Dock Color/Appearance - from Leopard to Snow Leopard

Question

Dock Color/Appearance - from Leopard to Snow Leopard

I upgraded to Snow Leopard back in September on day 1 but didn't really question this until this week. I noticed that my dock retained the white/grey gradient from Leopard, and didn't change to the low opacity grey background, with a small white outline, that I've seen on other's systems.

There doesn't appear to be any way to directly change my dock's appearance to this from the dock preferences. And its kind of strange because I upgraded one of our MacPros at work, didn't do anything special with the install (there weren't too many options at all, lol), but that system's dock switched to the new colored dock. What is there that I'm missing?

Thanks for any help. Couldn't find a related topic in these forums.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.2), 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM / 320GB Serial ATA @ 7200

Posted on Nov 15, 2009 5:02 PM

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Answer 1

K T

Level 7

23,889 points

Nov 15, 2009 5:22 PM in response to OhNoItsGojira

You might want to check for some forgotten 3rd party app that attempts to provide user control, beyond that of the OS, as relates to Finder/Dock/Desktop appearance, etc.

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Answer 2

Nov 15, 2009 5:52 PM in response to K T

You mean, a program that could be on my system and interfering with my dock? Or are you simply suggesting to get a program that manipulates the dock? I will try to compare the systems, but it just seems like there is something wrong with my system if it didn't change over to the new dock.

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Answer 3

Dec 3, 2009 5:25 AM in response to OhNoItsGojira

I figured it out! On my machine anyway : )

It has to do with the dock position
Dock at bottom - grey shelf.
Left or right sides - translucent dark grey with white outline

Graeme Dennis

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Answer 4

Dec 5, 2009 1:00 AM in response to graemeearly

Thanks for the comment. I see that now; but I would still like to have the dock with white bars on the bottom. I see it all over the place, just curious why I don't have the option.

Message was edited by: OhNoItsGojira (OS changed from previous posts for some reason)

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Answer 5

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Dec 5, 2009 6:55 AM in response to OhNoItsGojira

I don't use the default dock (I HATE the look) but all those things are controlled by a few image files stored inside the dock application package. there are a ton of custom docks on the web that will provide all those files. you can try playing with them. while it's possible to change those files by hand I would strongly recommend using a 3rd party program like CandyBar 3 or LiteIcon for that.
here are a couple of sites with custom docks

http://www.leoparddocks.com/index.php
http://leoparddocks.net/

lastly, if you want the exact leopard dock look back you can get those image files from the leopard install dvd if you have it or your Leopard backup if you've got one. AND of course, make sure to have a full backup before you try doing anything of the above. Dock is a system component after all.

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Answer 6

Dec 5, 2009 11:07 AM in response to V.K.

Thanks for the help, and I've finally resolved my issue. I received a tip from another source and the website they gave me was http://www.superdocker.com/
I've downloaded some other dock 'manipulation' programs but this one seems by far the most customizable and well-integrated. Definitely recommended.

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