Rebuilding the Interface; The Dockbar

Ok, so you've got your nice, clean desktop running emerge, and you've taken a look around. It's time to rebuild, and if you'd like inspiration, take a look at my desktop to the left. This is only my current layout; I change things up fairly often. Please note, I take no credit for any of the images involved to the left, but I can't remember the authors involved. [Edit 20090727: The wallpaper is located at the DeviantArt page of the author, OfficerMike.] If you want options to customize things, though, the best place to hunt around is DeviantArt. 

First, let me remind you that this IS Windows Vista. And this isn't even the most impressive setup you'll see if you go looking. But it's a fairly decent one, and it's a good place to start for what we're talking about. 

Take a good look. If you look really close, you can see my system tray in the upper right hand corner, and a clock and calendar in the lower right. Those are both emerge applets, customized just right - I like them there, but out of the way. A little experimentation will help you find the setup that's just right for you. As for the rest?

The two docks - that's right, two - are both created by the Plus version of ObjectDock. And that's what we'll be talking about this time; the dockbar. 

The dock might not be the most efficient way to access ones programs, but it's definitely one of the coolest looking methods. The right skin, the right icons, and you've got something gorgeous. There are a number of different dockbars out there that are worth looking at, so it all depends on the features and so on that you're looking for. 

The best one, in my opinion, is ObjectDock, either plus or free - but of course, the plus version will set you back a few bucks. If you feel like you want the features, IE, if having more than one dock on the screen at once sounds like a nice idea, or having tabbed docks. . . then it's worth it to you. I went for it because I like having all the options, bells, and whistles. 

Other classically named good options with a good feature set include RocketDock and rklauncher, but on my system at least, both of these free docks use more system resources for fewer features (or in the case of rklauncher, features that wouldn't use); however, results vary, so if you're interested, try them all out. Another good looking dock that's coming out shortly is the new Nexus dock from the makers of WinStep; it's in free open beta right now, but it looks promising. 

The setup I use has ObjectDock plus showing two docks, one zoomer at the bottom, and another one on the left. The left hand dock serves as my taskbar; it's completely transparent, and displays screenshots of minimized windows. Windows that haven't been minimized simply don't appear on the taskbar, though I could have set them to display. Again, it's all about what makes the most sense to you. 

You SHOULD be able to do either of the two docks I have on screen with the free version of ObjectDock - just not both. So if you wanted to duplicate my setup for free you'd have to run two dock programs, and make sure that the program icons on both were synced up. However, this would consume more memory than having the one program to do both; believe me, I tried it. 

I'll try and track down the links to the author pages for what I'm using above if it becomes important, but otherwise, once again, I take no credit for any of the basic elements; I just combined them. 

Excelsior! 

p.s. The one thing you're not seeing all of is my widgets; I'll explain that in a later post. 

A Clean Slate: Changing the Shell

Alright, so you're interested in building a better user experience in XP or Vista. If you're willing to take the leap required away from what you're used to, the first step toward a better, brighter future, is to change the shell. 

The default Windows shell, as I've mentioned before, is Explorer.exe, and while it has its good points, it is classically a memory hog, and even once you've taken the steps needed for good quality skinning, like Visual Styles or even the purchase of StarDocks excellent WindowBlinds. . . there's only so much you can do to tailor it to your needs. IF you're like me, anyway, you wind up with a bunch of other programs designed to make things easier and more friendly for yourself running on top of the shell, and sooner or later you have to cut corners. One of the fastest ways to do that is to switch to a lighter, more minimalistic shell to build your experience on top of. 

The best shell replacement I've yet tried, having tried several, is emergeDesktop. It's lightweight, with a low memory footprint and enough customization options to give you all the functionality you need from it while keeping it out of your way. One of its primary stated goals is to maximize screen size, so if you've got pretty wallpapers that you like looking at it's a good way to go. 

