How to use the panel as a dock

[anon222]

In this tutorial I'll show you how to use a panel instead of a dock.
Many people use docks and launchers such as plank and wbar. I don't . This is a little trick I've learned some time ago.
All you need to do is to make an additional panel on the desktop.
So let's start:
¤ Open the Menu, Settings, Panel
A Panel Preferences dialog wil openl, and there you'll see 'Panel 1'
Next to it, on the right side  you'll see two buttons.
The first button creates a new panel. The second removes the panel. Be carefull not to remove 'Panel 1'!
¤ Click on the first button (plus sign) to create a new panel. A new panel will be named 'Panel 2'

× If you want panel to be on top you can drag it to the top. As long as the panel isn't locked you can move it wherever you like.

× If you want the panel on the left or right side drag it to the left or right side.  Then change Mode to 'Vertical' in the Panel Preferences dialog.
Now go back to the Panel Preferences dialog.
¤ Select 'Automatically show and hide the panel' if you want the panel to be hidden until you position your mouse ponter to the edge of the screen. That's what I always do because the new panel takes unecesery space on the desktop.

Next, the lenght of the panel.
× If you want your panel in the middle just leave it as it is. Option 'Automatically increase the lenght' will automatically increase the size of the panel as you add new items.
× If you want the panel to start at the top and end at the bottom of the screen increase it to 100%.
¤ After you've positioned the new panel , lock it by checking in 'Lock panel'. That will prevent the panel from moving.
Open the appearance tab.
Customize the panel as you whish. If you'we enabled display compositing you can set the alpha.

It's time to add Items to your panel.

¤ Click on the 'Items' tab and start adding new launchers and multi-level launchers.

Tip: When you add launchers you can Disable tooltips in the 'Advanced' tab of the launcher dialog settings.

[img height=450 width=800]http://i.imgur.com/ZlNDkpM.jpg[/img]

You don't need to stop at the launchers. You can add other items.
I think it's nice to separate them with the separators.
[img height=600 width=369]http://i.imgur.com/cEJyS4W.png[/img]
Use the buttons on the right side to add, move and edit items on the panel.

[altman]

Thanx Misko , another great tutorial .

[anon222]

Thanks,
It's not finished yet. I need to add a part on window buttons and separators. And some screenshots perhaps.

[altman]

Thanks,
It's not finished yet. I need to add a part on window buttons and separators. And some screenshots perhaps.

Will check for this part also , need some fine tunings to my install . will be handy .

[anon222]

Updated.

[altman]

Thanx misko ! I assume that one can do the same mods on the panel that we already have right !.

[anon222]

Yes you can.

[altman]

Thanx buddy . some pimping to do again ! lol

[bitsnpcs]

Thank You for making the tutorial misko, and linking to the multi-level tutorial, I made first multi-level this morning, now I know what its called

[anon222]

Thanx buddy . some pimping to do again ! lol

You're welcome buddy. Can't wait to see the screenshot in the other forum section.

...now I know what its called

I can say the same thing.
I used to call them 'launcher menus'. lol