Plank For Linux

Even though Linux distributions are usually not on the pragmatic side of things when it comes to customization options, they're not perfect. For example, what if you want a macOS-like system in your Linux-based OS?

Quite strangely, the answer might come in the form of Plank.

In short, Plan is a dock app designed to provide users with a minimalist experience.

If you're after more history, then you should know that Plank is the default dock in Elementary OS and that it uses all the underlying bits and bobs of the Docky dock.

Before moving forward, it's also worth knowing that Plank only works on X11 environments and Wayland is not supported.

Installing Plank on all supported Linux distributions is a straightforward job. Simply open the Terminal and "sudo-install" it using the available official repositories.

Plank's GUI is nothing short of refreshingly simplistic. There are three main sections like Appearance, Behavior, and Docklets.

You can tweak your dock in a wide range of ways, and you can even perfectly emulate the macOS feel. For example, from the Appearance section, you can choose a theme, the position of the dock, the display it will be displayed on (in case of multi-display workstations), and the alignment of said dock.

You also get to choose the icon size, as well as the icon zoom levels. There are other interesting features as well: multiple alignment possibilities, drag and drop to rearrange icons, pin icons to dock, only show apps from a certain workspace, and so forth.

With a bit of know-how, you can even tap into Plank's library and source code (which is readily available on GitHub and Launchpad, by the way) and modify it according to your taste or need.

While not particularly impressive when compared to other similar dock apps, Plank does a good job of providing users with a very good experience. It provides enough configuration options wrapped within a minimalist GUI to keep both advanced and beginner users happy. Too bad it doesn't offer a wider OS support.