Leopard Dock with black triangle
I’m sure there are quite a few Mac users who like the 3D Dock in Leopard but can’t stand the glowing dot indicating application that is running. I’m also sure that quite a few users would love to see the return of the black triangle indicator to the Dock.
It’s possible, and in fact fairly easy. Ready to do some drilling into the OS X ?
First, you need the triangle, of course. Download indicators.zip and unpack it on your Desktop. The files are:
- indicator_large.png (42 x 14 pixel)
- indicator_medium.png (32 x 11 pixel)
- indicator_small.png (14 x 8 pixel)
Why three of them? You will notice later that, unlike in previous versions of OS X, the size of the indicator in Leopard changes as you resize the Dock. You can try to use the medium size for all three to keep it from resizing, it’s up to you. Or you can create your own indicators, just make sure you keep the image sizes and names as listed above and make the background transparent.
Disclaimer: From here on you are taking your own risk. Logging in as root gives you the full control of every file on your Mac, and if you don’t know what you are doing you can cause a serious damage to your files and render your system fubar. SilverMac takes no responsibility for any damage that you, or someone else operating on your computer may cause by following these instructions.
Agree to continue at your own risk? If so, then read on.
Close all applications and log out, then log in as Administrator (root).
Navigate to /Users/<your_user_name>/Desktop. From there take the indicator files and move them to the Desktop in root. In Finder select your hard disk (Usually Macintosh HD), then /System/Library/CoreServices
Right-click on Dock and select Show Package Contents. (If you don’t have this menu option, you will need to install Developer Tools.) Select Contents/Resources/
This is where you will find the original indicator files, rename them to something else – just in case (e.g. original_indicator_small.png).
Now copy your three triangle indicator files into this folder. Reload the Dock (Ctrl + Option + right-click | Relaunch). If you still have any applications running, you may want to close and reopen them to update the indicator. Enjoy!
I am not a programmer, I have never written a script in my life, but I’m sure this can be easily done. So if someone out there with enough talent has an idea how to do it – why not give it a go. DIGG this.
Using Dictionary in OS X Invisible Shield skin for iPod touch review
THANK YOU! That glowy indicator is probably the most annoying thing about leopard.. completely useless because you can barely see it!
There is no need to log in as Administrator / root or have the developer tools installed, just use a terminal.
Open Terminal in Applications/Utilities or iTerm if you prefer that (I do).
code:
sudo su – hit return, enter your password (don’t forget the – after su)
cd /Users//Desktop
cp indicator_large.png indicator_medium.png indicator_small.png /Volmes//System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/
hit return and type “y” and then return when it asks you to overwrite the files.
type exit and hit return (this will terminate the root shell after which you can exit Terminal or iTerm)
Restart the Dock or logout and then login again, tada
Notice: if your hard disk name contains spaces you need to add some backslashes in order to escape the spaces so if your hard disk is called Macintosh HD you’d get this:
/Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/
Hey, thanks a lot. I found your triangles a bit too big though, so I compared them to a screenshot of Tiger. I then resized them so they were a bit more subtle. Still clashed a bit more than usual due to the new glass dock, so I added some transparency. The dock is better than ever now!
Okay.. that is cool.. thanks very much..!
Only if you know of a way to get rid of the bloody “dynamic drop shadows” of the icons in dock… I’m sure we will find a solution for that soon enough.
Thanks again.
During the developer pre-release phase, I created a freeware application called Dock Delight (yeah I know the name’s rubbish but it’s a bit too late to change it now) which replaces the wee indicators with black triangles. The triangles I created were quick and dirty and look a wee bit too small when the Dock is large.
Would you have any objections to me including yours instead? I’ll give you credit in the about box and a link to this document on the website.
Mark
Daenney, `sudo -s` will give you a root prompt, rather than `sudo su -`!
Great tip. Where did you find that cool grass wallpaper you have there?
Here it is http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/details.php?id=1335
This is a great tip however the icons do not seem to “fit” properly as they did in Tiger. Anyone by chance have better icons that you can use? The glowing icon that apple used is stupid because you can barely see them.
So thats where they hid it this time… question: i used a dock program i think back in 10.3 or 10.4 to pin the dock to the off center and now in leopard its stuck on there and the new stacks goes off screen when using since its off to side and doesnt even realize it, any idea how to move it back to the center. tried all the options in sys prefs. and the dock programs.
thanks.
Nice, now my dock looks so much better :)
@isaac: i used tinkertool to put it to the right of the bottom whilst in tiger, after the upgrade i also noticed the problem, and again i used tinkertool to put it in the center.
