The menu bar and Dock are both great. I like the new ones better than the old. Not so sure about Stacks though. Have modified the folders so they never change appearance.

How did you do that?

The menu bar and Dock are both great. I like the new ones better than the old. Not so sure about Stacks though. Have modified the folders so they never change appearance.

evidently there is a way to get non stacks working i read somewhere.. stacks can work for you… you just look at things a different way. I find having the downloads there useful and sort it to the last file added works well. Frankly the new speed of spot ligth and the fact they you no longer have to hit apple + enter to launch (or hit the down arrow once then enter) id positive.
Most apps I simply type the first 2 letter and hit enter and it will instanly launch. It is very fast and I find better than using the dock to launch most stuff. I am enjoying making certain apps open by default in different spaces.. Once you get use to this (took me a few minutes) i find it gret that things are more ordered and in the same “space” fiddling with the sapces options in system preferences gives you some powerful new ways to get your work done in a very orderly fashion. The more I use Leopard the more I like it but I still cant see why people cant see the active apps in the dock. To me and my friends they think it is easier to see than a little black triangle… maybe it is the different backgrounds. But to me the little lights stand out more.

Yeah.
Stacks sucks.

Well, it’s hard to disagree. Stacks are somewhat less than I expected.

Peace,
Gene

Yeah.
Stacks sucks.

Opinions regarding the appearance of the reflective dock are just that, opinions. One man’s meat etc etc.
Surely, however, what is unarguable is that ‘Stacks’ are a huge downgrade from docked folders in Tiger. OK, I can see that a Stack for new downloads is a great idea. But why force dock folders to use the Stacks system?
First consider their appearance… The Stack that represents my Applications folder has the Address Book icon! (Address book is the first thing in the Applications folder). The Stack that represents my Home folder has the icon of my Desktop folder! (The Desktop folder is the first thing in my Home folder). The real Desktop Folder Stack has the icon of a text file.
That is just madness.
Even worse, Stacks don’t work well either. Opening the aforementioned Applications Stack doesn’t display all my apps (there are too many to fit on the screen). Neither does it allow nested folders to spring open.
We had far superior functionality in Tiger. Who decided to allocate hundreds of man hours of to change something that worked well into the current mess? What a waste, both of their time and, more annoyingly, of mine.

Thanks for the tip Gene. I backed up the Dock prefs file and modified it using Property List Editor instead of using the Terminal command. I then logged out/in. To me, this makes a huge difference. Without the glass appearance, I can now easily see which applications in the Dock are active.

On the very day that Leopard was released, so were at least two hacks that let you bring back the 2-D look of the Tiger Dock, and I seem to recall reading about a hack that puts an opaque white background behind the Menu bar. These are no doubt the first stones of what will soon be an avalanche of interface-changing gimmicks for Leopard. Which is nothing new. It’s a pretty basic fact of Mac life (and a great one, I think) that we all get to second-guess Apple’s interface designers and can customize our Mas to suit our own needs and tastes. So when Apple puts out something I don’t personally like I don’t get my butt in an uproar, there’s almost always an easy fix (and most of these interface hacks I’ve used, going back to OS 7, don’t do very much to destabilize or slow down the System). Look at this way, Apple’s interface screwups are somebody else’s opportunities.

nope magnification is cool… didnt you know ?

but does he use magnification..?

Did I also tell you I hate magnification?

Peace,
Gene

ok I just tried the dock at it’s smallest size possible and turned magnification right up.
The interesting thing is with the new dock i can easily see (without it magnified) the indicators to show an app is running

but does he use magnification..?

You’ve never lived until you see a 4mm Dock. I have one client, a graphic artist, whose Dock is so small, you almost need a magnifying glass to see the icons.

Peace,
Gene

I heard people bleating but decided to install Leopard and I was pleasantly surprised.
I think the bleaters get too much “air time” these days and people that moan seem to get more people hitting their blogs This helps them because people love to respond to criticism and more hits on the web is always advantageous.

I for one, like the new dock and I have no issues with it or the menu bar for that matter. There are already plenty of apps (and they are free) to make the menu bar solid or to change the dock to 2D .. you don’t need the command line to do this either.
The more important thing (as you have pointed out) is the performance of the finder, especially as it use to work with networks. But overall Leopard is FAST>>>>>> This is an area i here little about but compared to upgrading (or downgrading depending on your view point) from XP to Vista, Leopard kicks butt in the area of performance. Leopard is alot snappier in the finder and everywhere else for that matter meaning where poor Windows users got a slower system we get a fast one.
PS One thing i really like with the new Dock is the indicators to show an app is running.. I never liked those little triangles and found clients missed them. The new blue “lights” stand out more.. though again other people say they cant see them and want the triangles back.. maybe they make their docks 4 mm high or something!