Choosing an Edge

Documentation / Contents - Dock Area

Choosing an Edge

Five radio buttons across the top of the window, under the caption "Reserve space along which edge:".

None      reserve nothing; the whole screen is usable
Top       a band across the top
Bottom    a band across the bottom
Left      a band down the left
Right     a band down the right

Pick one and the preview redraws at once. Nothing takes effect until you press Apply; see Applying the Change.

There Is No Separate Off Switch

None is the off switch. There is deliberately no second button labelled "No Reserved Space", because two controls for one state is a way to make them disagree with each other.

While None is selected the size setting is remembered but has no effect, so you can switch an edge off and back on without re-dialling the size.

Which Edge To Pick

The zone should be where the things you want to reach already are.

The Toolchest sits at the top left by default, so Top or Left is the usual answer.
Minimized window icons collect along the bottom on most desktops, which argues for Bottom.
On a wide screen, Left or Right costs you less of the shape of the remaining area than Top or Bottom does, because your windows are already wider than they are tall.

The Keyboard

The panel opens with the keyboard focus on the edge that is actually selected, not on the first button. That means the focus ring and the selected diamond are always on the same button; a focus ring parked on None while Bottom was really selected read, at a glance, as "None is selected" even when it was not.

Move between the five with the arrow keys, and select with the space bar.

See Setting the Size for how wide the band should be.