DragThing Help | Troubleshooting | Frequently Asked Questions

Here is a list of the most common questions I get asked about DragThing, along with the answers. If you have a question that isn't answered here, please let me know at james.t@kagi.com, and I'll add it to the list!

Questions:

Q: Can you add more spaces to the default dock? Eight isn't enough!

Q: How do you rearrange the tabs in a dock?

Q: What do the little anchors mean when I drag windows around?

Q: Can I hide the DragThing icon in the Apple Dock?

Q: Can I get rid of the Apple Dock completely?

Q: Is DragThing a "haxie"?

Q: I just saw a new version of DragStrip from Aladdin Systems. Is this the same thing as DragThing? Did you sell out DragThing? It looks very similar!

Answers:

Q: Can you add more spaces to the default dock? Eight isn't enough!

A: No problem. Just click and drag at the edges of the dock to resize it. The cursor will change to be a line between two arrows to show you the right place to click. Make sure the dock is unlocked (check the small padlock in the Dock Options window) if you don't see the cursor change.

Q: How do you rearrange the tabs in a dock?

A: Option-click and drag the tab into the position you want - even into another dock. If the dock is set to be a drawer, you'll need to option-shift-click the tab instead, since option-clicking will drag the whole drawer in that case.

Q: What do the little anchors mean when I drag windows around?

A: When you drag a dock window around, it is silently searching out the nearest corner or midpoint on the screen and attaching itself to it for purposes of resolution switching, resizing, and, in the case of the Process, Disk and Window Docks, growing away from. So, for example, if you drag a horizontal process dock to the bottom middle of the screen, when you launch an application, it will stay centred and grow in both directions.

It's also possible to override the anchor setting, so you can attach the dock to a distant corner. If you hold down the Shift key while dragging a dock, the anchor will stay where it is. Hold down the Command key while dragging to stop the dock snapping to edges.

Q: Can I hide the DragThing icon in the Apple Dock?

A: There's no way currently to hide an icon from the Apple Dock without also hiding the menubar for that application. I think that would be confusing for most people, since you couldn't get back into the Preferences window to switch the option off again for one thing.

If you don't mind that though, you can edit the Info.plist file inside DragThing yourself - just add the following lines:

<key>NSUIElement</key>
<string>1</string>

That should do the trick.

Q: Can I get rid of the Apple Dock completely?

A: It is possible, but I wouldn't recommend it. Since people often ask how to do it anyway, here's a good tutorial I found on how to kill the Dock by Kevin Schmitt:

http://www.creativemac.com/2003/02_feb/tutorials/dockdead2030225.htm

This may have unforeseen side effects however, which is why I've not documented the procedure myself, or added an option for this in DragThing. I keep the Dock hidden off the bottom of the screen on my own Mac.

Q: Is DragThing a "haxie"?

A: No, DragThing doesn't patch the system at all - it's just a regular application like the Finder or Safari which should make it more stable and a lot less prone to conflicts with the OS and other applications. Haxies are very much like the old Extensions and Control Panels from Mac OS 9.

Q: I just saw a new version of DragStrip from Aladdin Systems. Is this the same thing as DragThing? Did you sell out DragThing? It looks very similar!

A: No, DragThing is definitely not the same thing as DragStrip. DragStrip, while also being a similar application launcher with a similar name, is by Aladdin Systems, and is an entirely separate commercial product. I have to assume that any similarities between the two are entirely coincidental.

I would encourage anybody who is interested in an application launcher, to try the two of them, and make a choice based on the quality of the product, not the quality of the PR!

DragThing is still written and supported by one person. I have had a number of offers to buy DragThing, but I decided I didn't want it owned by a big company so I could keep control over what happened to it, and keep it affordable! If you want to support shareware authors, please register your copy of DragThing!

I would encourage anybody who is interested in an application launcher, to try the two of them, and make a choice based on the quality of the product, not the quality of the PR!

DragThing is still written and supported by one person, me. I have had a number of offers to buy DragThing, but I decided I didn't want it owned by a big company so I could keep control over what happened to it, and keep it affordable! If you want to support shareware authors, please register your copy of DragThing!

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