I have been using the Nexus dock for quite a few years now. For the longest time, I had the dock looking like a Mac replica: docked to the bottom of the screen, centered, 3D-looking.

However, in recent time, I have started to take a liking (influenced by my work PC, which is running Ubuntu) to the Gnome-style dock, which is docked to the left of the screen, stretching vertically along the whole edge, 2D-looking, opaque black background. Thus I tried to replicate the look in WinStep Nexus. However, I'm running into trouble because I can't get the dock to fill up the left screen edge (i.e. extend from one edge to the other).

My idea was to create a new theme that has a background image (possibly a 1-px png image) that either repeats or stretches to a very large size, covering the whole edge. However, I haven't been able to create a background.ini configuration that actually works, so I'm asking for help on how to achieve that, or if there is any configuration that might help.

I have moved the dock to the left edge of the screen, and positioned it to top (offset 0%). My current background.ini file looks like this:


The resulting dock appearance is shown in the attached screenshot.

This kind of works, but it has a problem. The dock expands in size, as elements keep being added or removed from it, either by adding launchers, or by starting new applications. This makes the size unpredictable, so I cannot configure it properly in the background.ini, unless there is some sort of a property that I do not know of. I probably need to configure a fixed buffer area that shrinks dynamically.

Any ideas?

I understand what you are trying to do, you're not going to accomplish it by modifying a theme as you already realized, and you're not the first to ask for this.

I've always been very reluctant to add such an option because when the background stretches across the entire screen regardless of how many icons you have, it stops behaving like a dock and starts behaving like a taskbar - a persistent UI element anchored to an edge.

Here’s the conceptual difference:

Dock: content‑driven. Its width is defined by the number of icons or widgets. It floats visually, often centered, and feels like an object you can move or resize.

Taskbar: frame‑driven. Its width is fixed to the screen edge, independent of content. It’s part of the system chrome, not a movable object.

So when the background always spans the full width, the user’s brain interprets it as part of the desktop frame, not a discrete object. That breaks the illusion of a “dock” - the sense that it’s a self‑contained launcher.

Furthermore, at that point you will also want to be able to choose if icons are left or right justified and not just centered, then you'll want labels next or below the icons and pretty soon what you have is anything but a dock - and more like...

... a single tabbed shelf.

Which, unlike a dock, can be extended from edge to edge.

There are a few fundamental things you need to understand and consider carefully, in addition to what Jorge Coelho said in his reply.

As a long time predominantly Linux/Ubuntu user myself I first of all need you to understand that the Ubuntu/Gnome dock is a very different beast from the Winstep Nexus dock, or for that matter the mother and father of all docks, that of the old NeXTStep/Openstep OS. The Ubuntu/Gnome dock in its Ubuntu Workstation (modified) Gnome desktop setting is immutable in size in the vertical position, and it is designed to accommodate applications, active applications, and devices only. If there are more icons than can fit in the space, the icons scroll. (The NeXT dock was also immutable, but did not scroll - if you ran out of icon space, tough.) On the other hand, the Nexus dock not only can accept almost anything, but it will size the icon space according to the number of icons in use in it. If this number exceeds the available screen space, Nexus "shrinks" and the icons are reduced in size to fit the space. So, it's really more of a hybrid dock actually, the original NeXT dock having been conceived as purely an application launcher. (Being a bit of a purist, I use NeXus dock in exactly the way I used my NeXT one back in the day.)

So if you wanted to recreate the look (and presumably feel) of the Ubuntu/Gnome dock, the way you can do that would be as follows. Create a new Nexus theme, using a small black square - 4x4 pixels should do - and have it stretched by Nexus as needed. Then populate this with apps (48x48 pixel icons are the Ubuntu default) - and perhaps a few drives at the end - until the dock occupies the whole vertical screen edge. That's about all you can do in that respect. Of course, if this is not enough for your apps/drives, you could possibly use sub-docks as well.

If you wanted to further enhance the 'Ubuntu experience', let Nexus hide your desktop icons. Still, nothing beats the real Ubuntu experience though.

Yeah, didn't think of that one: create a desktop wallpaper that provides the "dock background" and set the actual dock background in the application to fully transparent.

Another creative solution to this. That's if you can live with it.

Personally, don't like the all-black dock and bar of more recent versions of Ubuntu Workstation, having preferred the reddish/magenta of previous versions matching the Wallpapers. (The Ubuntu WS walls are always in shades of magenta/purple/orange, with the animal of the version's codename in outline. Best one to to date AFAIC, 'Bionic Beaver', v.18.04.)

I have tried both options given and they work just fine. After much experimenting I discovered a third solution. Make sure to backup your setting before trying this. It is hard to remember what you have changed.

I have the NextSTART taskbar on the right and the Windows taskbar on the bottom. The NextSTART taskbar has several Grid Stacks on the top (the grey square icons) (the image shows the "MS Apps" Grid Stack open) and a Dock positioned on top of the NextStart taskbar. The dock is set to appear "Always above other windows". The NextStart taskbar is set for "Full screen width", "Dock to screen edge", and "Prevent maximized windows from overlapping the taskbar". I also set the Quick Launch area to "use up to 100% of the taskbar".

For the NextStart taskbar I checked both "Allow NextStart to replace the Windows taskbar" and "Keep the Windows taskbar visible". It should also be set for "Windows 7 style". The Grid Stack icons are in the Quick Launch area and the icon size is set to 34. The Dock icon size is also set to 34. Use the Dock position settings to center the Dock on the NextSTART taskbar.

You have to check the boxes to "Hide the tasklist" and "Hide the system tray". You also have to uncheck "System Tray" under "Taskbar Sections".

