AppFlow

Mac OS X is a awesome operating system.  At the heart of this awesomeness is one incredibly basic principle.  Mac OS X is very good at letting you get done what you want to get done.  Whether this is editing a huge image in photoshop or simply browsing the net, Mac is there to help you do it as easily and as fast as possible, and not get in the way when you’re doing it.

Sadly, as we use our Macs, the loose this basic feature that makes the OS awesome.  Sure, it’s still brilliant, and a damn sight better than windows!  But it’s no longer awesome.

Over the couse of this week I am going to look at how to return Mac OS X to it’s awesomeness.  I was going to call this tutorial set Rationalising your Mac, but in the end thought that was a bit plain!

Today I’m going to have a look at the dock.

This is my dock during a typical working session.  Note that all of my applications have the blue dot underneath them, meaning that they’re in use.

Rationalising

Rationalising the dock is very good practise.  By this, I mean removing any apps that you do not use every day.  This will seem harsh at first.  For example, I used to have the full iWork suite on my dock – just in case I’d use it.  In the end, I only ever used pages, due to the type of work I do.  You’ll notice that in my rationalised dock, only pages appears on the dock.

A good way to go about rationalising the dock is to sneak up on the task.  Set a reminder and forget about it, or simply remember to do it half way through a routine project.  However you pick this time, once you’ve reached it, drag every app that isn’t open off of your dock.  As you use your computer you may find apps that you miss, or ones that you keep having to dig through the applications folder to find.  In these cases, just drag them back onto the dock.

Stacks

To the right of the runway are my stacks.  Both of them.  The one to the left is applications, to the right is downloads.  I found that the documents stack was a ver inefficient way of accessing my documents.  The only reason ‘downloads’ is still there is that I often download files and want to get the quickly to the place they belong.

There is no easy way to rationalise your stacks.  You could take my word for it and chop it down to two.  Or you could leave all of yours as they are.  Either way, before you leave a stack, ask yourself:

• “Do I use it?”
• “Does it speed up my workflow?”
• “Will I miss it?”.

Assume all stacks are to be removed from the dock unless they can answer ‘yes’ to one of these questions!

Hiding

Now that you have a beautifully small, rationalised, awesome dock, let’s hide it away.  Be honest, once all of your apps are open and you’re in “the zone” with your workflow or simply browsing the net, it’s taking up unnecessary room down there (or on the side if you prefer)!  Put it out of the way and, if you need it, it’s only a quick mouse flick away!

Next…

Next it’s the turn of the applications stack.  It goes under the microscope and get’s returned to full awesomeness!  (well, allows you to access the programs you want quickly anyway!)