Some other options include litestep and other shells in its family - while these shells are perhaps a bit stronger on number of features offered, they're also more difficult to configure. If you're interested in that, go here: www.litestep.net/

Otherwise, you'll be wanting to know about emerge, and as it's the shell I actually use, we'll be discussing it below. Emerge has one other strong advantage going for it over some of the other decent minimalist shells out there in that it's still being actively developed by the fantastic ironhead. It also has the advantage, from my mind, of being very stable; I've never had it crash on me in day-to-day activities. Once, when I was putting undue strain on it anyway. But not a common thing. Anyone else using Explorer getting used to the 'routine crash'? 

(You know, it also helps if you pull out anything that you don't need that wasn't made by MS and run all your updates; but sometimes you're just better off changing horses.)

You'll start by downloading the latest stable release of emerge from the aforementioned website. If you can't figure out where to get it from there, you really shouldn't be trying to change your shell, now should you? Wink, wink. Seriously, people, I see this step listed all the time, and half the time there's photos. Do we really need that much instruction for a download? 

No? I didn't think so. 

The process of changing your default shell is made very easy by the emerge install process; the included program, Emerge Desktop Shell Changer, makes it a simple matter to change back to the Explorer shell if need be. 

So, you run the install, you change your shell, and you either reboot or log out and in again. What now? 

Well, you'll see the standard emerge applets. Yeah, I said applets. . . each applet is a mini-program that makes up some feature of the shell. You only use the applets you actually need, so anything that's replaced by some other program you can just turn off. Neat, huh? 

As opposed to Explorer, which basically loads practically EVERYTHING, even if you don't use anything on your taskbar at all. 

Plus, you can drag the applets anywhere on the screen (Ctrl + Click 'n' Drag) and Ctrl + Click to change the settings. 

Wanna know where your icons went? Rightclick the desktop, and you'll see the emergeDesktop applet, which is basically a fancy context menu. You DO know what a context menu is, right? The menu you see when you rightclick on something? You do? Good. 

Mess around a little. You'll figure it out. If you don't, you can always go back . . . there are some really nice, fancy EXTENSIONS to the Explorer shell you could try instead, but they only ADD memory consumption, not reduce it. 

The default applets are emergeDesktop, Tray, Tasks, and I think Command - between them giving you all the basic functionality of the taskbar and then some. Including a clock! 

Now that you've got your neat, minimalist desktop, it's time to add some flare to it, and make things more usable for your day-to-day. We'll start talking about software to add in my next entry; until then, just.  . . don't forget to be awesome, ok? Good luck! 

PS; if you're feeling edgy, you might also try one of the blackbox variants for windows. Google it; BBlean, BBclean, bb4win, and others. They're linux based, and have their good points. . . but they couldn't beat emerge for me, and they have occasional stability issues when run as a shell replacement. 

The Shell; Discussion and Primer.

I have a slight problem with the standard interface for most computers. That problem is simply this: whoever designed the OS doesn't think the way I do, and generally neither does the computer. Interestingly, this is also why I changed my major from Computer Science. I don't think like a computer.

First, though, before I embark on some exposition, I should break down some terminology. From Dictionary.com: 

operating system
–noun Computers. the collection of software that directs a computer's operations, controlling and scheduling the execution of other programs, and managing storage, input/output, and communication resources. Abbreviation: OS

This is the part of the computer that drives everything, and really, it's the part that you DON'T see when you turn on your computer. This is background. In front of this, is what we call the "Shell." 

There are two layers of Shell. There's the Command Line, which few Windows users see anymore,  (Maybe you've heard it called the "DOS Shell") unless they've got a problem and need to fix it the hard way (it's happened to me too often. . . ). Some Linux users like to spend long periods of time here, but then again, some Linux users have to run a compiler to get their operating system installed. Personally, I take that as a bad sign, but hey, I'm not a Linux guy. 

The upshot is that if you learn your way around the command prompt, you look like a genius. The downside is that it's not intuitive. At all. Mostly it's controlled by a series of fairly arbitrary commands, and there's no really 'natural' way to learn what these commands ARE, unless you already know at least a few of them.

