Replace your dock with WorkStrip 3

If you were to consider alternatives (or companions) to Mac OS X's dock, you'll probably think of DragThing. Earlier today I came across WorkStrip, and it really looks interesting.

At first launch, the Strip itself appears at the bottom of your screen (after minimizing and hiding your dock, then moving it to the upper left hand corner of your screen). You can add files and applications as you would with the dock, but here's where things change. You can create "workspaces" that contain references to all the files of a given project. With a workspace selected, a window opens that contains previews of the contained files (audio and graphic files can be previewed with just a mouse over).

Once you have an application running, you can open recently accessed items that are associated
with that application in an active workspace, switch to any of its open windows (including minimized ones), unminimize all of its minimized windows and so on.

There's a lot more, of course. Check it out here. WorkStrip requires Mac OS 10.2 or later and costs £22.95 for a single license.