I'm using Nexus dock 12.2 and I love it except for one problem that really is a nuisance. I normally like the dock always on top of everything since I use it as a replacement for the taskbar and always want access to it.

The exception to this is when I watch flash videos in full screen, like Youtube. When I do this, Nexus dock will still stay on top of the video and it's real pain trying to use the Nexus button to doubleclick it, since that also will overlap the scan bar on the videos, making it a mess to navigate. Is there a way for me to manually configure Nexus to appear BELOW flash applications when they're running, but stay on top the rest of the time?

Hi!



Not sure I understand the problem here, unless the dock is 'floating'. If it is docked to a screen edge, double clicking the Nexus control icon will make it hide into the screen edge - bumping the screen edge with the mouse pointer will then make it pop back out again.

Also, have you tried enabling the 'Auto-hide for maximized applications' setting (Position tab of Preferences, enabled when the dock is set to 'Always on Top')?

Another option (provided Nexus is docked to a screen edge and not floating) is to enable the 'Prevent maximized windows from overlapping the dock' setting, which will make it behave like the Windows taskbar, i.e.; it will remain always visible and maximized windows never cover it. The drawback is that it might 'eat' a lot of vertical screen space, depending on the size of the dock's icons.

I mentioned this, here's why I don't like that:
Additionally, this is an extra step I have to do every time I want to watch a full screen video on youtube, and the primary reason I use Nexus Dock is it normally saves me time and is more efficient.

I don't like auto-hiding normally since I don't like seeing the dock pop up in and out most of the time and find that distracting. Literally the ONLY time I want the dock to disappear is when I'm watching a video full screen, not when I have a window (like file explorer) maximized.

The problem with this is that non-maximized windows will still overlap it + even maximized windows will obscure the text that comes up when I hover over applications.

I can understand about the extra step (although, as with everything, it's a question of getting used to it until it becomes second nature) but I'm having a hard time visualizing what you mean by 'making a mess to navigate', since double clicking the control icon will actually HIDE/REMOVE the dock from the screen.



Just to make it clear, same thing happens with the Windows taskbar, that is simply how Windows works.



You mean the labels of icons on the dock? If so, are you aware that you can show a label background by enabling 'Show label background' in the Appearance tab of Preferences? It makes the text a lot easier to read against complex desktop backgrounds.

Sorry, I should have been more clear. There are multiple reasons this is a pain:

1. When you doubleclick on the icon while in full screen mode in Youtube, it sometimes causes Flash to rip me out of fullscreen mode (probably because it detects my mouse focus elsewhere), forcing me to start the process of going into fullscreen mode all over again. This is the most annoying part by far.

2. I have to manually bring the dock back from autohide after finishing watching the video, again, an extra step. Even if I can train myself to do this, extra steps that aren't necessary under normal Windows doesn't help the experience.

3. If there are multiple docks, the procedure needs to be replicated for each one. At this point, it's an exercise in frustration.


Not on windows 7 for me, it will appear behind the taskbar. Maybe I have a non-default setting enabled. I can take a screenshot if that would be helpful.

EDIT: I found an example on a google image search:



it shows wordpad being displayed behind the taskbar, I'm not sure why they appear above the taskbar on your installation.

I think we're totally miscommunicating here. Say I have Firefox open. In "always on top" mode, If I hover over the Firefox icon in the nexus dock, it will say "Firefox" above it, regardless of what window is open. I think that's great. When I have the z-order set to "same as other windows", if my focus is on another window, the hover text will appear BEHIND that window while my mouse is moving over the dock.

Jorge, is this only with Nexus Dock or also with Xtreme? I guess my settings in Xtreme won't allow the OP's issue to happen.

Ok, let me be straightforward here, and you can hate me for speaking the truth or you can respect me for it, your choice : I won't do what you are asking. Not because it's impossible to do (I have no idea, I haven't looked into it and it *might* be possible) but because it's absolutely pointless.

You see, it's Flash today and tomorrow it could be HTML5 full screen videos. And the day after tomorrow, it could be Silverlight or whatever...

... all that work from my part because you want to have your cake and eat it too.

I'm open to adding new features within reason and when they are of general interest. In this case, I don't think this is either reasonable or of general interest - it would be the opening of a rat's nest, as I explained above.

You have a point about the losing focus thing, but Nexus is flexible enough for a work-around: just add an Activation method (Preferences -> Behavior) for each of your docks. If you add the same activation method for ALL your docks, a single key press or edge bump will hide *all* the docks at the same time without the video window losing focus. Furthermore, if you enable the 'Activation acts as a toggle' setting, you can use the same key/edge bump to hide and show all your docks at the same time.



Because the Windows taskbar is set to 'Always on top'.



And that is *exactly* how it should be.

I would have respected it a lot more if you had just flatly come out from the beginning and said "it's too much work to program this feature, you have to find another solution" rather than having to go through this gauntlet of suggestions where it felt like you were misunderstanding what I'm trying to do.

I can totally understand not wanting to program for something that could be a changing standard. I'm not a programmer, so if you say something is a lot of work, I believe it.

I feel like this statement comes across as condescending. Yes, I do want the dock always on top EXCEPT in full screen applications. This is how Windows has done things with the taskbar for over a decade, this is how Objectdock does it (for flash). Calling that "having my cake and eating it too" feels kind of regressive, like chastisting someone for wanting to play a game with audio AND listen to an mp3 at the same time (on old computers that wasn't possible). However, I can appreciate if that's not something you want to program.

Yes, but it does disappear for full screen flash videos.

Yes, I agree, that's why I didn't understand why you were proposing having it at default Z-order in order to solve the problem when that would just create another.


Anyway, I appreciate your clear answer this time, it helps me decide whether I want to keep trying workarounds or alternative software for what I'm trying to do. Thanks for the information.

Eheh, fair enough, but I needed to understand first what you wanted (and yes, I did misunderstand some of the things you were trying to say so I needed clarification) and why none of the other alternatives worked for you.

Once I understood that I gave it some thought to see what might be necessary to add such a feature and what implications it had, and that's when I came to the conclusion that it could turn ugly fast. So I didn't tell you 'no' until I had made my decision.



Yes, in retrospective it was a bit, my apologies.



Note that full screen applications and maximized windows are *not* the same thing. If you run a full screen application Nexus will also go below the z-order and activation edge bumps are automatically made inactive until you exit the full screen application or minimize it.

What browser are you using to watch your videos? Chrome?



Note the distinction I made above between maximized and full screen windows, I think this might be important in this case, since Nexus *should* go below the Window if the Flash player is full screen (opposed to simply being maximized).

I mostly use Opera, but it occurs on Firefox as well. I can test it out on Chrome, if it works on that, that might give me something to work with.