Advice for dock + panel config

[sjmacewan]

Hi guys, my apologies if this isn't the place for this kind of discussion. I looked around and this seemed the most appropriate.

I've been tweaking my Ubuntu desktop UI pretty much weekly for years now and am still not satisfied. Here's my plight:

I enjoy docks for application launching. The GnomeDo dock functionality is, in my opinion a great tool. I would replace the existing panels with it, but...

I like panels for window management. Icons on the dock that represent open windows are easily confused with application launchers. On top of that, most docks I've come across have issues if you want to open another instance of an application that's already open.

An obvious solution would be to use both panels AND docks, but I find that clutters up the screen too much (I'm on a laptop, and like to keep most of my windows maximized.)

I guess I'm not entirely sure what I'm asking for...I'm just wondering if people have any advice for a good way to manage launchers and open windows.

Thanks!

[stinkeye]

I use AWN as my panel and kupfer as my launcher.
kupfer is similar to gnome-do launcher but not built on mono.
There is an option in AWN to launch another instance of an application by holding down left click.

[fabounet]

If you want to replace completely your panels, try GLX-Dock, it has everything you need and a lot of eye-candy.

[kerry_s]

Hi guys, my apologies if this isn't the place for this kind of discussion. I looked around and this seemed the most appropriate.

I've been tweaking my Ubuntu desktop UI pretty much weekly for years now and am still not satisfied. Here's my plight:

I enjoy docks for application launching. The GnomeDo dock functionality is, in my opinion a great tool. I would replace the existing panels with it, but...

I like panels for window management. Icons on the dock that represent open windows are easily confused with application launchers. On top of that, most docks I've come across have issues if you want to open another instance of an application that's already open.

An obvious solution would be to use both panels AND docks, but I find that clutters up the screen too much (I'm on a laptop, and like to keep most of my windows maximized.)

I guess I'm not entirely sure what I'm asking for...I'm just wondering if people have any advice for a good way to manage launchers and open windows.

Thanks!


sounds like all you need is the normal gnome-panel.
just make 1 a larger size, turn off the expand, turn on auto hide.

docky's simple
awn is fairly complete, as you can replace the panel no problem.
cairo-dock is all about features, takes more time to get it right.

make sure you grab the ppa versions to get the latest.


i use awn more then the others, setup close to how it is in mac.

[sjmacewan]

Thanks for all of the input everyone, I'll take all of this into consideration on my next pass through the desktop.