Is it possible to center align open window icons in a dock?

from Stardock Forums

Hi,

First, apologies if this has come up somewhere else - I searched for it, but couldn't find anything.

I've just installed ObjectDock, and I've set up a 'normal' dock (are they called zoomers? The non-tabbed type of dock, anyway) at the top edge of my desktop, with 'display open windows along with my icons' selected, and with the dock autohiding.

I'd like the dock to take up at least half of the desktop width (because it's too small for me to find easily if it's autohidden and there's only one or two open windows). I've managed to achieve this by adding several flyout menus with no entries, no names and blank icons; although I'm sure there's a more elegant way of achieving this. The problem is that my open windows are always either right aligned or left aligned. There doesn't seem to be an option of having them in the center of the dock.

Is it possible to set up the dock so that the open windows are always in the center (and is there an easier way of specifying a minimum dock width than the one I'm using)?

Thanks for your help!

objectdock
1,524 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I'm don't think there is a way to center open windows on a zoomer.  What do you mean about specifying a minimum width than the one you're using?  The width of a dock is determined by the ammount of icons on the dock and by the actual size of the graphic.  So if you only had 1 icon on the dock, but the dock image was big, like 2-3 icons in width, you'd never be able to get it smaller than what it was designed at.

 

Sometimes this is done like that due to a design issue.  It may have texture or gradients that only look right by having the dock big...it's a limitation of OD really.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Sorry, I must have explained badly. I don't want the dock smaller, I want it bigger.

If I've only got one window open, the dock is only one icon wide (well, it's a bit wider, but there's only room for one icon in it), because the width of the dock is determined by the number of icons. But I want it wider than that. Even if there's only one icon in the dock, I'd like the dock to be half the screen wide.

The way it happens at the moment, if there's only one icon in the dock, I have to move my mouse cursor to the top-center of the desktop to bring the dock out of autohide.

I want to make it so I can move my mouse almost anywhere along the top of the desktop to bring the dock out of autohide, even if there's only one icon in it.

I've managed to do this by putting 'invisible' items in the dock (I've created flyout menus with no name, no entries and a blank icon), but my open windows are always either on the left or on the right, and I want them in the center. Is this possible?

Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

I've figured out how to do it: make sure it's set to 'keep on bottom'. I'm not sure why that should work, but it does.

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I want to make it so I can move my mouse almost anywhere along the top of the desktop to bring the dock out of autohide, even if there's only one icon in it.
End of quote

 

Well, if you used a tabbed dock, you could use the Hotspots feature and then set each corner and the middle section at the top to bring the dock to the front.  Wonder why they don't have that for zoomers.