I too do not use the dock. sSeveral years ago krissel recommeded DropDrawers and I have been using it ever since. A click on a specific DD tab and I have an app, data, graphic, etc. appear. It is simple to use. I categorize all my stuff into a series of tabs which run down the side of my scren. For example, in the Internet tab I have iSight, FireFox, Safari,Eudora (mail client). and IE. All are in the tab in icon form with name underneath. If I want to add a new item, I just drag it from , say its folder, to the tab. I can delete an item by grabbing its icon in the tab and dragging it to the trash.
Very nifty!
MamaMoose