Dock extension for GNOME Shell

By , Published September 3, 2010

dock for Gnome ShellIf there’s one aspect of Gnome Shell that many users don’t like it’s the inability to switch between windows as quickly as that on a traditional desktop using a taskbar or dock.

With the following extension by a developer called Torb you can easily add a dock-like bar to the right-side of your screen that gives you this, allowing you to swap between windows faster than by going to the ‘App Well’ view in Overview mode.

Installation

  • Download the package here
  • Extract to ~./local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/
  • Restart your shell (alt+f2, type r and press enter).

Related posts:

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  2. GNOME Shell: System status area mockups
  3. A Few New Features In Gnome-Shell
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  • Anonymous

    Wait. Docky?

  • mgunes

    Calling this the “Docky” extension is misleading; it has nothing to do with Docky.

    And your first sentence is missing a “Shell”.

  • Anonymous

    How related is that one to Docky? From the author’s blog it seems like a separate project.

  • Brianji03

    Now Gnome Shell seems 10x more work it. When I tried it out last, it seemed very inconvenient because it was hard to switch between windows. This seems to make it a whole lot easier.

  • Fuith DelVasco

    He didn’t say anything about Docky, all it says is Dock.

  • http://twitter.com/flsantos Fernando Luís Santos

    I just use docky, but its a good thing

  • Anonymous

    Is the gnome shell default for Maverick?
    I have Jaunty and Lucid on two machines.

  • Anonymous

    or you can always use Docky with Shell…although I would prefer it if they added the ability to navigate with the keyboard when in “Overview” mode. Last time I used it (more than 6 months ago) that was one of the things that I didn’t like about Gnome Shell. I found it inconsistent seems in some ways it seems to promote using the keyboard (to switch to Overview and rapidly search) but if you wanted to navigate through your open windows or apps you had to use the mouse.

  • Aldo Mann

    It’s cool, because it integrates perfectly with GNOME Shell (prefered apps and so on). But sincerely I prefer using Docky.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/ZCKHVTP4QZOFR3PR2AB6FE7VJ4 Dexter

    Does any one know if there is going to be a dock in GNOME Shell when they release it?

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      not as currently planned, no.

  • Anonymous

    Thankfully no. It’s goint to use the Gnome we all love/hate.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_HUGIUWSMJE3NSA3UYMWR7KZ6AQ Anonymous

    The purpose of redesign a desktop, removing traditional tools such as a dock and task-bar, is to enhance useability, isn’t it? Why should it have a dock in Gnome shell? Gnome shell suppose to be easier than docks and taskbar.

  • http://www.google.com/profiles/harveycabaguio Harvey

    Its an extension, it won’t be part of gnome-shell by default. And some people would like to use a dock or some other traditional tool. So having an option like this is nice.

  • jesus christ man

    Because it helps if it actually enhances usability, that’s why, idiot. Besides alt-tab what the hell else is faster than switching with a dock or similar taskbar? Redesign doesn’t necessarily mean you have to reinvent the wheel.

  • http://twitter.com/mickstep Michael Stephenson

    Wow, that ad hominem attack was wholly unjustified, there’s no need to label him an idiot for what he said. calm the fuck down you vitriolic prick.
    (irony intended)

  • Anonymous

    Er, UNR?

  • Lakota James Morris

    “Besides alt-tab”
    That’s kinda the point, isn’t it?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C46AWCLIBU4DBUHYYI7TKEET64 ravigehlot

    I don’t think that gnome-shell is a good software to try. It has bugs. It may crash your computer. Gnome is set to make it stable in the fall by November. But it’s uncertain that Ubuntu will adopt it on its new version.

    Also, gnome-shell doesn’t come installed by default. So the installation instructions above aren’t quite complete.

  • Anonymous

    Or just not install Gnome Shell in the first place, having used it a few times I found that it takes a couple more clicks to get you to where & what you want to do.

  • Anonymous

    I think a dock of some kind is certainly needed for gnome shell and might make it usable for me.
    I’m not liking unity’s full-screen menus as much as I thought I would so I am starting to look at shell more.
    I have my reservations about shell like many do but KDE took a bold move with the KDE4 redesign and for the most part it has paid off.
    Maybe shell will go the same way.

  • Anonymous

    Well I gave it a try and it works ok.
    I do like the fact that it takes the favourites from the menu panel thing and vice versa (so if I add a favourite to the dock it will also be in the side panel.

    Though it does suffer the same problem as the side panel, I can’t re-order favourites.

    I think I would probably just go ahead and use awn or docky if I were take on gnome shell.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BAIKEZC3XFLNXNN4MMYGFB7QTA GÃÛRÃ…V

    where to extract it…i am not able to understand please provide full path

    • Anonymous

      the ~ symbol means your home directory(like /home//), also i think he typed the path wrong, it should have been “~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/” (dot and slash wrong order).

      also notice that .local is a hidden folder

  • http://www.facebook.com/marton.viktor Marton Viktor

    I tried to move the dock into the panel:
    http://blog.titok.info/index.php?entry=entry110914-153722

  • Alexander Postol

    Sorry my bad english… How change position of dock?

    • http://twitter.com/ED_Updates Dramatica AG

      To customize the dock extension, install dconf-tools (sudo apt-get install dconf-tools), then launch “dconf-editor”, navigate to org > gnome > shell > extensions > dock and here you can specify the dock position (left or right), enable or disable autohide, specify the hide effect or set the hide duration.

 
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