Is it possible to have subdocks in "grid" style like Stacks? I am currently using five stacks with Standalone Stacks and the free version of Nexus, each with between 20 and 30 shortcuts. I am not satisfied with the result, because there is a noticeable delay in opening each stack, so I wanted to move to Ultimate to make use of subdocks. Also, the Standalone implementation of stacks has no on-hover or after-click effect. I saw that a native implementation of stacks is in the works, but would it have such effects and when could it be ready?

With subdocks there's one issue I'm afraid of, though: if the subdock is actually just another dock perpendicular to the main one, so many shortcuts won't fit in it or, anyway, it would be a long linear list instead of several rows of shortcuts. What options are available with subdocks? Would it also be possible to have more than one nested level of subdocks, i.e. the main dock that opens a subdock which, in turns, opens several subdocks in a two-level hierarchy?

Nexus Ultimate sub-docks already do all that you mentioned (i.e.; optionally open parallel - instead of perpendicular - to the parent dock, and have an infinite number of nested levels).

Currently no ETA on native Stacks support, although that is high on the to-do list.

Actually I am also looking at acquiring Nexus, and I have a similar question but you did not answer the part I need.

Does the current version of Nexus Ultimate support a Grid Layout (x line y columns) for the Sub Dock, and not just one line (vert or Horiz).

One other thing, regarding the spacing of icons (in both docks and subdocks), are these defined in absolute terms, or can they be defined relative to the screen size. The reason I asked, is because I am looking for a Dock that will automatically adjust spacing when changing the screen orientation from Landscape to Portrait.

Thank you for your help

Ah, so what you're really looking for is Stacks functionality. Then the answer is no, not at the moment, sub-docks are single row only.

Native Stacks implementation is high on the to-do list, however.



Icon spacing is not variable, but icon sizing is (i.e.; if the dock is too big to fit on the screen space available, icon size is automatically reduced until it does - down to a maximum of 16x16 icons, of course).

Thanks, what about grouping several docks and being able to open that group with one icon ?

The reason behind this is because I believe that with only a few more functionalities, we should be able to use a dock system like yours to recreate a very interactive layer for the Windows Tablets.

There are already a few good ones out like the HP 500 slate, and many more are coming up in Q1 of 2011. All these need to be really appealing is a simple layer that gives you an Android like experience of Windows 7.

Having a dock to create the several home pages button at the top, each icon on this dock allowing to open a stacked dock of the main apps you want on that page. A small (possibly auto hide) dock at the bottom to receive the opened application, and may be a small auto hide dock in the upper right corner to hold a close and stow commands (scripts), and you could basically be able to have an android like UI on top of windows 7.

Of course the main things you need to make this work are:
• Stacked dock that can stay open and only close when you open another one
• Automatic redistribution when changing from landscape to portrait, which just means the icon spacing and position needs to be relative to screen size rather than absolute values, and priority needs to be given to changing spacing before changing size.
• Eventually possibility to specify a dock position not relative to Top/bottom/right/left, but to specific sides of the tablets, so that when rotating the screen you could maintain a dock on a specific side. Like making a dock always be on a short side.

If you can bring that up you could see a very significant appeal for your product in the coming year, and if you go as far as packaging a pre set configuration, you could make some deals with the vendors of Windows 7 tablets on a large scale.

Just thinking

I will keep an eye on how the product evolves.

I have downloaded the full Workshelf trial edition to test subdocks... I've seen that instead of the grid layout a good solution could be nesting subdocks, of course the deeper the nesting the less often used shortcuts you need to insert, as of course going down levels takes more time. Since a stack usually contains both often-used and lesser-used shortcuts, you can make a subdock for the most common shortcuts, which in turn contains a second subdock for the other items.

I didn't test it because I don't really need it, but I was thinking about a "subdock of subdocks", that is a subdock that only contains subdocks, which actually results in a grid, though one where only a row at a time is visible. Setting subdocks to always open perpendicular to their parent, you should obtain something similar. At the moment (couple days) I'm testing subdocks parallel to the main dock (horizontal) and it seems to me that they don't require much mouse movement as a "classical" perpendicular dock would with several shortcuts.

Hope this helps...

Tt would not quite do what I wish to accomplish, which is to recreate an Android like Interface on a windows Tablet.

But thanks for the suggestion.

Do you happen to have a link to a video on Youtube, for instance, showing exactly what you want?

You can look at any video of an android 2.2 or android 2.1 tablet.
Google any of the latest one like
Galaxy Tab review
Viewpad 7 review
archos 70 review
archo 101 review
android 2.2 tablet review

Android works the following way:
At the top you have 5 or 6 small icons that will switch between desktops. On the tablets, you can also switch between desktops by just swiping your finger which is not relevant if using Docks to simulate this functionnality.
Each desktop has a set of icons to launch programs.

When the tablet is rotated, the Icons of the current desktops get rearanged to fit on the screen.

This is the part that cannot seem to be feasible with the current dock functionnality. What is missing to do this are the following things:
Being able to have docks defined as a grid of icons (n x m icons)either by a fixed number of lines and columns, or by a vertical and horizontal spacing as well as a padding with the edge of the screen, and let icon be populated in that space.
Have the spacing of these icons on the grid defined relative to the screen size.
Have the icons atomatically redistributed based on the screen size (to enable redistribution when switching between portrait and landscape)

Then have the possibility to open these Docks from another dock and leave them opened until another one is opened. Allowing us to create one regular dock at the top that would include the icons for the various desktop docks. Then when we click on one of them it would open the desktop dock with the icons on a grid and leave it open. But when clicking on another desktop icon in the top dock, it would close the currently opened desktop dock, and open the new one.

As I said in my other message, there are a few more things we can do to create that touch friendly layer with the docks, but I believe these can be done with the current Dock program. they iclude.
Making a dock that would be at the bottom and that would receive icons of the opened applications Allow us to replace the windows task bar with floating icons.
having a dock at the top right of the screen that would hold icons for some scripts to close, or stow opened application.

I really believe that with the tablet craze coming up, you could easily make a touch friendly layer for windows tablet using your dock program, with minimal additional features.

I'll be happy to help in ant way possible.