How to Change the Dock Background in Snow Leopard

Editing the dock allows full customization of the computer.

The dock on Snow Leopard, the seventh version of Apple's Mac OS X operating system, comes in a faux three-dimensional form as standard; however, this appearance is not set in stone. With a little use of image editing software and the terminal, it is possible to change the dock background in Snow Leopard to almost anything you may desire. This allows for a significant level of customization of the Mac OS desktop architecture, to suit all needs and personalities.

Things You'll Need

• Image editing software

Instructions

1. Log in to Snow Leopard. Double-click on the hard disk icon on the desktop. Double-click on the "System" icon in the Finder window that appears, then double-click on "Library." Locate "CoreServices" and double-click on it. Scroll down to "Dock.app". Hold down the "ctrl" key and click on "Dock.app." Select "Show Package Contents." Double-click on "Contents" in the new Finder window, then double-click on "Resources."

2. Scroll down the list of contents until you find four files called "scurve-l.png," "scurve-m.png," "scurve-sm.png" and "scurve-xl.png." These are the image files that determine the appearance of the dock at different sizes, from small to extra large. Highlight these files and ctrl-click. Select "Copy 4 Items" from the pop-up menu. Minimize the finder windows to the dock. Ctrl-click on the desktop and select "Paste Items."

3. Open the four image file copies on your desktop in your image editing software such as Photoshop, The Gimp or Acorn. Edit the files to make the images look the way you want your dock to look. Alter the "opacity" of the image to raise or lower the "reflectiveness" of the dock, with higher image opacity equating to a more reflective dock.

4. Click "File" and select "Save As" rather than "Save" when you are finished editing the image files. Give the images new names, such as "scurve-l-new.png" so they are different to the original files. This will allow you to copy the image files into "Dock.app," as otherwise you will be faced with an error message due to attempting to overwrite the original files.

5. Restore the Finder windows from the dock. Highlight the four new image files on your desktop. Drag and drop the files into the "Resources" folder. Enter your username and password for authentication when prompted. The images will now be copied into "Dock.app." Close the open Finder windows.

6. Open "Terminal." Enter "cd /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/" and press return to navigate to the "Resources" folder where you saved the new image files. Enter "sudo mv X Y," where X is the filename of your new file (such as "scurve-l-new.png") and Y is the name of the file you are replacing "such as "scurve-l.png") and press return. Repeat for the other three files. Enter "killall Dock" and press return.

Tips & Warnings

• The Dock application actually comes with an alternative, more iPhone-like, look and feel built in, for those who simply do not like the 3D look of the system. To turn this appearance on, open Terminal and enter "defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES" and press return, then enter "killall Dock" and press return. To turn 3D on again, change "-boolean YES" to "-boolean NO" and repeat "killall Dock."

• Editing important system files such as the Dock application can be very dangerous for the health of your operating system. It is advisable that you make a copy of Dock.app, or the files you are editing at the very least, before you begin. This will allow you to restore a "known good" copy of the application in the event that something goes wrong.

References

• Macworld Mac OS Hints: Change the Dock's Background and Separator
• Superuser: Change the OS X Dock Background