Some things I'd like to see for ObjectDock

Wishfull thinking....

Friday, November 9, 2007 by messiah1 | Discussion: ObjectDock

Now, don't get me wrong, for the money ObjectDock plus is a rockin' program. I love it. And the past few upgrades have been super. As a monkey that makes skins for OD, I sometimes find myself limited in the things I can do as far as design, but that's to be expected. The developers can't read the minds of the folks using or designing for OD. I understand that. So here are a couple of things I'd like to see for ObjectDock, if you have any others, feel free to post 'em. (oh, and if any of these are already in OD, slap me)

1. I know I can set my tabs to be different colors and have different fonts...however, what I'd like to see is a way to have different color fonts for active/inactive tabs. For example, the active tab has a white font, the inactive tabs has a gray or black font.

2. Blurring! I'd love to see the same option that WB6 now has where you could turn on blurring for the docks...say you have a clear dock and where you can see through it is slightly blurred. That would rock.

3. Docks that can be curved. I know I can make curved docks...but how sweet would it be to have the icons follow the curve of the dock?

Ok, your turn.   
First Previous Page 1 of 9 Next Last
Bebi Bulma
Reply #1 Friday, November 9, 2007 9:26 PM
Copied from my previous thread on the matter:


1. I have a lot of leftover zoomer dock backgrounds I'd like to use, but when using them on a tabbed dock, it's using some default/standard tabs that don't always look so well paired together. It would be nice if we could select backgrounds for the tabs themselves and the rest of the dock independently from each other. Mix and match so to speak.

2. Is it just me, or do the tabbed docks have less options than the zoomers? Things like adjusting background transparency; accurate positioning by the use of sliders controls; having the dock be automatically centered wherever it is; changing the mouseover effect (tabbed only has zoom on mouseover?); etc. Is it just a limitation that tabbed docks can't have those effects, or it just wasn't added in for some reason?

3. Is it possible for each tab to have a different length than the others (self-adjusting width/height)? Example, my main tab has a certain amount of icons, but the apps tab has more and I'd like to be able to have them all displayed without having empty space on my main tab (or other tabs). It would also be cool if there was an animation when changing to different-length tabs, so it would smoothly expand or contract to display the icons, much as the zoomer does when icons grow or shrink.

--An alternative, an added option would be to have horizontal/vertical icon alignment within tabs, so the icons can be centered (or right-aligned) instead of always left-aligned.

Here's the big one....

4. Being able to have a user-defined default image directory when browsing for icons. I already had a large icon collection before I got OD, and it would just be too much trouble to have to move ALL my icons (1.3GB worth) to the OD image library, especially since that would affect other programs that use those icons (like AveDesk). So when I click "change image" on the dock entry properties, when it opens that dialog it will display my user set directory, listing folders on the left and the icons (or subfolders) on the right...much like explorer already does. On the same note, sometimes I choose an icon and then later can't remember which icon it is and from which set. When changing an icon it should open to the location of the current image.

Some examples (mind my terrible Photoshopping):

Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us ---> Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us

--Also, a default images folder within My Pictures, or My Documents for all OD content (and ideally for all Stardock software content) would be a lot better than having files scattered in different locations throughout a drive.


Additional:

5. When browsing the dock backgrounds, have it start at the *currently* in-use background instead of at the top all the time.


Expanding on messiah's #1: it would be great if we could change the tab font color from within the OD config itself instead of having to edit all the ini's.
messiah1
Reply #2 Friday, November 9, 2007 9:37 PM
When browsing the dock backgrounds, have it start at the *currently* in-use background instead of at the top all the time


Mine usually always does...at least for zoomers and tiles. Are you talking about tabbers?

Expanding on messiah's #1: it would be great if we could change the tab font color from within the OD config itself instead of having to edit all the ini's.


Yeah, I was surprised that you could change the font, fonts size and whether it's bold or italic but not color from the config. screen. Weird.
ALMonty
Reply #3 Friday, November 9, 2007 9:37 PM
adjusting background transparency


This is what I'd like to see on tabbed docks
Bebi Bulma
Reply #4 Friday, November 9, 2007 10:10 PM

When browsing the dock backgrounds, have it start at the *currently* in-use background instead of at the top all the time

Mine usually always does...at least for zoomers and tiles. Are you talking about tabbers?
Expanding on messiah's #1: it would be great if we could change the tab font color from within the OD config itself instead of having to edit all the ini's.

Yeah, I was surprised that you could change the font, fonts size and whether it's bold or italic but not color from the config. screen. Weird.

Yeah I only have one tabbed dock, no zoomers.
WebGizmos
Reply #5 Friday, November 9, 2007 10:29 PM
What I'd like to see is a way to have different color fonts for active/inactive tabs.


You read my mind....I was going to write Jeff about this as well. It would be great since one color doesn't always work on both tabs.

When browsing the dock backgrounds, have it start at the *currently* in-use background instead of at the top all the time.


