My little DockAppsMenu worked to restore the functionality of a hierarchical Applications menu in the Dock as a temporary solution until something better came along. It’s now here: Quay by Rainer Brockerhoff.

I’ve been trying out the beta and I can’t wait to send him seven euros for the release version as soon as it’s available. Quay gets it right. Folders sit in the right side of the Dock and look exactly as they do in a standard Leopard setup. But a click (not a right-click) reveals a hierarchical menu rather than those hideous Stacks.

Quay uses a very lightweight background application to receive clicks on the folder icons and pop up a hierarchical menu. I had been working on a roughly similar approach. My app created an extra Dock that used the space next to the Apple Dock:

It was fun figuring out how to do it, including the reflection, resizing in step with the Dock, and hiding/appearing with the Dock. But Rainer’s solution is so much better. I couldn’t figure out how to use the files/folders area of the Dock, and when I saw how he did it, I realized that he has found the elegant solution.

Is it a stack, or is it Quay?

So, please, stop using DockAppsMenu and buy Quay. Update 2 February 2008: or install the 10.5.2 update.