DragThing to be discontinued

[allan.nyholm]

So, I learned today that DragThing is to be, seemingly, no more as the text on www.dragthing.com says.

DragThing is written using the 32-bit Carbon APIs that Apple have announced they will remove in the next major update of macOS after 10.14 Mojave, most likely in September 2019.
64-bit support would require completely rewriting DragThing from the ground up, a process which would take us six months to a year to complete, with no guarantees we could re-implement all the existing functionality.
Unfortunately, we do not believe there is enough of a market out there for a new version, such that it would be financially viable for us to do so.

Read all the information at the above website, where it's still possible to download the latest/last release of DragThing.

I find it quite sad as it was quite the fun app to have running. I've enjoyed floating docks since ToolManager on the Amiga and so DragThing was a natural extension of ToolManager when I switched over to the Mac.

With Retina capable screens DragThing hasn't kept up and so it really hasn't been that enjoyable for me personally - perhaps only using DragThing for login and logout sounds which I believe SoundAr also can accomplish. DockShelf is a small app that can create docks similar to those of DragThing except they can't be floating and just be attached to the desktop screen. If one is great with coding then of course Übersicht could be made to have a floating Dock or two. That's about the alternatives I know of.

 

[anandwr]

There are DT alternatives. I'm evaluating iCollections, similar to DT with modern UI. So far works good. Got many updates during last two weeks

 

[Partron22]

Twenty some years is a good run for a piece of shareware.

In its early versions, DragThing brought many features useful in a multitasking environment to Classic Mac OS such as alt-tab application switching and an onscreen representation of running processes.[2] These features were not implemented by Apple until Mac OS 8.5.

 

[allan.nyholm]

There are DT alternatives. I'm evaluating iCollections, similar to DT with modern UI. So far works good. Got many updates during last two weeks

Great tip. Thank you. It does however seem to be all over the place with some graphics elements. I'll give it a whirl nonetheless.
[doublepost=1553592885][/doublepost]

Twenty some years is a good run for a piece of shareware.

It most certainly is. 20 odd years is very good. Only other app that I know of that lived as long (and still get updates) is Transmit from Panic. I don't know how long that particular application is going to last.

 

[coops]

If you're using iCollections, and want to make the dock even smaller.... then:-

Make the macOS Dock tiny by using Terminal

If the Size slider in the Dock & Menu Bar system preferences pane doesn't go small enough for you, here's a trick that will.

www.macworld.com

"But these tools can only take you so far. They’ll make the Dock small, but not really small. To do that, you need to open the Terminal (Applications/Utilities) and type:

defaults write com.apple.dock tilesize -integer 8

Press Return, then type:

killall Dock

The number at the end of the command can range from 1 (too small to be useful) up to 16 (the smallest size you can achieve with those other tools); 8 is tiny but still visible."

 

[allan.nyholm]

If you're using iCollections, and want to make the dock even smaller.... then:-

Make the macOS Dock tiny by using Terminal

If the Size slider in the Dock & Menu Bar system preferences pane doesn't go small enough for you, here's a trick that will.

www.macworld.com

"But these tools can only take you so far. They’ll make the Dock small, but not really small. To do that, you need to open the Terminal (Applications/Utilities) and type:

defaults write com.apple.dock tilesize -integer 8

Press Return, then type:

killall Dock

The number at the end of the command can range from 1 (too small to be useful) up to 16 (the smallest size you can achieve with those other tools); 8 is tiny but still visible."

Great tip! Thanks. Just for those occasions you know