CrystalXP.net

We are many to have installed a dock on our desktop (the best known of all is of course RocketDock).
Well, a new version of a very special dock has just been released :
Circle Dock 0.9.2 Alpha 7.

As its name suggests, Circle Dock (an open source project) is a free dock at the base round , which can also be configured in the shape of spiral, star, line vertical, horizontal or diagonally...

The principle of Circle Dock is exactly the same as the others : to be able to launch your applications or access your favorites files easily.



With Circle Dock, you do not need a particular installation. You have just to download the file and click on the logo of Circle Dock (so you can take it everywhere with you via a USB key ). Compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vista, 32 and 64 bits, it requires only .NET Framework 2.0.

Once downloaded, you have just to drag and drop your files, your folders and your shortcuts on your dock in the shape of circle that you can resize and customize as you wish, through many options such as:
- changing the background or the form of the dock
- modify the central image
- change the icons (it is compatible with the icons of RocketDock, ObjectDock, etc., and you can also create your own icons in png)
- the possibility to put the dock where you want and to make appear or not in one click



Look, here is a short video which shows a little the various features of CircleDock :



Well, there is a few snag :
- first, when you drag and drop your icons in the dock, it is better to change immediately them (with those offered by the software or with yours...), because they are blurred and not very pleasant for our eyes :eyes:
- in circle, in spiral... even if you can make it to appear and disappear as you want, if you put more around ten icons, it quickly becomes intrusive and not very practical to use
- there is the possibility to have the desired language, but we have to translate the file English.ini in order to have the language of our choice
- it consumes RAM according to how we use it

Circle Dock is constantly evolving, but it needs to be further improved.
For those who want to have a dock more original, with a little more imagination and more elements than a classical dock, then Circle Dock is for you.
However, if you search rather the simplicity and the practical side of the dock, it is preferable to use RocketDock !

In any case, Circle Dock is a dock to follow !