#Introduction
I saw a screencap in another thread here and thought Hey, that's pretty neat, so I decided to do it and it looks good enough that other users might want to do it.
If I am rehashing another guide similar to this, let me know; I don't wish to duplicate work where it isn't necessary.
#Installing MATE dock applet
Since 16.04, the Ubuntu MATE dock applet comes pre-installed. If you need it in an older version of Ubuntu MATE, you'll need to perform the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/nemo sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install mate-dock-applet
#Make it happen
If you want mate-panel to look similar to Windows 8 / 10, the bottom panel needs to be a bit taller, so right-click on empty panel space and choose Properties; in General / Size, change the panel to either be 36px or 48px
Then the bottom panel needs the following (take from the top panel if you still have that);
MATE Menu; Dock; (More stuff can go here); Notification Area; Clock
If you are having difficulty figuring out how to move stuff within your panels, the default configurations have applets locked in place; you will need to right-click on an applet, or on an applet's handle where necessary to access a context menu which will allow you to unlock and move panel applets.
Right-click on MATE menu and choose Preferences; Remove the word "Menu" from the button and change the image to something that you like. For the time being, to make it look "Good enough" you can use the Ubuntu MATE icon from this location;
/usr/share/icons/hicolor/[size]/apps/ubuntu.mate.png
Replace [Size] with either 36(x36) or 48(x48)
Once you give your MATE menu a shiny icon, you can personalize further it from there.
#Caveats
MATE dock might not work as intended the first time unless you close all open programs and re-open them, or in more extreme cases of first-use malfunction, sign out, then sign back in.
Also, for some reason you need to go to a workspace a window is on, as the dock will not take you to a workspace a program is on automatically, which can be mildly annoying.
While not directly a caveat of the dock applet, you may notice some indicator applet icons remaining surprisingly tiny, as some indicator icons for third-party applications may not have sizes larger than 24x24. A shame, really but that's how it is.