#Mac os dock is missing mac os x

If the Dock is big enough, you can often tell documents apart just by looking at their icons.

#Mac os dock is missing mac os x

Mac OS X brings to life a terrific idea, a new concept in main-stream operating systems: icons that tell you something. Its icon remains there for as long as itвЂ™s running. But program icons appear on the left side of the Dock automatically whenever you open a program, even one thatвЂ™s not listed in the Dock. Nobody but you (and Apple) can put icons on the right side of the Dock. ItвЂ™s like X-ray vision without the awkward moral consequences. If you click a folder or disk icon in the right side of the Dock, a list of its contents sprouts from the icon. You can often identify a document just by looking at its icon.ДЇolders and disks sprout stacks. When youвЂ™re trying to find a certain icon in the Dock, run your cursor slowly across the icons without clicking the icon labels appear as you go. YouвЂ™ll see the name appear above the icon. To see the name of a Dock icon, point to it without clicking. Aliases of applications can go only on the left side, and vice versa.) If you try to drag an application to the right of the line, for example, Mac OS X teasingly refuses to accept it. ItвЂ™s important to understand this division.

Everything else goes on the right side: files, documents, folders, disks, and minimized windows. Everything on the left side is an application-a program. See the whitish dotted line running down the Dock? ThatвЂ™s the divider ( FigureВ 4-1). This section explains everything you need to know. You can customize the thing to within an inch of its life, or even get rid of it completely. Whether or not you agree with AppleвЂ™s philosophy (and not everyone does), Apple has made it as easy as possible to learn to like the Dock. Only a tiny white reflective dot beneath a programвЂ™s icon tells you that itвЂ™s open. You can open dozens of programs at once in Mac OS X.ДЄnd thatвЂ™s why the Dock combines the launcher and status functions of a modern operating system. вЂњWhich programs are openвЂќ already approaches unimportance in Mac OS X, where sophisticated memory-management features make it hard to run out of memory. A program should appear when you click its icon, whether itвЂ™s open or not-like on a PalmPilot, for example. In an ideal world, this distinction should be irrelevant. In Mac OS X, Apple combined both functions into a single strip of icons called the Dock.ДЄppleвЂ™s thinking goes like this: Why must you know whether or not a program is already running? ThatвЂ™s the computerвЂ™s problem, not yours.

The other kept track of which programs were open at the moment for easy switching, like the taskbar (Windows) or the Application menu (Mac OS 9). One listed unopened programs until you need them, like the Start menu (Windows) or the Launcher (Mac OS 9). For years, most operating systems maintained two different lists of programs.