The part of the Shell that you USUALLY see and interact with is the Graphical User Interface, or just GUI. When I talk about the shell, this is usually what I mean. The GUI (Or Shell - let's just agree that I'm going to call it the Shell) is your desktop and taskbar or dockbar and system tray/notification area, the "start menu" or other variant. . . 

You have to understand that I AM a Windows user, and so my greatest degree of familiarity is with the Windows Shell. And there are a few. . . problems. . . with the default Windows shell, hereafter known as the Explorer Shell. Not to be confused with the Explorer File Manager, because while they're part of the same program, they serve different purposes. 

MOST of the overall desktop environment is the Shell, but not all. So let's discuss the whole environment for a bit; what does a computer need in order for it to do what you need it to do? 

A) It must have some means of keeping track of currently running programs, ideally one that divides itself between

        i) the programs the user is actively wanting to interact with, and
       ii) the programs that run in the background for various other tasks. 

Windows, classically, has handled this through the taskbar and system tray. Most variants of Linux use some version of this as well, and Mac. . . well. . . from all I've read, OS X's equivalent to the system tray is kinda. . . meh. On the other hand, if I remember correctly, OS X uses the dockbar to keep track of those running tasks, and compared to the classic Windows taskbar, this is by far a much more eye-pleasing solution.

Of course that's ignoring the Windows 7 "Superbar," which is pretty much just awesome. Read about it. and other reasons why upgrading to Windows 7 might be a good idea for any XP or Vista users, by clicking here.

Winner? Well, the Dockbar. . . until the Superbar. 

B) It doesn't strictly have to be part of the Shell, but the desktop environment must have some method of easily switching between said Windows, and eyecandy doesn't hurt here, at least in my opinion. Unfortunately, Windows, out of the box, has kinda . . . goofed this one. Older versions of Windows just used Alt-tab, and while sometimes that's ok . . . it could be better. Breakdown of concepts follows.  

Vista's window switching concept, the 3D "Aero Flip", LOOKS really cool. . . but as far as using it goes, most of the time it seems like there's not much point to it. Except to show off to your friends (Look what Vista can do! Shiiiiny. . . .) or something, but half of them will say, "Haha, you fool, you BOUGHT Vista," the other half will go, "Yeah, well check out my Mac and its cool Expose! It's pretty, AND useful." 

For those of you who haven't seen or heard of it, Mac has this cool window management thing called Expose that tiles all of your windows on the screen so you can choose the one you're looking for. It's very cool, and it's enough to make just about any Windows user jealous. . . until we remember that all the cool games come out on the PC first. What does Mac have in the way of games, anyway? Chess? Sweater Assault? Photoshop?

I'm kidding. Sort of. At least about the last two. I'm fairly certain that no one has actually made a game titled Sweater Assault, but feel free to prove me wrong. 

So, out of the box, Mac wins the window-switching round. Luckily, it doesn't end out of the box. More on this in a later entry.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. 

C) The desktop. Most default Shells have one, and it's comfortable, familiar, and usually full of needless clutter. Not unlike a lot of people's actual desks . . . 

D) Some easy way of accessing programs that are used a lot. Aside from the desktop. 

Windows has . . . Quicklaunch. Mac offers the dockbar, and again, of the two options, the dockbar is . . . much . . . prettier. Though again, Windows 7's Superbar wins this one; see the above link.

But until then, Windows users are a bit jealous of the dock. You might as well admit it; I know I am. Was. Until I got a dock. 

Except! There are free dockbars for Windows, and even at least one very, very slick commercial offering. StarDock offers up a product called ObjectDock, which comes in both free and paid versions - the paid version has a few extra features that are nice, but the average user won't always need them. There's also the free RocketDock, rkLauncher, Y'z Dock . . . if you want a dock, you can have a dock. I've got a dock. Two, actually. I like them. They're cool. 

I'll explore a few of these options in more depth in a later entry. Meanwhile, onward. 

E) Lastly, it needs some easy way of accessing programs that aren't used as frequently. Most Shells handle this through some variant of either the Start Menu (Windows and Mac, both), or a rightclick menu of some sort (Linux's BlackBox shell and others). These solutions are far from elegant, but they work. 

