ObjectDock 1.3 released!
It's here! It's here!
Tuesday, April 25, 2006 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize News
Stardock has released ObjectDock 1.3 (and ObjectDock Plus 1.3). ObjectDock is a program adds a "dock" to the Windows desktop. With ObjectDock, users can organize their programs, running tasks, widgets and much more onto their dock. This can save screen space and make accessing your stuff much easier. While functionality is what makes ObjectDock one of the most popular desktop utilities in the world (ObjectDock has over 2 million users worldwide), it provides its functionality in a highly polished way. The docks are skinnable, a variety of mouse-over effects are available such as zooming, glowing, spinning, and many others.
ObjectDock Plus adds the ability to have tabbed docks, multiple docks, and to display your system tray items as icons on a dock (eliminating the need to even have a Start bar using up space). The tabbed docks can be stuck to the edge of a screen where they can be hidden or display just the tabs on the edge.
ObjectDock is freeware. ObjectDock Plus is $19.95. Its home page is www.objectdock.com.
ObjectDock 1.3 adds:
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Ability to offset the docks from the edge of a screen
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Mouse activation (ObjectDock also supports hot spots). Mouse Activation allows docks to be totally hidden and then when the mouse hits the edge near where the dock is, the dock will pop on top.
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Docks can now reserve the edge of a screen so that windows cannot cover them.
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A ton of user-requested tweaks and changes to improve usability
Screenshots:
Download: http://www.objectdock.com
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rabidrobot
Reply #22 Wednesday, April 26, 2006 12:29 PM
Reply #22 Wednesday, April 26, 2006 12:29 PM
With the last couple versions of ObjectDock, docks using foregrounds no longer behave as they did in previous versions.
Foregrounds used to stretch and scale in a manner similar to the background image. But with last two big releases of ObjectDock the foregrounds do not stretch the same, they instead appear to tile vertically, and for all intents and purposes they ignore settings in the background.ini.
While hard for me to describe, one can easily observe the behavior in question by assigning a dock the "Foreground Example" background skin, then changing the Icon Size.
Not much has been said about foregrounds lately, but before the changes I was playing with them, and I think there is some potential for very interesting docks--that is, when the foregrounds scale and stretch in concert with the background.
I am a huge ObjectDock fan whatever the case, but am curious whether foregrounds are a supported feature behaving oddly or a vestigial ability best ignored until it can be excised?
Foregrounds used to stretch and scale in a manner similar to the background image. But with last two big releases of ObjectDock the foregrounds do not stretch the same, they instead appear to tile vertically, and for all intents and purposes they ignore settings in the background.ini.
While hard for me to describe, one can easily observe the behavior in question by assigning a dock the "Foreground Example" background skin, then changing the Icon Size.
Not much has been said about foregrounds lately, but before the changes I was playing with them, and I think there is some potential for very interesting docks--that is, when the foregrounds scale and stretch in concert with the background.
I am a huge ObjectDock fan whatever the case, but am curious whether foregrounds are a supported feature behaving oddly or a vestigial ability best ignored until it can be excised?
Robbie_Boy
Reply #23 Wednesday, April 26, 2006 6:11 PM
Reply #23 Wednesday, April 26, 2006 6:11 PM
Thanks guy's for the quick update works goooood now 
Ronan H
Reply #24 Thursday, April 27, 2006 5:42 AM
Reply #24 Thursday, April 27, 2006 5:42 AM
Hello again, im just DLing the latest update to hopefully solve the seperator thing! Well done on the swift attention to that...
I wanted to just mention something else i had noticed with my PC which initially i didnt think had anything to do with ObjectDock but now im not so sure. Here goes...
Lets say "It appears" that since the most recent update of OD -BEFORE- the BETA, my startup time has increased significantly. Then the other day when i installed the BETA version the startup time was wayyy faster, like twice as fast id say. Thats when i thought it was an OD issue. Then 2 days ago when i installed the full fat version the startup time got slow again. Thats when i definitely thought it was an OD issue
So thats it, im wondering if anyone else has experienced similar behaviour and if so id love to hear from you.
Again well done on the swift updates...
Ronan H
*** UPDATE ***
OD+ is still dong that separator sticking to the bottom of the screen thing, and every time a program adds a new icon to the tray my dock jumps up about 30px, just thought id let you guys know as i think this was one of the things targetted in the most recent update...
