it JUST WORKS.

I love it when things just work. :)

My question is.....is Docky as good as AWN and Cairo? Was I correct in my concept that the setup for AWN was involved? With Docky if you want to add an application, you just drag and drop the icon.

Everyone please tell me everything you know.

[ljerabek]

IMHO cairo-dock is the best. AWN was a pain in the *** and kept crashing. There is a new version of cairo-dock to be out soon too. I don't use the cairo dock install found in synaptic. I just go strait to the dev sight. The version from synaptic was giving me issues.

[pbpersson]

Thank you

Does anyone else have any stories or experience to share on this?

[lvleph]

I use docky and like it. I only have a couple issues. I don't like that I cannot change the look, and I don't like that when there are multiple instances of a particular program one can't just click on it and then select which window to open. Instead one has to right click to do that. I have had less problems with it crashing compared to AWN. Once I got use to the Gnome-Do search and run feature, I believe it to be more efficient.

[pbpersson]

I use docky and like it. I only have a couple issues. I don't like that I cannot change the look

That was the main reason why I was asking about AWN and Cairo because Docky works great but there are not many things you can change. I wish it had that appearance where the icons look like they are sitting on a sheet of glass and you can see the reflection. I think that looks so cool!

But.....Docky seems very stable and it works so maybe I should be thrilled with that and not be looking for something more.

[binbash]

I used docky, awn, cairo, kiba dock etc.From my experience, awn does not crash, it is good but it is slow even i have a good box.Kiba-dock is awesome but has a lot of bugs and it is development is not active so cairo is better than all except docky.Docky is more useful than others.

[lvleph]

I tried out cairo today. It was pretty, but very annoying. It just was very weird to try and change the settings. I am back to Gnome-Do.

[max_power]

well if your only concern is looks then thats up to you but as far as usability goes gnome-do docky ALL THE WAY.

Learn how to use Gnome-Do and i promise you will never want to use different dock.

looks pimp too IMO

[bandofmercy]

i just disabled awn and put docky on my msi wind (2gb ram) and it is very, very choppy and slow. it works, but it isn't pretty like awn was... is this a common problem? i would think that awn would be the slower of the two.

[BilliShere]

Honestly speaking i have a lot of experience with cairo dock, awn, and quite a bit on a daily basis now with gnome-do's docky mode.

lemme simplify the decision for you:

awn: bit ugly, slower, seemingly heavier on resources, less animation. lots of customizations and manually configuring of settings required. not adjustable position without tweaking.

cairo-dock: best of them all in terms of the number of features available for a dock. it features docklets that can be separated from the dock and put on the screen to become gadgets of sorts. lacks a lot of polish, but is the most extensively customizable dock i have ever used. also newer versions contain lots of animations you can enable along with newer views and styles to use.
take this for an example: http://billishere.deviantart.com/art/Room-Project-91916560

gnome-do's docky: revolutionary because it mashes the classic dock with gnome-do's multitasking function. newest version is the best ever. features a very polished look, more applets, not as many compiz like animations as cairo, or as many dock styles as cairo (only one...that is docky). and also has less potential for visual customization as a dock. functionally, it is the most customizable dock ever...due to the fact that it's simply gnome-do in a dock like view. newest version also features ability to position around the screen instead of just on the bottom, just like cairo-dock, but unlike awn.

so stick with gnome-do if you value things just working and a polished interface, but with less visual customizability. otherwise, try cairo-dock for extensive ability to customize visually, but requiring an initial set-up once in order for it to work just like you want it.

[YarDYar]

Thanks Billi!