How to Add Custom Dock Launcher to Ubuntu 13.04

The biggest complaint I have with Ubuntu’s Unity interface is the Dash Bar on the left side. In fact many people do not like Unity because of this. There are other people that find the Unity launcher bar to be lacking. In this tutorial I will be showing you how to auto-hide Unity’s launcher and add a custom Dock.

The first thing you need to do is download and install the Unity Tweak Tool so that you will be able to auto-hide the launcher.  The first step is to go to the Ubuntu Software Center and find the “Unity Tweak Tool” as shown below.

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You will then click on Install as shown below.

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After clicking install you will be asked to enter your user password.

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Once the Unity Tweak Tool is installed you will need to find the “GLX-Dock” as shown below.

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You should then click on Install. You may not be asked to re-enter your user password if you complete this step soon enough after installing the tweaking tool.

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Once the GLX-Dock has completed its installation you will then find it in the Dash launcher as shown below.

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The dock should then appear at the bottom of the screen. This dock is fully customizable and very easy to work with.

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To auto-hide the Unity Bar you will then need to launch the Unity Tweak Tool as shown below.

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You will then click on the Launcher icon.

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Here you will be able to turn the Auto-hide feature to the “ON” position as shown below.

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If everything goes correctly, you desktop should look similar to the the one shown below. Unity’s launcher bar will be hidden and the Dock will be at the bottom of the screen ready to be customized.

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If you have any questions or comments don’t hesitate to leave a comment below. Also, if you found this tutorial helpful please like and share so that other people can find this tutorial more easily.