Sick of Your Dock’s Animated Poof? Change It
Most people know that when you want to remove an app from your dock, you simply need to right click it then drag it to the desktop. The first few times it disappeared in a puff of “smoke” you probably thought it was cool but if you’re over it now, it’s possible to change that “poof” to a twirl, fade, or anything else that strikes your fancy.
First, locate the file that contains the animation. Navigate to /System/Library/Core Services. Hold down the control key, then click Dock and choose Show Package Contents. When the Dock window opens, select Contents > Resources.
Locate the file called poof.png and click to open. Gasp in surprise when you find out that it’s really just a five-frame graphic that can easily be replaced with your own file.
Use Photoshop, Seashore, Comic Life, or the image editor of your choice to create a cool new graphic that, like the existing file, measures 640 pixels tall. Then just save the new file and restart your system.
Poof, now you have yourself a new dock animation!
jeckyll on November 26th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Restarting the Dock should be enough through >killall Dock shouldn,t it?
modelmotion on November 26th, 2008 at 9:23 am
What I really want is to lock the dock so i can still add but cannot accidentally “poof” and ap. Any idea how to do that?
normanrosner on November 26th, 2008 at 9:33 am
Do you want it to be not-modifiable for yourself (admin) or for others?
Kutt-Out on November 26th, 2008 at 10:04 am
PLEASE some make another graphic like an explosion or something! Could be super cool and a neat change.
I agree with modelmotion that it shouldnt be so easy to get things out of the dock.
normanrosner on November 26th, 2008 at 10:11 am
I just tried the WorkgroupManager for my Guest Account and it worked perfectly. It’s free to download and you can use even on a non Server Version. I did not try if it works with an admin account, but you can do it ;)
normanrosner on November 26th, 2008 at 10:12 am
You probably need a link:
http://supportdownload.apple.com/download.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Apple_Software_Updates/Mac_OS_X/downloads/693-6299.20071026.p38bV/ServerAdminTools10.5.dmg