im a big fan of quicksilver. it's the app i use every day of every week - all-day-long. this post isn't about how i'm a quicksilver fanboy or anything, it's just about how i use it to de-clutter my dock. if you are a mac user and dont know what quicksilver does check these tutorials out.
so basically i use quicksilver as a launcher throughout the day. since there is no real need for the dock then, i have removed 90% of what i used to keep on it. a year ago you would have seen a dock with easily 30-40+ icons. today i only have 8 [not counting the finder or trash icons], i will most likely scale that number down as well. Here is what my dock looks like right now.
so, here is the list of what's there..
- 1. finder icon
- 2. firefox beta 3
- 3. quicksilver
- 4. trash-it
- 5. skitch [only showing because its on for the screen capture
- 6. dockables
- 7. file cabinet
- 8. downloads directory
- 9. junk drawer aka temp folder
- 10. servers [rdc shortcuts to the servers i work with]
- 11. trash
i am actually going to be looking for a way to remove the finder icon from the dock [if there is one]. for me it seems pretty useless. the finder is always on, i dont need to see the icon.
next i have firefox [beta 3], i leave this on the dock since its always open anyway. plus quicksilver crashes every once and awhile for me and, it always seems to happen when i need to launch a website. lately, i have been trying to use quicksilver to launch my browser and sites. im using beta 3 since i have had horrible luck with the last two versions of firefox.
quicksilver is always open, so this icon is always showing.
trash-it, a great little utility for the times the trash wont empty, or when i want to secure delete something. this icon is relatively new. i keep it in my dock to remind me to use it as needed. eventually i'll ditch the icon and open with quicksilver when needed.
skitch is a great screen capture app [in beta at the moment] its only open so i can take the capture of the dock image. otherwise its closed till i need it.
dockables, these are easy to use shortcuts to things like restart, set screensaver, lock screen etc... most of these commands can be launched from quicksilver. the reason i keep it here is for the lock screen icon. for some reason i cant use quicksilver for that command anymore.
filing cabinet [stack], this is where all my files are stored. everything has its own folder and is sorter pretty well [for me at least] since everything has a folder it is easy for me to navigate through the structure with quicksilver. i leave is there in case quicksilver crashes.
downloads [stack], this is where i sort all my downloaded files. i also leave it there incase quicksilver crashes.
servers [stack], this stack contains a number of servers i connect to on a daily basis via rdc. i leave it there since its easiest for me to launch these from the dock.
lastly we have the trash icon. that is always there =)
hopefully, you see there is no need for the overstuffed dock if you use a launcher like quicksilver.