Ro
I wanted to just mention something else i had noticed with my PC which initially i didnt think had anything to do with ObjectDock but now im not so sure. Here goes...
Lets say "It appears" that since the most recent update of OD -BEFORE- the BETA, my startup time has increased significantly. Then the other day when i installed the BETA version the startup time was wayyy faster, like twice as fast id say. Thats when i thought it was an OD issue. Then 2 days ago when i installed the full fat version the startup time got slow again. Thats when i definitely thought it was an OD issue
So thats it, im wondering if anyone else has experienced similar behaviour and if so id love to hear from you.
Again well done on the swift updates...
Ronan H
*** UPDATE ***
OD+ is still dong that separator sticking to the bottom of the screen thing, and every time a program adds a new icon to the tray my dock jumps up about 30px, just thought id let you guys know as i think this was one of the things targetted in the most recent update...
Ro
JMB1984
Reply #25 Thursday, April 27, 2006 12:46 PM
Reply #25 Thursday, April 27, 2006 12:46 PM
Hi Ronan - can you check the versioning to make sure it is in fact the most recent copy that you're using? In the about dialog it's Build #526 for the latest ObjectDock Plus. (or 525 for the free)
Not seeing either of those bugs, just tried having a zooming and tabbed dock both in various positions/various offsets and adding a tray icon couldn't reproduce the 'jumping'.
Not seeing either of those bugs, just tried having a zooming and tabbed dock both in various positions/various offsets and adding a tray icon couldn't reproduce the 'jumping'.
Excalpius
Reply #26 Thursday, April 27, 2006 1:49 PM
Reply #26 Thursday, April 27, 2006 1:49 PM
New version fixed the two bugs above that we mentioned AND the one I forgot to mention (the offset text bug). It was in my bug report though, but regardless, this is GREAT! Note that for some reason, it bombed out on me when I first used it, but have been unable to reproduce that. If I can, I will let you know of course.
Well done!
Well done!
hotrod11
Reply #27 Thursday, April 27, 2006 3:15 PM
Reply #27 Thursday, April 27, 2006 3:15 PM
How do you do this:
Docks can now reserve the edge of a screen so that windows cannot cover them.
Does this mean when I have a dock at the top of the page and I open a doc or web page the page will be lower on the screen so as not to cover the dock?
Docks can now reserve the edge of a screen so that windows cannot cover them.
Does this mean when I have a dock at the top of the page and I open a doc or web page the page will be lower on the screen so as not to cover the dock?
hotrod11
Reply #28 Thursday, April 27, 2006 3:20 PM
Reply #28 Thursday, April 27, 2006 3:20 PM
Ah, I think I found some answers by trying things out. So it only works with Tabbed docks and not regular docks. I'd like regular docks to hold their own space. 
Excalpius
Reply #29 Thursday, April 27, 2006 7:14 PM
Reply #29 Thursday, April 27, 2006 7:14 PM
feature requests:
Now that you can offset the docks along one axis, offsetting in the other axis would be perfect. Right now, I can slide my dock down from the top, for example, but I can't slide it away from one side or the other. As a workaround, I currently have to add invisible separators on one side until the dock is where I want it.
Note that this effectively makes zoomer docks drag-able/positionable, like tabbed docks.
Zooming right now anchors to one axis, so that a bottom dock zooms evenly from the center left to right, but from the bottom up for the other axis. For a dock next to a taskbar or something, that's fine, but for a dock that is now flee-floating, there should be an option to scale from the center in both directions.
:}
Now that you can offset the docks along one axis, offsetting in the other axis would be perfect. Right now, I can slide my dock down from the top, for example, but I can't slide it away from one side or the other. As a workaround, I currently have to add invisible separators on one side until the dock is where I want it.
Note that this effectively makes zoomer docks drag-able/positionable, like tabbed docks. Zooming right now anchors to one axis, so that a bottom dock zooms evenly from the center left to right, but from the bottom up for the other axis. For a dock next to a taskbar or something, that's fine, but for a dock that is now flee-floating, there should be an option to scale from the center in both directions.
:}
M1sterB
Reply #30 Friday, April 28, 2006 10:20 PM
Where exactly can you download the updated free version? All I ever get is the same 523 from any download link or site.