I already went over this with Jeff and apparently its a windows thing that for whatever reason effects the tabbed docks but not the side/zoomer dock. This is especially a pain in the butt for me when I'm putting docks together...I have to change the dock each time before saving any changes since it won't allow me to do this to an active dock. And then I have to scroll down to where ever the dock is each time...real pain.
messiah1
Reply #6 Friday, November 9, 2007 10:33 PM
I have to change the dock each time before saving any changes since it won't allow me to do this to an active dock. And then I have to scroll down to where ever the dock is each time...real pain.


Yeah, and with tabbed docks, I find I have to close the config. screen before I can replace the file. Not so with a zoomer or a tile...A big deal? Not really in the scheme of things, just gets a little annoying is all.   
Bebi Bulma
Reply #7 Friday, November 9, 2007 11:08 PM
It works for me when I'm editing the ini for the dock I'm using. I just have to switch to something else and switch back so it'll apply the changes. Suppose it might be different for the actual images though. *shrug*
messiah1
Reply #8 Saturday, November 10, 2007 12:11 AM
It works for me when I'm editing the ini for the dock I'm using. I just have to switch to something else and switch back so it'll apply the changes. Suppose it might be different for the actual images though. *shrug*


Changing the ini isn't a prob...you don't even have to switch to something else, you can just re-load the one you're currently using. That might save you a little time/hassle.   
Xiandi
Reply #9 Saturday, November 10, 2007 9:24 AM
Docks that can be curved. I know I can make curved docks...but how sweet would it be to have the icons follow the curve of the dock?


I really like this idea, imagine the possibilities!!

Diafragma
Reply #10 Saturday, November 10, 2007 11:30 AM
I would like to see a lot of features added to Object Dock but every time I emailed the developer nothing was done so I'll save my breath   

Messiah, there has been a couple of 'curved docks' in the past and they just never took off.
Orbit dock was the first one>>> http://www.ecocardio.com.br/orbit/ and Morph dock >>
WWW Link
messiah1
Reply #11 Saturday, November 10, 2007 11:44 AM
Messiah, there has been a couple of 'curved docks' in the past and they just never took off.


Diafragma, Yeah I know about the Morph dock, but that seems terribly hard to get it all set up, probably why it didn't take off. I wouldn't mind hearing some of your ideas though, if you want you can email me.   
basj
Reply #12 Saturday, November 10, 2007 12:16 PM
nice post Messiah1

Yup I have to agree with all request above..

And to add..thought I consider myself a newb in dock design but IMHO it would be awesome if Dock design could be integrated into Skin Studios since most of the work very similar with window frame and Tabs design/setting.

Diafragma
Reply #13 Saturday, November 10, 2007 12:17 PM
Morph dock is actually easier than what you think once you have it installed. By installing it, all you need is to drop the avefile in your avedesk control panel and its done. To configure you just cick on the circle for the shorcut and it will flip to the configuration menu to chose the icon and shortcut.
cwfrizzell
Reply #14 Sunday, November 11, 2007 2:27 PM
I would like to see the following:

1. Ability to turn on/off specific docks without resorting to deleting them.
2. Ability to turn on/off specific tabs within tabbed docks.
3. Flyouts that work on hover, rather than click (a la the weather docklet)
3. Better flyout control over how many icons are viewable (how is this determined anyway?).
messiah1
Reply #15 Sunday, November 11, 2007 3:01 PM
Ability to turn on/off specific docks without resorting to deleting them.


I like that idea.
ManofCause
Reply #16 Wednesday, December 19, 2007 1:06 PM
1. Being able to delete/add desktop background from the Appearance settings. Many background packages have five+/- versions, of which I'd only like to keep one or two. Figuring out which ones I can delete without affecting the others is confusing.

2. Allow vertical mouse scrolling with "Show as a Menu" folders, and vertical/horizontal scrolling for fly-out menus.

3. This is more of a challenge for Docklet designers... a fly-out calender similar to the weather Docklet, that'll fly out your week's schedule on mouse-over, or a pop-up month's calendar with highlighted dates.

I love the other ideas in this forum, as well. All good suggestions.
I.R. Brainiac
Reply #17 Wednesday, December 19, 2007 1:16 PM
Colorizing presets like WB...on ALL Stardock apps.  
basj
Reply #18 Wednesday, December 19, 2007 11:06 PM
Colorizing presets like WB...on ALL Stardock apps.


yes for that.. and make it so it possible to import the presets between those apps
Koasati
Reply #19 Wednesday, December 19, 2007 11:39 PM
1. I know I can set my tabs to be different colors and have different fonts...however, what I'd like to see is a way to have different color fonts for active/inactive tabs. For example, the active tab has a white font, the inactive tabs has a gray or black font.


PLEASE!

All the other suggestions are good too.
zakai1369
Reply #20 Tuesday, February 5, 2008 4:47 PM
3. Flyouts that work on hover, rather than click (a la the weather docklet)



Ok I'm curious. When I hover over the weather docklet the flyout works, without clicking. Is this a difference between the free version and plus version? I still use the free version myself.

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