I've been using a Mac for a year now and I'll admit I've had the Dock on the left, the bottom and the right. I've hidden it and played with the magnification settings. I've filled it up with all the applications I have and I've trimmed it down to just the most regularly used apps. Then I found Quicksilver. Even if you just use it as an app launcher (what a shame) it can free you from worrying about what is on and not on your Dock.

So, here is what I've been doing the past few weeks and its working pretty well. First thing I did was drag and drop (poof) every app from my dock. The only icons left are the Finder and the Trash. Now, when I need to launch something I just invoke Quicksilver and either type in the app name and hit enter or use actions when possible to quickly get things done. When I launch apps they appear in the Dock. If I minimize windows they also appear in the Dock. So at any time I can glance over and see whats running. Having only those apps appear make things less distracting and I can quickly hide or close things that I don't actually need for the task(s) at hand. This gives me a cleaner desktop and gives the Dock more purpose, show you whats running. If your curious I keep my Dock on the right of my screen, with hiding and magnification off but I think this tip will work well however you have your Dock settings.

Now, I wonder if this would help Alex Lindsay like the Dock just a little :cool:

Oh, here is a quick tip for moving your dock on the fly.