Cairo-dock is my favorite dock, but it works best if you have a 3d card and it's enabled.
If you don't - I would recommend  Google's Wbar

Lets install Cairo-dock!


First off - don't bother with installing from synaptic.  Its out of date - but no worries its easy to get from the source.  Frst, lets visit the berlios.de projects cairo-dock page.  About 1/2 down the page you will see the files cairo-dock and cairo-dock plug-ins.  We will need to download these files.  Click the download on cairo-dock first.

Select the cairo-dock (i686 or 64 depending on your machine) .deb file
Select mirror and download  backspace and download cairo-dock plug in .deb

OK now cairo-dock should be on your computer somewhere, usually on your desktop

*TIP*  I hate a messy desktop or having to move files after they download, so I make a folder in home and name it downloads.  Be sure to drag and drop it under Documents on the list on the left so you can find it easier. Then in firefox, go to edit and then preferences click on the save files to line, and browse to the newly created download folder.  This keeps things neat and you always know where to find all your downloads.

Now, continuing on.  Click on the cairo-dock package you downloaded, and the package manager will open.  Input your password and click the green check mark to install.  When it's finished, repeat the process with cairo-dock plugin's - easy as pie!

Almost there!
Now lets prep  your desktop!  OK, lets get rid of your bottom panel first.  Left click and delete panel.  Now go up to your top panel and left click add to panel, and select windows list then add it - Ok we're done. lol that was easy huh?  OK enough for the desktop.

Open your main menu (this assumes you're in Gnome) - You might see a new section labeled System tools, open this and you will find cairo-dock. Select cairo-dock with opengl (for use with your 3d card.)  After a few seconds you should have a beautiful dock and indicators on your desktop!



Now that you have cairo-dock installed lets configure it a bit.  First off lets see what the weather is like outside! Left click on the weather applet and select configure the applet. When the window opens go to configuration and put in your zip code for location.  Since I use Fahrenheit, I unmark the box using international units.  Also I click on the box to display current temp on the icon.  Scrolling down a bit - lets customize the display - Click on it and browse themes until you find one you like then press apply button  done!

Now lets left click anywhere on the dock and select cairo-dock then manage themes - you will see a drop down box with a bunch of themes. Browse these themes until you find one you like and then click apply.  It will automatically get downloaded from the web so be patient.

There ya go! Cairo-dock is very flexible and easy to configure!  Just play around with it some.  I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do!


Not quite done yet!

Lets add cairo-dock to our start menu
Go into control Center and under personal, select start-up programs. Click on add.
name = cairo-dock
Under command - browse to:  /usr/bin/cairo-dock   wait!
After the cairo-dock is in the command box, we just add in a space and type " -o" - this will open cairo-dock with opengl.  So the final string should look like this: /usr/bin/cairo-dock -o

OK now we are done!  Enjoy!