Disable Stacks in Leopard?

pakkman781 · 10-26-2007, 07:13 PM

I have found that I absolutely HATE stacks in Leopard. I much prefer the old way of putting folders into the dock, and being able to navigate them from there. Is there anyway to disable stacks?

tw · 10-26-2007, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pakkman781


	I have found that I absolutely HATE stacks in Leopard. I much prefer the old way of putting folders into the dock, and being able to navigate them from there. Is there anyway to disable stacks?

geez... leopard's been out for what - 2 hours???

pakkman781 · 10-26-2007, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tw


	geez... leopard's been out for what - 2 hours???

Yes, but it's been two hours of annoyance :P (at stacks anyways)

ThreeDee · 10-26-2007, 08:34 PM

Slightly offtopic: There's been a ton of new Leopard help requests and some of us don't have Leopard yet. It's also going to take a while for us to figure out all the new features of 10.5, and how to modify them.

tw · 10-26-2007, 08:53 PM

actually, I'll admit that I'm waiting to see what kind of you-know-what hits the fan before I spring the cash for 10.5 (hmmm... shouldn't that be X.v?). Leopard seems to be a 'bells and whistles' upgrade, and I've been pretty happy with Tiger...

DeltaMac · 10-26-2007, 09:12 PM

If you don't like stacks, then change the option to view folders in a grid.

Positioning the Dock to the side of the screen, rather than the bottom, prevents the fan option. You only get the grid, which I prefer to stacks.

That seems pretty close the the 'old' way...
I suppose it's more a function of the 2D dock, compared to the full options in the 3D dock. I haven't tried that out by changing the bottom dock to 2D.

dm3 · 10-26-2007, 10:43 PM

I agree with the original post. Is there a way to disable stacks and get it working the way it was in Tiger? I'd be surprised if they really removed the code, its probably just buried somewhere.

In Tiger, you could put the Applications folder on the right side of the dock. If you right clicked on the folder, it listed everything in the folder in a very easy to navigate list similar to Windows Start menu. Very easy to navigate to subdirectories. Its the way I evolved to always start applications.

In Leopard it doesn't work this way anymore. If you click "stacks" takes over and shows it as a stack or a grid. Neither is very good. If you right click, you get options on using stack or grid. Argh! That should be a preference and let right click do what it used to do, or have the list as a third option. I can't believe they got rid of the easiest way to start programs.

nmerriam · 10-26-2007, 11:52 PM

Unfortunately from all the earlier developer releases nobody has found any way to get the old functionality. It really does seem to be gone and replaced.

That said, wow is Leopard fantastic so far. So many small changes that are excellent, and they fixed SO MUCH Finder stupidity, I actually like it quite a bit now! I used to fantasize about getting Explorer on the Mac just so I could manage files without pulling my hair out -- now I'm starting to dream about Finder on Windows

dm3 · 10-27-2007, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nmerriam


	Unfortunately from all the earlier developer releases nobody has found any way to get the old functionality. It really does seem to be gone and replaced. That said, wow is Leopard fantastic so far. So many small changes that are excellent, and they fixed SO MUCH Finder stupidity, I actually like it quite a bit now! I used to fantasize about getting Explorer on the Mac just so I could manage files without pulling my hair out -- now I'm starting to dream about Finder on Windows

Is there anyway to fake out something similar to the old way? Does that concept exist anymore in Leopard? Any kind of special folder or view or webpage or anything that can be created to represent contents of the folder as a list with expanding directories to make it easy to launch an application?

How do they expect you to launch applications? Its absurd now adays. Select the folder in the dock, presents inane stacks which doesn't even show everything. May need to select show in finder, or may need to drill down a folder which takes you into finder anyway. Seems like you practically can't use this approach anymore for launching applications and should just be stuck using finder. It reminds me of Windows 3.1.

nmerriam · 10-27-2007, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dm3


	How do they expect you to launch applications?

They expect you to use the dock for commonly-used applications, and spotlight for others. One of the changes they made to spotlight is that it will now instantly returns applications that match your search, rather than waiting for any other results. It makes the application the default selection of a spotlight search, and you only have to hit enter/return now to select that default result, as opposed to the option-enter you used to have to do. So in many ways, Spotlight now functions the same as Quicksilver does if you're just looking for an application launcher.

I suspect Launchbar or someone else will provide a dock app that mimics the start menu-esque behavior folks used to get from putting the Applications folder on the dock.

Red_Menace · 10-27-2007, 09:50 AM

I don't have Leopard yet, so this Stacks business sound disturbing. Can you still use the Scripts Menu? In Tiger a bunch of Applications in the Scripts Menu works like a folder on the dock, it is just a bit slower.

geshirk · 10-27-2007, 10:44 AM

The sidebar is useful to me for handling lesser used apps

IUG · 10-27-2007, 11:18 AM

I tell you what, stacks is the worst thing I've seen in an Apple OS. That is, visually it's distracting and misleading. I don't have any qualms with how it functions, but making my hard drive icons look like their contents is entirely confusing.