To add a Grid Stack to the Quick Launch area first create a Grid Stack on a dock, and then under "Dock and Shelf Management" chose "Disable Dock". You can then add the Grid Stack as a new Quick Launch item.

If a game or application has a Full Screen setting it must be checked or both the Windows and NextSTART taskbar may appear above the game or application.

I haven't used this setup for a while. I believe there was one other minor glitch that I came across, but I don't remember what it was.

I am using the Winstep Lapidi theme (with colors modified) and the WindowBlinds Hinged theme in the image. There is also a WindowBlinds Lapidi theme that matches the Winstep Lapidi theme, they look great together, but I prefer the Hinged theme.

I think that is everything.

Two more things to add.

If the Dock goes behind the NextSTART taskbar, press Ctrl/F11 and the press "Apply" to bring it back. It may happen occasionally.

Grid Stacks in the Quick Launch area sometimes open behind open windows. I haven't found a solution for that. I guess it would be easier to just add a Grid Stack to the dock.

Maybe Jorge has an better solution for both issues.

I will add that the solutions from nexter and Jorge are much easier and have fewer issues. I just wanted to see what could be done with Winstep Xtreme.

If the dock is set to appear "Always above other windows" and the NextSTART taskbar is NOT, then the dock should NEVER go behind the NextSTART taskbar.

This said, rather than CTRL+F11 to open WS Preferences then Apply, try adding either a "Activate All", "Bring WorkShelf Forward" or "Reset Reserved Screen Space" internal command somewhere (has to be on an active dock or shelf though) and associating it to a hotkey. Then just press that hotkey.

Not sure which of the 3 ICs will work best in your cases, give them all a try and let me know.



Alas, you can thank Microsoft and their half-baked half-thought solutions for that.

Windows blocks apps from bringing themselves to the front unless they already have the focus (!) because Microsoft decided years ago to punish every well‑behaved program for the bad behavior of a few.

Instead of letting users vote with their feet and get rid of the badly behaved applications, Windows forces strict focus rules that often make SetForegroundWindow() useless.

The result is developers having to resort to hacks that work most of the time but not always (for instance, if the application that currently has the focus is elevated, the Winstep application will probably not be able to "steal the focus" and bring the Grid Stack to the top of the z-order).

I'm not really sure where the dock went. I changed the setting for a game from "Borderless Windowed" to "Fullscreen" and when I quit the game the dock wasn't visible.

I haven't used this setup in quite a while. I think the dock disappearing happened only a couple of times in the past. For now I added "Activate All" to the NextSTART Menu.



Thanks for that information. I should have guessed that.

I moved the Grid Stacks from the Quick Launch area to the dock. That seems to have solved that problem.

I like to use multiple Grid Stacks on the taskbar. I have Grid Stacks for Folders, Applications, Games, and MS Apps. It's like having four start menus.

The reason I purchased Winstep Xtreme was for the Grid Stacks feature.

Have you already tried the new "All Programs" Grid Stack type?

I have tried it and I like it.

I decided on my current set up of four Grid Stacks because one Grid Stack grew to be too large with too much information. With four Grid Stacks it is easier to find what I am looking for.

I like the search feature and the separators. I was also happy to see that is it just as customizable as any other Grid Stack. I have also used it to find a program that I forgot the name of and didn't have on any of my Grid Stacks.

I think the ability to use custom icons would probably make it open faster the first time. Also I wasn't able to add any program or folder shortcuts.

I will continue to experiment with it. It may eventually replace my four Grid Stacks or become a fifth one. Overall I think it is a good addition.

So many users asked for this that I (reluctantly) just implemented the ability to extend the background of a dock to full screen width (horizontal docks) or height (vertical docks).

Only for docked non-tiled docks, of course.

Icons will appear centered in the dock. Wanna bet someone will now ask me to add an option to left and right justify the icons?

*Please* Jorge, tell whatever bugger asks you'll give him the option - but only both at the same time!

I think some of the people that wanted to do this were thinking of the Cupo RocketDock skin by Guillen Design. There were also several other similar skins released at the time. When done properly, the look was quite effective.

I don't know that it would work for anything else though, other than an Ubuntu Style Sidebar that the OP was looking for.

Since the thread got so lively and there were quite a few replies, I guess I owe everybody one from my side.

First, I'm not going to pretend I know the difference between different UI elements. I guess you're right, Jorge, when you say that a dock is not supposed to behave like a taskbar. I guess I want a toolbar, or a sidebar, something that docks to the left side of the screen, and has some icons and applets in it. I now understand that Nexus is not supposed to be able to do this, since it's different in nature to the Ubuntu sidebar that I'm trying to mimic. Nevertheless, thanks for the understanding, and thanks for implementing the "stretch" feature in the application (I just read the message).

@nexter: I'm not a big fan of Ubuntu tbh, neither of Gnome (I don't dislike them, I simply don't feel either way about them). However, I think the idea of having a vertical toolbar that occupies space permanently is actually quite smart, given that most monitors (at least those that I use) are at least 16:9 and have much more horizontal real estate than vertical. But I still like the way the Mac dock (including the original Nexus look) looks and feels.

I did try to play around with shelves, a little, to see if I can get one to do what I want it to do. However, I opened the configuration file(s) for one of the skins and I was overwhelmed with the amount of options, so I simply gave up.

In the end, I did manage to create some kind of a Frankenstein combination of 3 overlapping docks, one using a heavily padded skin (both left and right) and the others not so much. The top dock has some launchers, the middle one contains only running apps, and the bottom dock contains some applets. The middle one overlaps the other 2 and is the only one that actually changes in size.

It looks quite nice TBH, but I suppose that there is room for improvement (I doubt that my creation is very tolerant to resolution changes), but this is the first iteration, the next one will be better, I guess. Screenshot attached.

Have a nice (rest-of-the) weekend!