Interesting: CandyBar

September 13, 2008

I recently reviewed SuperDocker, a Mac OS X freeware program that lets you change the appearance of the OS X dock using various themes. Reader Mike suggested checking out CandyBar, a shareware program that also allows easy customization of the Dock but is a management solution for all your Mac icons. After a few minutes of using CandyBar, I think it’s a much better program.

The Good

• A well-designed interface, using an iTunes-like sidebar, plus drag and drop to apply icons. Applying a set of icons icons to the dock or system is just a matter of selecting what you want to apply and then clicking a button to apply. And there are “Restore” buttons to return everything to the system defaults.
• Many cool, custom icon sets are available at the IconFactory – the icons are provided in a package called an iContainer which you just double click to load into CandyBar, or drag into the CandyBar sidebar. I used to download IconFactory icons back in the OS 9 days, so it was fun to rediscover their work and realize they’ve developed alongside OS X.
• A “Quick Drop” area if you want to apply a custom icon to just one file or application.
• You can even get deeper with your icons with search (icons from IconFactory have tags), list view, and even “smart collections.”

The Bad

• A bit of a wait when selecting the Applications option as CandyBar locates programs to apply icons to.

Conclusion

Forget what I wrote about Superdocker. The better program by far is CandyBar, based on the variety of icons and ease of use. It’s a free demo for 15 days and then costs $29.