Having used the free version of Object Dock for a couple years, I decided I liked it enough to pay for pro. I guess you could say it wasn't quite what I expected and at the same time was what I expected. Anyway, I'm wondering about a few things.
1. There are two distinct types of docks (quick launch and tabbed), but they behave quite different. One type will have functionality that I wish was in the other and vice versa. Will the functionality between the two different types ever be merged so that it is uniform across the board?
2. Color schemes are great and all, but is there a way to "copy/paste" a color scheme from one existing dock to a new one? It just seems odd to have colors "slighty off" when you are trying to set up a uniform and nice looking UI.
3. Is there a good digital clock/time/date/etc widget to put into object dock. On my old computer, I disabled the windows taskbar in favor of object docks of various sorts. The problem became that there is just no decent digital clock widgets on the website (at least that I noticed). I used one for a while, but I had to really stretch my imagination to get it to work properly due to formatting issues. Ultimately I just brought back the mediocre graphics of the windows taskbar just to have a digital clock with a decent font/size/color/etc...
4. Shortcuts have alot of issues. I will do something like pull a shortcut from the desktop to the tabbed dock and delete the shortcut from the desktop. I then proceed to click on it only to have it give me an error that the shortcut on the desktop is no longer there. Why are shortcuts not simply copied instead of referenced in the tabbed dock. I actually had a similar problem getting control panels shortcut on the quicklaunch dock. It was a pain, but I eventually got it working.
5. Functionality and graphical customizations are sparse. This is probably more of a personal gripe than anything, but when I bought the program, I half expected a significant amount of graphical customizations beyond just a few templates and color edits. Tabbed docks have "reflections" that quicklaunch docks dont, and likewise quicklaunch docks have more flexible coloring abilities versus the tabbed docks "pick one of the six colors in the list".
6. Sort of along the same lines as the functionality, the quicklaunch dock can be "ancored" to the side edges of the screen in the center or to one corner or the other. The tabbed dock seems to be able to "float". This is both good and bad. Right now I'm having the issue where I will play a game (any game) set to native resolution, but when I exit, the tabbed dock I am using (ideally staying on the lower right corner of the screen) has moved to the center and, upon running another game at native resolution, works its way toward the left corner. I wish there was simply a way to ancor the tabbed dock somewhere on the screen with reference to the edges and corners or at least go back to the place I tell it in the first place despite what a game does to the desktop.
7. The graphical templates of the quicklaunch dock have some issues. When they are on the side edge of the screen, they can look fundamentally different than when they are on top or bottom of the screen. This can also cause them to not behave properly.
8. All of the object docks tend to lose their ability to stay "on top" of everything and yet tend to interfere with some games by being too "on top" of everything. Example, I will have steam or chrome open and after a little while, my tabbed dock with fall behind everything. The text is even worse. If there is a window in the same position as the tabbed dock, the text displays behind the window. So when I am trying to see what an icon is, I have to move the window first before I can see the text. The quicklaunch dock will get the same issue periodically, but that is generally after running for quite a while.
9. Now, as opposite to the stuff in 8, sometimes the docks will poke through a game in full screen. Elemental, oddly enough being a stardock product as well, is notorious for this. When I have object dock launched (and my windows taskbar is at the top of the screen instead of the bottom), I will launch Elemental. Elemental will load to the main menu and the cursor will be "stuck" on the edge of the screen. Top and left edges of the screen, I can move my cursor around, but never to the middle. Not until I alt tab the program and go back in. Then things seem to settle in. There are a few other games I've played at random and across multiple different computers running different OS's and such where object dock pokes through or falls behind.
10. I dont know why, but the graphics of the "free version" of object dock aren't in the pro version. The nice black glassy looking one. I like that one better than any of the ones in pro and it would be nice if it were included. Further, being able to change it's color would be perfect. Still it looked the best in my opinion and I would go back to the free version of object dock just for that look if I could.
11. Some way to link My Games in impulse with my Tabbed Dock. I know there is Impulse Dock, but IMO it's borderline garbage because of how buggy it is and how long it takes to load.
Ultimately these are just gripes and things I've noticed while using the pro version of object dock (I guess v2). There just seems to be a level of polish missing from most of this stuff and keeps the program from living up to its full potential. I mostly had hoped that it would be the "Windows UI replacement" I had dreamt of, but as it is, I'm stuck with windows UI with "object dock enhancement" to keep icons from filling up my desktop. For me, the verdict is still out whether or not it was worth what I spent on it. Hopefully, it is a program that will be updated for free to get it to the level that I was expecting when I read the product description.
If there is anything that I mentioned above that I can do to fix or enhance the program myself, please let me know. Thanks.