I Have translated it to german:
http://www.alexanderjaeger.de/leopard-dock-mit-schwarzen-triangeln/
Greetz
Alex
It looks like your desktop picture has potential to be really cool. Can we see the full thing somewhere?
for icons that fit a little better, try using the “simple” png’s that are in the Resources directory… they’re the bright white spheres that the dock uses in non-glass mode (i.e. on the side, or if you’ve done some other dock modding). They provide better visibility than the default blue orbs, but fit with the new scheme better than the old Tiger triangles. do something like:
sudo mv indicators_large.png indicators_large.old.png
sudo cp indicators_large_simple.png indicators_large.png
…for each of the sizes
Way to go :) I’m a newly hatched OSX admin/techie and this is a great tip!
EB
Henry, that’s exactly what I did. Now this is a dock I can live with. Should’ve been the default: http://i12.tinypic.com/4q8ak94.png
Can someone post up the glowing orbs?
That looks really cool Ominx! But how come your shiny glass dock looks like its been tinted? The darker smokey glass really helps the indicators (and reflections) to stand out.
Looks great! But anyway to make an indicator that is like a light coming from behind the application? Sort of like a glow but not. More like a light shining at the app but from behind? I don’t like any indicators below because I don’t think they fit well with the dock. If someone could do this, that would be awesome.
Also, anyway to get a moving desktop? I want something like Time Machine but on the desktop? That would be real awesome too.
@ Henry- do you punch that into terminal to get the glowing orbs instead?
Also, when I try to rename the indicators_large.png file, I am told that i dont have sufficient privileges, even though I am an administrator. What am I doing wrong?
Chuck, I think Ominx probably saw this website to get the dark dock: http://www.blambert.co.uk/smokedock/
The site is down right now, though. :( That looks really sweet.
@ MAtT, I think that is why you have to log in as ‘root’. Even tho you are an administrator, there are things you are still restricted from doing when it comes to the System.
ooo, thanks Bethany!
I found the website down, too. I googled Leopard and smokedock and eventually found a new address that works:
http://www.blambert.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/smokedock/
great idea, could someone post the original glowing indicators – i want to change them on my tiger … ;)
svrroot
Worked well for me! I replaced them with black versions of the simple indicators:
http://i10.tinypic.com/4y61wer.png
They’re not perfect, but they’re visible!
Tip: If you’re using Photoshop to create custom indicators, save them as PNGs and then *re-save* them as PNGs in Preview. It seems Photoshop encodes PNGs slightly differently, so AFAICT, Apple won’t recognize the transparency of a Photoshop PNG.
None of those smokedock links work :( Anyone have a copy of that guide saved somewhere?
Hey all – I created a site JUST for Leopard Docks -http://leoparddocks.com/ – check it out and submit your own designs or download other great designs!
PS – The smokedock is on there :)
I’ve packaged this up as a script. It will let you go back and forth between the two type of indicators at will:
http://home.hubris.net/owenc/misc/Change_Dock_Indicators.zip
I’m not making a copy of the original ones before doing the replacement just because it will let you revert to the originals at any time. But if you’ve done something else custom you should make a backup before you run this.
Can any body tell me how do i log as a root (i logged as an administrator) and I am told that i dont have sufficient privileges.
i just google and find the answer SORRY ;-)
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106290
I’m not using Leopard but Tiger. And I wanna change the Black Triangle one but this http://kenta-macthemes.deviantart.com/art/Alternative-Dock-74292473 but I can’t. Anyone please help me!!! Thanks.
Nice tip. Where did you find that nifty grass wallpaper you have there?
For some reason my original indicaters in resources arn’t in a folder. Can someone help me?
I forgot to put in my comment above that my system is running os 10.5.3
Hey all, thanks so much for this! Now using the simple glow indicators and smokedock. For those of you looking for the new dock indicators or want to switch to the darker dock, all the files can be found here: http://www.silvermac.com/2007/leopard-dock-with-black-triangle/ The author has directions in a readme file.
Oh, whoops. Copied this link. Meant to copy this one: http://11plus.deviantart.com/art/Leopard-Black-Smoke-Dock-75145807
I did this easily when using Leopard. Now in Lion, I cannot find the CoreServies folder. and Yes I know the trick of holding down the option key to get my Library to appear., and that folder is not there. Thanks!
Never mind! I found the folder. Thank you for the pictures/screenshots.
Thanks guys for the useful tip, I will try this on my old Mac Mini that I’m using to drive my media center.
I still don’t understand hot to do the last step though……
[...] If you are a Mac Oldie, I am sure you have got accustomed to the tiny triangular indicators on the Dock and now that Leopard has done away with them, you want it back. Well this isn’t too hard at all. All you need to do is follow this well written tutorial from Mike. [...]