I say far from elegant, because . . . well, let's be honest. The Windows start menu is usually one of the most poorly organized places on your entire computer. You're never sure where to find anything, and some programmer decided for you where his work ought to be stored, and you're never sure what he was thinking, so you go browsing through . . . and get lost maybe half the time. 

It's not just me, is it? -whew- Thank God, I was scared for a minute there. 

See, the 'start menu' solution is great if you want to see a list of everything you have installed because you're trying to decide what it is you want to use right now, and you don't have any particular goal. Otherwise it's mostly an obstacle. 

Luckily there are more elegant options for Windows users in the form of the application launcher. But more on that later. 

Now, you've got the basics. See? You learned something. Good for you! Just wait until we get to the actual improving part of things. 

One last little teaser. Yes, the Explorer shell is clunky sometimes, and it's a bit of a memory hog. But there are alternatives, even for those of us who want to stick with Windows. Stay tuned. 

A brief introduction; Computers Suck

It's time for a fresh start, and that demands introductions.

My name, obviously, is NOT Xarathos, and if it were I'd feel really sorry for me, because any parent who names their kid something like that is just BEGGING to have him get wedgies in the cafeteria, but it's the one I use most often online where things like that aren't as silly. You can call me Jonathan, if you like; my friends do.  

I am a student at a local community college in California, currently staying with my Grandfather for the last part of the summer, and a longtime user of Windows. Which is the subject which I find most interesting for the purposes of this blog, but we'll just have to see where else this goes before the novelty of having my thoughts on the subject published online finally wears off. 

I'm obviously not the first person to hope to get the most out of their Windows experience, and in turn to help others to do so as well, but I'd like to hope my perspective has some merit. 

I've been using Windows since I was a kid, back when it was Windows 3.11 or so, and it was basically just a fancy overlay for DOS, and given that it was as slow as molasses in winter (or slower than Dial-up, for those of you who've never seen molasses in winter) it was basically easier to just use DOS itself. I even remember something called "DOS Shell", which wasn't quite as fancy as Windows, but had the advantage of being much much faster to use, for what little it did. 

To be honest, I never DID quite get the hang of the "command prompt" as a way of using computers. It might be efficient, but it's just terrible from a user standpoint. Great for people who don't mind getting their hands dirty, or who WANT to try and speak computer. But I digress. Maybe that loses me nerdcred or something, but who cares. 

My philosophy of computing has slowly developed overtime, and it is simply this: computers should be simultaneously efficient, 'usable' (an oft' abused term that here means simple intuitive for the individual who uses it to do whatever their needs require and thus means different things to different people), and pleasing to the eye. Windows was, until Vista, really NOT that last thing at all.

Vista is gorgeous out of the box, and with a little effort it can be even more so; and with the latest updates, it IS actually very stable. I won't lie, I've had problems. So many, in fact, that I recently wiped my entire OS from the harddrive and reinstalled it, something I swore I'd never do once. Silly thing to swear, isn't it? I mean, when it comes down to it, it's data, and data gets corrupted. It happens, and when it does you need a clean slate. 

So I've been working to get the single best user experience I can from Vista while I wait for Windows 7, which is, in my opinion, the greatest thing to happen to computers since SOMEONE (not Steve Jobs, by the way) invented the Dock Bar and made the Windows Taskbar look like a dinosaur. 

This blog, assuming that I keep up with it at all, is going to be about that quest. The quest to find a computing experience that works the way I want it to work, rather than the way some guy in Redmond or Macland or, I dunno, Disney World, thinks I should use a computer. Unfortunately I've had trouble settling on just one approach, but hey, I'm an experimenter. It's what I do. 

Hopefully, this'll be useful to at least one person besides me. If not, well, maybe I can just get my thoughts out somewhere. Not that I don't keep a journal, because I do, but blogging is a community experience, and I've been too antisocial in my life, and I've been wanting to do this awhile anyway. So here we are. 

I'll get to actual content next time. Until then, excelsior, and dftba.