My 1st hard drive looks like my Applications folder, while my application folder looks like the Address Book. My second hard drive looks like Family Guy now, and my 3rd one is fine because I haven't clicked it yet.

Not to mention my download folder looks like an AVI file, and my User folder looks like it's Desktop Folder. It's really confusing, and I hope someone finds a way to turn this visual off. I don't mind the fan or grid, but where they're springing out of is what breaks the dock for me.

iMacChris · 10-28-2007, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IUG


	My 1st hard drive looks like my Applications folder, while my application folder looks like the Address Book. My second hard drive looks like Family Guy now, and my 3rd one is fine because I haven't clicked it yet. Not to mention my download folder looks like an AVI file, and my User folder looks like it's Desktop Folder. It's really confusing, and I hope someone finds a way to turn this visual off. I don't mind the fan or grid, but where they're springing out of is what breaks the dock for me.

Hey there IUG - I found out the deal with the icon pictures is that the icons are taking the 1st item in that particular folder and using that as the main folder icon, ie: address book is probably the 1st application in your applications folder, therefore it's icon is showing on the applications folder in the dock. I hate this!! Just thought you'd be interested. What I did is created a folder called "A" in my applications folder, so now at least on the dock is just shows the "A", which I like better.

pakkman781 · 10-27-2007, 11:52 AM

Well, who knows if it'll make any difference, but I submitted a something about this on the feedback form. I even offered them a way they could implement it XD I suggest if you are concerned about this, do the same, if enough people speak up, we might see something done about it by 10.5.1

Panjandrum · 10-27-2007, 04:57 PM

I'm going to agree here and say that stacks may well be the single worst interface design element I've ever seen.

Apple took something elegant and useful and pretty much perfect (the way disks and folders worked in the Dock previously), and replaced it with something which isn't just useless, it is also ugly. The person responsible for this feature at Apple should be fired.

Other than that, so far things look pretty good except for the menu bar, which is way too hard to read. I'll probably have to make special backdrops for my main screen with something like a thin white field under the menu bar.

Here is the link to Apple's feedback form so we can all complain (nicely please) about Stacks:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html/

Oh, yeah, and, why does Stacks think my home folder should look like an Applications folder in the dock now? How useless is that? ARGHHHHHH!!!!!

markashley · 10-28-2007, 03:42 AM

There is a way to work around stacks. Create an AppleScript and enter the following:

tell application "Finder"
open home
activate
end tell

to open your home directory. Or:

tell application "Finder"
open folder "Applications" of startup disk
activate
end tell

or change the "open" line to whichever directory you want it to open. Save the script somewhere, then put it on your dock. When you click the dock icon, the Finder window will open.

A bit messy I know, but it will do what you're asking.

IUG · 10-28-2007, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markashley


	There is a way to work around stacks. Create an AppleScript and enter the following: tell application "Finder" open home activate end tell to open your home directory. Or: tell application "Finder" open folder "Applications" of startup disk activate end tell or change the "open" line to whichever directory you want it to open. Save the script somewhere, then put it on your dock. When you click the dock icon, the Finder window will open. A bit messy I know, but it will do what you're asking.

Or just make an alias, and put the alias in the dock. Saves you a lot of steps, and you keep the icons.

Of course you still can't right-click browse them, but you can still single click them and the folder opens in a finder window.

markashley · 10-28-2007, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IUG


	Or just make an alias, and put the alias in the dock. Saves you a lot of steps, and you keep the icons.

Hmm, didn't think of that

Panjandrum · 10-28-2007, 01:25 PM

I've installed A-Dock for now and removed all folders ("stacks") from my Apple dock since they are useless.

A-Dock does exactly what we wish and is only $10. Hold down the shift-key to add your folders to A-Dock.

I keep my Apple dock hidden on the left, and A-Dock hidden at the bottom now. Took about 30 minutes to get used to and now things are good again!

10-26-2007, 07:13 PM	#1
pakkman781 Triple-A Player Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: TN Posts: 154	Disable Stacks in Leopard? I have found that I absolutely HATE stacks in Leopard. I much prefer the old way of putting folders into the dock, and being able to navigate them from there. Is there anyway to disable stacks?

10-26-2007, 08:34 PM	#4
ThreeDee Hall of Famer Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: USA Posts: 3,418	Slightly offtopic: There's been a ton of new Leopard help requests and some of us don't have Leopard yet. It's also going to take a while for us to figure out all the new features of 10.5, and how to modify them. __________________ 15" MacBook Pro (Mid 2010), 2.4 GHz Core i5, 10.6.5, 4GB RAM PowerMac G4 "Quicksilver", 733 MHz, 10.4.11, 1.5GB RAM iPod Touch 5G, 32GB, iOS 6.1.3 Last edited by ThreeDee; 10-26-2007 at 08:37 PM.