Reply #30 Friday, April 28, 2006 10:20 PM
| Can you check the versioning to make sure it is in fact the most recent copy that you're using? In the about dialog it's Build #526 for the latest ObjectDock Plus. (or 525 for the free) |
Where exactly can you download the updated free version? All I ever get is the same 523 from any download link or site.
Ronan H
Reply #32 Saturday, April 29, 2006 12:01 PM
@ JMB1984 - Thanks for getting back to me... Its Build #526u Version 1.30 Plus. In relation to the "adding icons" bit, its when a program adds an icon, not when the user manually adds an icon, such as when you print something the temporary printer icon appears, or Windows Update etc... The dock in question is a dock solely comprising of the System Tray (enabled through OD+ interface, not a standalone docklet) and as of today its still happening. I just tried to print a test page to make sure...
So i dunno, there ya go, lets see what we can do... Again ta for your response...
Ro
Reply #32 Saturday, April 29, 2006 12:01 PM
| Hi Ronan - can you check the versioning to make sure it is in fact the most recent copy that you're using? In the about dialog it's Build #526 for the latest ObjectDock Plus. (or 525 for the free) Not seeing either of those bugs, just tried having a zooming and tabbed dock both in various positions/various offsets and adding a tray icon couldn't reproduce the 'jumping'. |
@ JMB1984 - Thanks for getting back to me... Its Build #526u Version 1.30 Plus. In relation to the "adding icons" bit, its when a program adds an icon, not when the user manually adds an icon, such as when you print something the temporary printer icon appears, or Windows Update etc... The dock in question is a dock solely comprising of the System Tray (enabled through OD+ interface, not a standalone docklet) and as of today its still happening. I just tried to print a test page to make sure...
So i dunno, there ya go, lets see what we can do... Again ta for your response...
Ro
blablabla xyz
Reply #33 Monday, May 1, 2006 10:03 AM
Reply #33 Monday, May 1, 2006 10:03 AM
Does anyone know why the free version on Stardock.com is still build #523? Where can one get #525 or whichever is the newest?
blablabla xyz
Reply #34 Thursday, May 4, 2006 12:58 AM
Reply #34 Thursday, May 4, 2006 12:58 AM
Well I tried contacting Stardock. I never got a response and it seems that no one here has the answer to this simple question. Either that or Stardock have their panties in a twist they don't know how to respond to a customer's simple question, a paying customer at that, who's purchased lots of software from them. No more! I'm taking my business elsewhere. Unless they have the common decency to reply to an E-mail.
Ronan H
Reply #35 Thursday, May 4, 2006 5:22 AM
Reply #35 Thursday, May 4, 2006 5:22 AM
Hey man chill, have you not seen all the messages and articles saying how short staffed they are etc...? Im sure they will get back to you when they can... Particular members of the team get 1000's of Emails a day so now and combine that with the rest of the variables that delay things and i think youll find that they are doing quite a good job and that a slight delay every so often is not really that big a deal...
With respect...
Ronan H
By the way, have you tried Stardock Central as opposed to DL'ing directly from the site? That might get you the version you are looking for...
Ro
With respect...
Ronan H
By the way, have you tried Stardock Central as opposed to DL'ing directly from the site? That might get you the version you are looking for...
Ro
M1sterB
Reply #36 Thursday, May 4, 2006 9:53 PM
Reply #36 Thursday, May 4, 2006 9:53 PM
Ronan H, Thanks for the suggestion on Stardock Central. Never looked into it before. I just used it and all is well. 
merkator73
Reply #37 Friday, May 5, 2006 4:30 PM
Reply #37 Friday, May 5, 2006 4:30 PM
Well. I see some improvements. The new version of OD is fine, but... still there is no fully functional systray replacement in OD. I'll look for it in next versions. Short explain: when i used built "ObjectDock Tray" docklet ObjectDock always completely crash in less than 100 seconds... I'm still on my way to find cure... Any suggestions appreciated. Ah - one more thing. I don't say that problem is due OD bug.
Ronan H
Reply #38 Saturday, May 6, 2006 10:48 AM
No problem, i hope Mr blablabla xyz finds it useful too
Ro
Reply #38 Saturday, May 6, 2006 10:48 AM
| Ronan H, Thanks for the suggestion on Stardock Central. Never looked into it before. I just used it and all is well. |
No problem, i hope Mr blablabla xyz finds it useful too
Ro
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Reply #21 Wednesday, April 26, 2006 10:27 AM