10-27-2007, 04:57 PM	#16
Panjandrum Prospect Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 8	I'm going to agree here and say that stacks may well be the single worst interface design element I've ever seen. Apple took something elegant and useful and pretty much perfect (the way disks and folders worked in the Dock previously), and replaced it with something which isn't just useless, it is also ugly. The person responsible for this feature at Apple should be fired. Other than that, so far things look pretty good except for the menu bar, which is way too hard to read. I'll probably have to make special backdrops for my main screen with something like a thin white field under the menu bar. Here is the link to Apple's feedback form so we can all complain (nicely please) about Stacks: http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html/ Oh, yeah, and, why does Stacks think my home folder should look like an Applications folder in the dock now? How useless is that? ARGHHHHHH!!!!! Last edited by Panjandrum; 10-27-2007 at 05:53 PM.

10-28-2007, 01:25 PM	#20
Panjandrum Prospect Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 8	Using A-Dock for now I've installed A-Dock for now and removed all folders ("stacks") from my Apple dock since they are useless. A-Dock does exactly what we wish and is only $10. Hold down the shift-key to add your folders to A-Dock. I keep my Apple dock hidden on the left, and A-Dock hidden at the bottom now. Took about 30 minutes to get used to and now things are good again!

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10-26-2007, 08:53 PM	#5
tw Hall of Famer Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 4,262	actually, I'll admit that I'm waiting to see what kind of you-know-what hits the fan before I spring the cash for 10.5 (hmmm... shouldn't that be X.v?). Leopard seems to be a 'bells and whistles' upgrade, and I've been pretty happy with Tiger...

10-26-2007, 09:12 PM	#6
DeltaMac League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,934	If you don't like stacks, then change the option to view folders in a grid. Positioning the Dock to the side of the screen, rather than the bottom, prevents the fan option. You only get the grid, which I prefer to stacks. That seems pretty close the the 'old' way... I suppose it's more a function of the 2D dock, compared to the full options in the 3D dock. I haven't tried that out by changing the bottom dock to 2D.

10-26-2007, 10:43 PM	#7
dm3 Prospect Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 27	I agree with the original post. Is there a way to disable stacks and get it working the way it was in Tiger? I'd be surprised if they really removed the code, its probably just buried somewhere. In Tiger, you could put the Applications folder on the right side of the dock. If you right clicked on the folder, it listed everything in the folder in a very easy to navigate list similar to Windows Start menu. Very easy to navigate to subdirectories. Its the way I evolved to always start applications. In Leopard it doesn't work this way anymore. If you click "stacks" takes over and shows it as a stack or a grid. Neither is very good. If you right click, you get options on using stack or grid. Argh! That should be a preference and let right click do what it used to do, or have the list as a third option. I can't believe they got rid of the easiest way to start programs.

10-26-2007, 11:52 PM	#8
nmerriam Triple-A Player Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 60	Unfortunately from all the earlier developer releases nobody has found any way to get the old functionality. It really does seem to be gone and replaced. That said, wow is Leopard fantastic so far. So many small changes that are excellent, and they fixed SO MUCH Finder stupidity, I actually like it quite a bit now! I used to fantasize about getting Explorer on the Mac just so I could manage files without pulling my hair out -- now I'm starting to dream about Finder on Windows

10-27-2007, 09:50 AM	#11
Red_Menace All Star Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Littleton, Colorado, USA Posts: 506	I don't have Leopard yet, so this Stacks business sound disturbing. Can you still use the Scripts Menu? In Tiger a bunch of Applications in the Scripts Menu works like a folder on the dock, it is just a bit slower.

10-27-2007, 10:44 AM	#12
geshirk Prospect Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 18	The sidebar is useful to me for handling lesser used apps

10-27-2007, 11:18 AM	#13
IUG Prospect Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 4	I tell you what, stacks is the worst thing I've seen in an Apple OS. That is, visually it's distracting and misleading. I don't have any qualms with how it functions, but making my hard drive icons look like their contents is entirely confusing. My 1st hard drive looks like my Applications folder, while my application folder looks like the Address Book. My second hard drive looks like Family Guy now, and my 3rd one is fine because I haven't clicked it yet. Not to mention my download folder looks like an AVI file, and my User folder looks like it's Desktop Folder. It's really confusing, and I hope someone finds a way to turn this visual off. I don't mind the fan or grid, but where they're springing out of is what breaks the dock for me.

10-27-2007, 11:52 AM	#15
pakkman781 Triple-A Player Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: TN Posts: 154	Well, who knows if it'll make any difference, but I submitted a something about this on the feedback form. I even offered them a way they could implement it XD I suggest if you are concerned about this, do the same, if enough people speak up, we might see something done about it by 10.5.1

10-28-2007, 03:42 AM	#17
markashley Major Leaguer Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 322	There is a way to work around stacks. Create an AppleScript and enter the following: tell application "Finder" open home activate end tell to open your home directory. Or: tell application "Finder" open folder "Applications" of startup disk activate end tell or change the "open" line to whichever directory you want it to open. Save the script somewhere, then put it on your dock. When you click the dock icon, the Finder window will open. A bit messy I know, but it will do what you're asking.